Mixtures. In 1900 Rupp criticised the crusade against quints, tierces and mixtures which he traced back to Berlioz and the early nineteenth-century acousticians, G. Weber and E. Chladni, and on which he blamed the forcing of organ sound by increased wind pressure.329 According to Schweitzer (1906), the few mixtures that survived in organ dispositions did not blend with the foundation 328 Straube mistakenly gives this stop the name of its counterpart on manual II, Flauto dolce 4'. However, it is clear from the HR listing at the head of the Toccata, op. 65/11, that the 4' flute of manual III was intended. 329 Rupp, op. cit. 27ff. stops, but screamed in a brutal fashion.330 J.I. Wedgewood (1905) blamed this on the lack of a ‘middle’ in many dispositions,331and Dienel agreed that the art of voicing small pipes was lost.332 In fact, the whole function of mixture stops had been challenged by the Romantic organ aesthetic, which favoured fundamental sound. Mixtures were problematic in a cantabile style, partly because of their breaking back or repetition, and so the Cornet and the Progressio harmonica were popular for their non-repetition.333 Töpfer/Allihn wrote that ‘the repetition of mixtures, which is so damaging to any good part-writing, should be restricted and avoided where possible’.334 And Hugo Riemann grudgingly conceded that ‘it cannot be denied that the repetition of mixtures is a necessary evil...Admittedly, the mixture is drawn mostly in forte, especially for full chords, where the effect of the harmony is more important than the melodic line.’335 The viewpoint put forward by C. Sattler in his Orgelschule (1913), that artificial ranks of overtones in the form of octaves, quints, mutations and mixtures were included in organs of earlier times by way of compensation for the lack of Charakterstimmen, was by no means untypical. And at the turn of the century Max Allihn almost apologetically gave the fact of inadequate wind supplies as one of the reasons for the construction of mixtures in earlier organs, as mixtures consume little wind relative to the sensation of volume they produce. With the onset of pneumatic systems that could provide adequate wind for many foundation stops and enable the player to overcome the weight of touch that coupled manuals then demanded, mixtures could be replaced to a certain degree by an emphasis on fundamental sound, and artificial overtones could be replaced by the natural overtones of 8' stops.336 Despite this antipathy towards the...
