List of pipe organ stops

For audio examples, please see the article on organ stops.

An organ stop can mean one of three things:

• the control on an organ console that selects a particular sound
• the row of organ pipes, used to create a particular sound, more appropriately known as a rank
• the sound itself

Organ stops are sorted into four major types: principal, string, reed, and flute.

This is a sortable list of names that may be found associated with electronic and pipe organ stops. Countless stops have been designed over the centuries, and individual organs may have stops, or names of stops, used nowhere else. This non-comprehensive list deals mainly with names of stops found on numerous Baroque, classical and romantic organs. Here are a few of the most common ones:

Stop name	Alternate name	Type	Notes
Aeoline	Aéoline Éolienne	String	an extremely small scaled stop with a very delicate, airy tone; built frequently as a single-rank stop, or as a double-rank celeste.'
Blockflöte		Flute	German for "recorder"; a wide scaled conical or stopped flute of 4′ or 2′ pitch, taking its name from the common flute called a "recorder" which its tone closely resembles
Bombarde		Reed	a powerful reed-stop with cutting brassy timbre, occurring on the manuals at 16′ (and occasionally 8′), or in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch
Bourdon		Flute	a wide-scaled stopped-flute, 16′ or 8′ on the manuals, and at 16′ (Soubasse) or 32′ (Contrabourdon)
Celeste	Voix céleste	String, 2 ranks	an 8′ string stop composed of two pipes for each note, one being tuned slightly sharp or flat to create an undulating effect  Play
Cello	Violoncelle	String	a string stop at 8′ or 16′;
Choralbass		Principal	a 4′ strongly voiced octave Diapason in the pedal division, mainly for cantus firmus -use
Clarabel Flute	Claribel Flute	Flute	Synonym for Claribel
Claribel	Melodia	Flute	an 8′ open wood manual stop.
Clarinet	Clarionet	Reed	a reed stop with a richer tone imitating the orchestral instrument, perhaps the single most successful imitative stop in organ
Clarion	Clairon	Reed	8′ (pedal) or 4′ (manual) chorus reed
Cornet		Flute	a multi-rank stop consisting of up to five ranks of wide-scaled pipes. The pitches include 8′, 4′,  2 2⁄3′, 2′ and  1 3⁄5′. Three- and four-rank cornets eliminate 8′ and 4′ ranks. This stop is not imitative of the brass instrument cornet. Or 12.15.19.22
Cornopean		Reed	Unison chorus reed, normally in the Swell.
Cromorne		Reed	Cylindrical solo reed, imitative of the historical instrument of the same name.
Diapason		Principal	a flue stop which is the "backbone" sound of the organ; Most commonly at 8′ on a manual, and 8′ or 16′ on the pedals.
Diaphone			a special type of organ pipe, producing tone by using a felt hammer to beat air through the resonator; Common on theatre organs, not often used in classical instruments.
Doublette		Principal	2' principal
Fagotto	Bassoon Fagott	Reed	16' chorus reed. Inverted conical construction, softer than a trumpet.
Flageolet		Flute	A flute stop of 2' or 1' pitch.
Fugara		String	A flue stop in 4' or 8' pitch. The tone has a sharp "stringy" quality.[1]
Gamba	Viol da Gamba Viole	String	one of the earliest designs of string stops; named after the Baroque instrument viola da gamba.
Gedackt	Gedeckt	Flute	a basic stopped 8′ flute in the manuals, and stopped 16′ and/or 8′ flute voice in the pedal
Gemshorn	Cor de Chamois	String	German for "chamois horn"; a narrow-scale, tapered stop.
Gravissima			Name for a resultant 64' flue (a 32' stop combined with a 21 2⁄3' stop, which is a fifth, producing a difference tone of 8 Hz on low C.)
Harmonic Flute		Flute	an open metal flute made to sound an octave above its length by means of a small hole at its midpoint; This stop speaks a very pure flute tone and was popularized by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
