Quint-viola German? Quinte Viola German? Quintviole German

The names Quintviola and Quinte Viola are mentioned only by Williams, who describes an example at Altendresden in 1710 as “an open narrow 8' stop, sounding a strong fifth-tone”.

Audsley describes Quintviole as follows: “The name given by Zöllner to a string-toned stop, of 8 ft. pitch, introduced by him in the Organ of the Stadtkirche, Wittenberg.” In a footnote he quotes Seidel-Kothe as follows:

Quintviole 8' ist eine stimme, welche im Hauptwerke der Jahre 1814 vom Orgelbaumeister Zöllner aus Hubertusburg erbauten Orgel der Stadtkirche zu Wittenberg steht. Die Eigenschaften dieses Registers sind dem Verf. nicht bekannt; - soll es vielleicht eine Quintatön die eine, der Viola ähnliche Intonation hat, sein?

This translates as follows:

Quintviole 8' is a stop in the Hauptwerk of the city church of Wittenberg, which was built in 1814 by the organ-builder Zöllner from Hubertusburg. The characteristics of this stop are not known to the author. Could it perhaps be a Quintatön with an intonation similar to a Viola?

Williams cites an example of Quintviole as a stop of 2-2/3' pitch, and Osiris contains examples of Quintviola at 5th-sounding pitches.

Examples

All known examples are listed below.

Quintviole 8', Hauptwerk; Marienbasilika, Kevelaer, Germany; Seifert 1977.

Quintviola 2-2/3', Positief Expressief; St. Bavo Cathedral, Haarlem, Noord-Holland, Holland; Adema 1925. Originally built for St. Willibrordus Church in Amsterdam.

Quintviola 3', Orchestral String Organ; Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Hill, Norman & Bead 1929.

Quintviola 8', Schwellwerk; Lorenzkirche, Nürnerg, Germany; Steinmeyer 1937.

Quintviola 8', Kronpositivwerk; Sankt Bonifaz church, München, Germany; Muhleisen 1977.

Bibliography