(Fr.: ‘great registration’).
A term little used by modern French composers, grand jeu denotes one of two registrations: (a) the early Diapason chorus, without Flute mutations or reeds, corresponding in smaller organs to the old undivided, stop-less Blockwerk (St Etienne, Toulouse, 1531) but as a term soon to be replaced by the more appropriate Plein jeu (Chartres Cathedral, 1542); and (b) a characteristic combination of Bourdons, mutations, Cornet and reeds much used by the composers of the French school c1670–1770. Nivers (1665) still included most manual stops in his grand jeu but Lebègue (1676) gave the classical combination of Bourdon 8', Prestant 4', Cornet and Trompette. As such, the grand jeu was both used for certain interludes in the Mass (the exuberant finales to the Kyrie, Gloria, Agnus and offertory) and associated with a particular musical style, often contrapuntal or even fugal, sometimes with one hand in a colourful solo against the other on a quieter manual. By 1740, and probably earlier, pedal reeds also took part in the grand jeu, like other reeds, Cornets, Tierces and even Tremulants. In larger forms (Offertoire, Grand dialogue, etc.) the grand jeu alternated with the analogous registration on the Positif, logically called petit jeu. In the 19th century the term progressively disappeared from organ registration as the Grand choeur or Full organ was generalized, but lingered on in harmonium building as the collective drawknob bringing on simultaneously the four main stops of the standard instrument.
See also Organ, §V, 7, and Registration, §I, 5.
J. Saint-Arroman: L'interpretation de la musique française, 1661–1789 (Paris, 1988), 216–30
PETER WILLIAMS, KURT LUEDERS