A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Principal

PRINCIPAL. A word with various meanings.

I. An organ stop. In Germany the term is very properly applied to the most important 8-feet stops of open flue-pipes on the manuals, and to open 16-feet stops on the pedals, thus corresponding to our 'open diapasons.' But in this country the Principal is, with very few exceptions, the chief open metal stop of 4-feet pitch, and should more properly be termed an Octave or Principal octave, since it sounds an octave above the diapasons.

[ J. S. ]

II. Principal or Prinzipale. A term employed in many of Handel's scores for the third trumpet part. This is not usually in unison with the first and second trumpets, which are designated as Tromba 1^mo and 2^ndo. It is often written for in the old soprano clef with C on the lowest line, and has a range somewhat lower than the trombe. The older works on instrumentation, such as those of Schilling, Koch, Schladebach and Lichtenthal, recognise the difference and draw a distinction between 'Principal-Stimme' and 'Clarin-Stimme.' It is obvious that whereas the tromba or clarino represented the old small-bored instrument now obsolete, for which the majority of Handel's and Bach's high and difficult solos were composed, the Principal, in tone and compass, more nearly resembled the modern large-bored military trumpet. The contrast can easily be recognised by an examination of the overture to the Occasional Oratorio Arnold's edition, or that of the Dettingen Te Deum as published by the German Handel Society. In the latter the old soprano, in the former the usual treble clef, is adopted.

III. Principals, in modern musical language, are the solo singers or players in a concert.

[ W. H. S. ]