A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Geigen-Principal

GEIGEN-PRINCIPAL, i.e. Violin Diapason. An organ stop of 8 feet or unison pitch; crisp in tone, and much resembling the violin in quality. A 'violl and violin' stop originally formed one of the features in the choir organ of the instrument in the Temple Church, built by Father Smith in 1688; but seems to have been removed shortly afterwards to make room for an additional reed stop. The Geigen-principal was first brought under notice in England in recent times by Herr Schulze, who introduced two, one of 8 feet and another of 4, into the admirable little organ he sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851. The stop was subsequently adopted by the English organ-builder, Mr. Lewis, who has made several excellent specimens of it.

[ E. J. H. ]