Récit: a piece in which a single voice emerges soloistically above all others by means of special registration. The latter is usually indicated in the title, i.e. in a Récit de Cromorne the solo voice would be played using the cromorne stop. Cromorne, cornet, tierce, nasard, trompette and voix humaine are the most commonly encountered solo stops. The titles of such compositions frequently omit the word "récit" and simply indicate the registration (Cromorne, Cornet, etc.) and/or the position of the solo voice. Typical combinations include the following:

French organ composers cultivated four major genres: masses, hymns, suites and noëls. Noëls are variations on Christmas carols, whereas the first three genres were all realized as collections of brief pieces in various characteristic forms. Such forms included the following:[1]


Additionally, a number of standard registrations may be indicated by the following designations:


The designations dessus, taille and basse stand for "soprano", "tenor" and "bass", respectively.[2] A rarely used type of voicing is haute-contre (or haulte contre), "high tenor". Such designations are used to point to the position of the solo stop in a récit (see examples above), or of the chant melody in a setting (i.e. the title Kyrie en basse indicates that the chant itself is in the bass).

(c. 1563–1633)

Jean Titelouze

(1598–1664)

Charles Racquet

(c. 1626–1661)

Louis Couperin

(1624–1680)

François Roberday

(c. 1627–1707)

Nicolas Gigault

French baroque harpsichordists

German organ schools

List of organ composers

Organ repertoire

. 1972. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published as Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.

Apel, Willi

Beckmann, Klaus. Repertorium Orgelmusik. Komponisten - Werke - Editionen. 1150-2000 (3., neu bearbeitete und erweiterte Auflage 2001). Vol. I. Schott.  3-7957-0500-2

ISBN

Douglass, Fenner. 1995. The Language of the Classical French Organ: A Musical Tradition Before 1800. Yale University Press.  0-300-06426-8

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Owen, Barbara. 1997. The Registration of Baroque Organ Music. Indiana University Press.  0-253-21085-2

ISBN

Silbiger, Alexander. 2004. Keyboard Music Before 1700. Routledge.  0-415-96891-7

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