A method of constructing organ-chests whereby pipes are placed chromatically as near as possible to their notes on the keyboard and the number of pipes is reduced by applying the principle of difference and addition tones. The system is associated with the Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler, who travelled through Europe ‘simplifying’ organs in Salzburg, Munich, Berlin and elsewhere by replacing their bulky reeds with free reeds and their costly Mixtures and 32' stops with low Mutations. Most ranks were halved. None of these ideas was new, of course, but Vogler's personal magnetism, though smacking of charlatanry to the enlightened, was effective. Both the contemporary interest in the theory of overtones, etc. (which noted that 16' + 102/3' ranks gave a soft 32' tone), and the popular need for economy in organs helped his schemes, but his influence on the new big firms of central Europe – Walcker, Moser, Sauer – should not be overestimated.
See also Orchestrion (1).
PETER WILLIAMS