(Fr.: ‘organ foundation’; ‘foundation stops’).
The 32', 16', 8', and 4' flue ranks in French organ terminology; the actual tonal implications reflect the stoplists typical of each period (see Registration, §I, 5). Gigault’s ‘fonds d’orgues’ registration (Livre de musique pour l’orgue, 1685) was an expansion of the ‘Concert de flûtes’ and implied the Positif coupled to the Grand orgue; this definition was based on the era’s flute-like Principal tone which remained the norm well into the 19th century: Bédos de Celles (L’art du facteur d’orgues, 1766–78) concurred with this conception. By extension, Fond d’orgue designated a compositional style, a slow piece of rather vocal character. A sparser musical texture toward the end of the 18th century ultimately offset the gradual enrichening of the stoplists with Bourdons, 4' flutes and additional treble-only ranks. As flue pipework became more diversified in timbre and intensity throughout the 19th century, the ‘fonds’ – henceforth conceived as a plural term – took on an orchestral character, allowing and indeed encouraging great subtlety in registrational colour. Between 20% and 60% of a late 19th-century French organ – depending on its overall size – would consist of varied 8' Foundation stops. The composers of Franck’s era further understood the term ‘les fonds’ or ‘jeux de fonds’ as the flue portion of each division, as opposed to the reeds and upperwork placed on a separate pallet box with a pedal-operated wind cut-off (‘anches’ or ‘jeux de combinaison’). Although postwar French organ specifications somewhat curtailed unison flue ranks, composers of Messiaen’s generation continued to use ‘fonds’ in the same generic way.
KURT LUEDERS