This stop is mentioned only by Adlung, who provides no definition:

“The Altdresdener organ has a Grosse Sesquialter im Alt und Diskant [great Sesquialter in the alto and treble]; i.e., it does not go throughout the entire manual, since it sounds somewhat coarse in the lower register, due to the low Quinte and Terz.”

It is most likely a Sesquialtera of sub-octave pitch; e.g. 5-1/3' + 3-1/5'.

Examples

All known examples are listed below.

Gross Sesquialtera II, Pedale; Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; Aeolian-Skinner 1935.

Gross-Sesquialtera III, Pedal; Grossmünster, Zürich, Switzerland; Metzler 1960.

Bibliography