Hohlflöte	Holpijp	Flute	a metal ot wooden 8' open or stopped flute.
Larigot		Flute	flute mutation stop at  1 1⁄3′ pitch
Mixture		Principal	Mixtures enhance the harmonics of the fundamental pitch, and are intended for use with foundation stops, not alone. Mixture IV, for example, indicates four ranks. Mixture 15.19.22.26" indicates the composition.
Nachthorn	Night Horn Cor de Nuit Corno de Nacht	Flute	wide-scaled flute with a relatively small mouth, produces a soft, but penetrating sound; occurring at 8′ and 4′ pitch, and also at 2′ pitch at pedal
Nasard	Nasat Nazard	Flute	flute mutation stop of  2 2⁄3&prime
Oboe	Hautbois	Reed	reed stop used as both a solo stop and a chorus reed.
Octave/Principal	Oktav Prestant	Principal	a 4′ Principal
Ophicleide		Reed	powerful reed stop, much like the Bombarde; normally a 16′ or 32′ pedal reed; unusually an 8′ or 16′ on the manuals
Orchestral Oboe		Reed	a different stop from Oboe; intended to imitate the orchestral instrument; of smaller scale than the non-imitative oboe
Piccolo		Flute	2′ flute
Posaune		Reed	German for "trombone", chorus reed.
Principal/Open Diapason	Montre Principale Prinzipal Tenori[2]	Principal	Principal.
Quarte		Flute	2′ flute on 17th and 18th century French organs; short for Quarte de nasard, sounding an interval of a fourth above the nasard stop
Rankette		Reed	a reed stop with  1⁄32 length resonators producing a buzzy sound with low fundamental.
Rohrflöte	Chimney Flute	Flute	German for "reed flute"; a semi-capped metal pipe with a narrow, open-ended tube (i.e. "chimney") extending from the top which resembles a reed
Salicional		String	an 8′ string stop.
Sesquialtera		Principal	Comprises ranks at 2 2⁄3' and 1 3⁄5'
Sifflöte	Piccolo Sifflet	Flute	1′ flute
Super Octave/Fifteenth		Principal	the manual 2′ Principal or Diapason; Its name merely signifies that it is above (i.e. "super") the 4′ Octave.
Tibia Clausa	Tibia	Flute	a large-scale, stopped wood flute pipe, usually with a leathered lip; performs same function in a theatre pipe organ as a principal in a classical organ.
Tierce	Seventeenth Terz Tertia	Flute	mutation stop pitched  1 3⁄5′, supporting the 8′ harmonic series
Trichterregal		Reed	an 8-ft reed stop on a pipe organ with funnel-shaped tubes (resonators).[3][4] A trichterregal was used by Schnitger in the Schnitger organ that he built for St. James's Church, Hamburg.
Trombone	Posaune	Reed	Chorus reed. simulating the trombone; most commonly in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch
Trompette en Chamade		Reed	Solo trumpet laid horizontally
Trompette Militaire		Reed	powerful solo reed of the trumpet-family, with a brassy, penetrating tone
Trumpet	Trompete Trompette	Reed	a loud reed stop, generally a single rank, with inverted conical resonators.
Tuba		Reed	large-scale, high pressure, smooth solo reed usually 8′ in the manuals and 16′ (sometimes 32′) in the pedal. Tuba is Latin for Trumpet; it is not named after the orchestral tuba.
Twenty-Second	Kleine Principal	Principal	a 1′ principal
Unda Maris		Flute	Latin for "wave of the sea"; a very soft rank tuned slightly sharp or flat. It is drawn with another soft rank to create a Voix céleste. Occasionally built as a double-rank stop called Unda Maris II, one rank at standard pitch and the other tuned sharp or flat.
Vox Humana	Voix Humaine	Reed	fractional length regal supposedly intended to imitate the human voice

References

External links

• Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, (retrieved from original, 8 February 2017) a fairly exhaustive reference that describes over two thousand stop names.
• Pipe organ tonal design, a French organ builder's site in sometimes puzzling English.
•  "Harmonic Stop". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.