'Great' manual. The stops in a solo organ are most frequently (1) Flutes of 8 ft. and 4 ft.; (2) A stop of clarinet-tone; (3) a stop of oboe-tone (orchestral oboe); (4) Reeds of 8 ft. and 4 ft. of trumpet-tone (tromba, tuba, etc.). Larger solo organs contain also stops imitative of the violin, horn, piccolo, and other instruments; perhaps also an open diapason, and, in a few cases, a carillon or glockenspiel. The solo trumpet-stops are most frequently on a heavy pressure of wind, and in order to obtain special brilliancy are sometimes 'harmonic,' as are also the flutes; that is, they have tubes of twice the ordinary length, pierced with a small hole at their half length. Some of the stops of a solo organ are often used in chords, such for instance as flutes and reeds. This is most commonly done by means of a coupler 'Solo to Great,' by which the diapason or flute tones of the solo organ can be used as a valuable reinforcement of the foundation stops of the Great manual; and the tone of the full Great organ can be similarly enriched by coupling the solo reeds. In instruments which contain a Vox humana, that stop is perhaps more often found associated with the Swell-manual than with the Solo-manual; but when placed on the solo organ its pipes are generally shut up in a separate box with Venetian shutters worked by a second swell-pedal. When composition-pedals are made to act upon the Swell, Great, and Choir organs, it is evidently wise to make the combinations they produce proceed as gradually as possible from piano to fortissimo. But this simple principle is not applicable to the combinations or rather selections of solo stops which are made by means of composition-pedals or pistons. The difficulty seems however to be overcome by a method suggested some years ago by the writer of this article; namely, to arrange them in the order in which the instruments are found in a modern full-score. Thus, six combination-pedals would act on the solo-stops in the following system:—
(1) Stops of Flute-tone.
(2) Stops of Oboe-tone.
(3) Stops of Clarinet and Bassoon tones.
(4) Stops of Horn-tone.
(5) Stops of Trumpet and Trombone tones.
(6) Stops of Violin and Viola tones.
This method, which is at once simple and exhaustive, might be indefinitely extended; thus for example, a carillon, drum, or triangle, would be produced by a composition-pedal or piston lying between the trumpet stops and violin stops; and a vox humana would naturally follow after stops of the violin-tone. Smaller solo organs would probably be easily brought under control by combination-pedals or pistons acting on
(1) Flute.
(2) Oboe.
(3) Clarinet.
(4) Trumpet.
The Solo organ is an introduction of modern times, and followed naturally upon the invention of pipes closely imitating the tones of orchestral instruments.
SOLO STOP, (1) A stop or register of a solo organ or fourth manual. (2) Any stop which can be used as a solo—that is, in single notes, e.g. a clarinet on the choir organ; a cornopean, hautboy, or other reed on the swell organ; a clarabella or flute on either of the three manuals great, swell, or choir. The name Solo stop does not necessarily imply that full chords may not be used upon it. [See Solo Organ.]
SOLOMON. An oratorio of Handel's; composed between 'Alexander Balus' and 'Theodora.' It was begun on May 5, 1748, and the memorandum at the end of the work is 'G. F. Handel, Juin 13, 1748, ætatis 63. Völlig geendiget.' The words of the oratorio are supposed to be by Dr. Morell; but this is not certain. It was produced at Covent Garden theatre, March 17, 1749, 'with a Concerto,' and was revived by Sir G. Smart at Exeter Hall, April 14, 1836. The Sacred Harmonic Society followed, Dec. 3, 1838; and with Costa's additional accompaniments, April 8, 1870.
SOMBRÉE. Voix sombrée is the French term for the veiled voice or voce velata, in contradistinction to the voix claire. [See Veiled Voice.]
SOMIS, Giovanni Battista, violinist, was born in Piedmont in 1676. He studied first under Corelli at Rome, and afterwards under Vivaldi at Venice. After his return to Turin he was appointed solo violinist to the King, and leader of the royal band, a position he retained until his death, which occurred in 1763. After having once settled at Turin he appears scarcely ever to have left it; and since only a single composition of his, a set of sonatas, has been published, there are no means of directly forming an estimate of him as a player; but judging from the style of his numerous and well-known pupils, Somis did not merely hand on the traditions of the great Italian masters, but formed a style of his own, more brilliant and more emotional, marking technically, and also, in a sense, musically, a decided forward step in the art of playing the violin. As the head and founder of the Piedmontese School, and the teacher of Léclair, Giardini, Chiabran and Pugnani—the latter again the teacher of Viotti—he occupies a prominent place in the history of violin-playing, and forms the connecting link between the classical schools of Italy and France. Fétis names as his only published work 'Opera prima di sonate a violino e violoncello o cembalo. Roma 1722.'
SOMMEROPHONE. An instrument of the saxhorn or bombardon class, named after its inventor. It will be remembered as largely played in the Crystal Palace of 1851. 'The Euphonic horn of Herr Sommer' is honourably mentioned in the Reports of the Juries (pp. 331, 335) as 'an instrument of great power as well as sweetness of tone.' It possessed no very special peculiarities, and is now seldom, if ever, used.
SON AND STRANGER, THE. The title of the English version, by H. F. Chorley, of
