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Sedecima Unknown (Primary)

Sedetz[e] Unknown

Sedex Unknown


Description:

Adlung lists these names with the following description: Sedetze, Sedex, Sedecima, are indeed all the same, and are derived from Sedecim, "sixteen". Accordingly, if one were to proceed upward [from C] for 16 diatonic notes, one would end up not on c['], but on d['], or a second above c['], which does not sound [well] on the organ . Thus it is clear that this must be a mistake in the figuring, and that Sedecima is written instead of decima quinta [i.e., fifteenth]; for it is supposed to be an octave stop, because it is at 2' and 1'. The size of the Sedecima is in proportion to that of the Principal; with a 4' the Sedecima is 1', with an 8' it is 2', and with a 16' Principal it is calculated at 4'. ... Sedex is the same thing by origin; although Niedt in the second part of his Handleitung, first edition, chap. XII, presents it as a Sesquialter, Mattheson in the second edition nevertheless corrects him by saying expressly that it is a little Superoktave at 1' or 2' pitch. The name "Sedetze" appears in Praetorius when he deals with Oktaves . Yet according to correct calculation it ought always to be called quinta decima, or Quintez for short. Grove describes Sedecima as follows: A term found in Habsburg Europe of the 17th and 18th century to denote a 1-1/3' Sifflote. Throughout its period of popularity, [Sifflöte] could be either 1' or 1-1/3', somebuilders preferring the first, others the second. Much the same was true of the Sedecima, the Sifflöte of Habsburg countries. Williams supports Grove's description. Maclean, however, calls Sedecima �an old name for Fifteenth�.


Examples:

All known examples are given below. No examples of Sedex are known. Contributions welcome.

Sedecima 1', Rykpositiv; Cathedral, Roskilde, Denmark; Rottenstein-Pock 1555, Maas 1611, Lorentz 1655. Sedecima 1', Hauptwerk; Teinkirche, Prague, Czechoslovakia; Mundt 1673, Gartner 1823.
Sedecima [no pitch given], Manual I; Valtice Parish Church, Valtice, Czechoslovakia; Hencke 1750, Doubek 1994. Sedecima 1', Chorpositiv; Grossmunster, Zurich, Switzerland; Metzler 1958.
Sedecima, Manual I; Parish Church, Valtice, Czechoslovakia; Hencke 1697. Sedecima 1', Positiv; Wallfahrtskirche Maria Kirchbüchl, Vienna, Austria; Hencke 1750.
Sedecima 1', Rückpositiv; St. Michael, Vienna, Austria; Sieber 1714. Sedetz 1, Brustwerk; St. Cosmae, Stade, Germany; Schnitger 1668-75.
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Original site compiled by Edward L. Stauff. For educational use only.