Tremulant

This article is about a component of the pipe organ. For the EP released by The Mars Volta, see Tremulant (EP).
"Geschwinder Tremulant" (fast tremulant) stop on the Herbst-Orgel Lahm in Itzgrund (built in 1732).
Tremulantat  using
spring-loaded flap, on the Jens Steinhoff organ in Varna, Bulgaria

A tremulant (from Latin: tremulus, "trembling"; French: tremblant, Italian: tremolo, Spanish: temblor[1]) is a device on a pipe organ which varies the wind supply to the pipes of one or more divisions (or, in some cases, the whole organ). This causes their amplitude and pitch to fluctuate,[2] producing a tremolo and vibrato effect. A large organ may have several tremulants, affecting different ranks (sets) of pipes. Many tremulants are variable, allowing for the speed and depth of tremolo to be controlled by the organist. The tremulant has been a part of organ building for many centuries, dating back to Italian organs of the sixteenth century.[3]

The tremulant should not be confused with the celeste, which consists of two distinct ranks of pipes, one tuned slightly sharp or flat from the other, producing an undulating effect when they are used together.

  1. ^ Owen, Barbara (2001). "Tremulant". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.‎
  2. ^ Pykett 2009
  3. ^ Christopher Stembridge (1998). Nicholas Thistlethwaite; Geoffrey Webber (eds.). Italian organ music to Frescobaldi," in The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press, 1998. p. 153. ISBN 0-521-57584-2.