He introduced in France keyboards worthy of
the name, and he gave to the higher notes, through his invention of
harmonic stops, a brilliancy they had lacked. He invented wonderful
combinations which allow the organist to change his combinations and to
vary the tone, without the aid of an assistant and without leaving the
keyboard. Even before his day a scheme had been devised of enclosing
certain stops in a box protected by shutters which a pedal opened and
closed at will; this permitted the finest shadings. By different
processes the touch of the organ was made as delicate as that of the
piano.
For some years the Swiss organ-makers have been inventing new facilities
which make the organist a sort of magician. The manifold resources of
the marvellous instrument are at his command, obedient to his slightest
wish.
These resources are prodigious. The compass of the organ far surpasses
that of all the instruments of the orchestra. The violin notes alone
reach the same height, but with little carrying power. As for the lower
tones, there is no competitor of the thirty-two-foot pipes, which go two
octaves below the violoncello's low C. Between the _pianissimo_ which
almost reaches the limit where sound ceases and silence begins, down to
a range of formidable and terrifying power, every degree of intensity
can be obtained from this magical instrument.
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