1730 Tobias-Heinrich-Gottfried-Trost Organ

Ev.-Luth. Stadtkirche Waltershausen/Thüringen, Germany


Short Introduction and History

The Trost organ of Waltershausen, with its 47 stops and 6 transmissions, is the biggest baroque organ in Thuringia. It is largely preserved in its original state of 1730 (a good 70% of the pipe material was built by Trost) and therefore is an invaluable reference when performing organ music by J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. Today this organ is viewed as an important authentic "Bach organ".

The organ was built in 1724–30 by Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost, but due to several specification changes and severe conflicts between Trost and the Waltershausen parish, it was not completed until around 1755, probably by the organ builder Johann Heinrich Ruppert. The instrument has survived without major changes, and was brought back to its 1730 state by Orgelbau Waltershausen during the years 1994–98.

It is a typical instrument of the Thuringian organ building school with ranks such as a Violonbass, mixtures containing thirds, Sesquialtera, and Viola di Gamba, etc. This, and the richness of well-blending stops allowing endless sound combinations, already anticipates the romantic organ of a century later in a fascinating way.

Trost's outstanding and innovative concepts using unconventional and extreme pipe measurements in stops like the Geigenprincipal, Flauto traverse, Vagarr, but likewise stops with a delicate sweetness preferred by Bach, such as the Flauto dolce, Flöte dupla and Nachthorn etc., also support the upcoming gallant style. The firm ground tone (German "Gravität") demanded by Bach is realized by three 16 foot manual ranks, a 16 and 32 foot Posaune in the Pedal, no less than 12 eight foot flue stops in the three manual divisions, rich mixtures as well as two Sesquialtera stops. The instrument has an extremely rich plenum sound, while never forcing the sound.

The organ facade, designed by Johann Eberhard Strassburger, the architect of the Anna-Amalia library of Weimar, and the console are of unrivalled beauty. Even the manuals are original.

Although we don't know for sure, it is likely that Bach played this organ. We do know that he expressed his highest appreciation for the beautiful sound and good craftsmanship of Trost's organs while visiting the Trost organ of Altenburg in 1739.

The church architecture, which apparently was a predecessor of the Dresden Frauenkirche, was designed by Wolf Christoph Zorn of Plobsheim. This special architecture, uniting altar, pulpit and organ, perfectly realizes the Lutheran liturgical idea. Therefore the organ is located above the altar (also found in the Frauenkirche Dresden).

The church room has semi-dry acoustics with about 2.5 seconds of reverberation.

See Location in Googlemaps

Recording technique

The organ was recorded in July/Aug. 2008 with 48 kHz, 24 bit, multi-channel for Hauptwerk 3, using the multi-release technique introduced by OrganArt. The stops were recorded with multiple release levels for short, medium and long key attacks for optimal acoustical mapping. All manual reed ranks and Oberwerk ranks were additionally recorded with the original tremulant sound.


I would like to thank the parish of Waltershausen for supporting this project.

Special thanks are due to main organist Theophil Heinke for local assistance as well as Orgelbau Waltershausen for a lot of helpful information and discussions!


Virtual Console



Temperament: Special modified mean-tone temperament , 5th comma  (a1= 466,8 Hz, 15°C)

NOTE: Click on the stop names for a small sound demo!

Hauptwerk (C–c3)*

01. Portun-Untersatz 16
02. Groß Qvintadena 16
03. Principal 8
04. Gemshorn 8
05. Viol d’ Gambe 8
06. Portun 8
07. Qvintadena 8
08. Unda maris 8
09. Octava 4
10. Salcional 4
11. Röhr-Flöta 4
12. Celinder-Qvinta 3
13. Super-Octava 2
14. Sesqvialtera 2 fach
15. Mixtura 8 fach
16. Fagott 16
17. Trompetta 8

Brustwerk (C–c3)*

01. Gedackt 8
02. Nachthorn 8
03. Principal 4
04. Flöte douce 4
05. Nachthorn 4
06. Gemshorn 4
07. Spitz-Qvinta 3
08. Nassad-Qvinta 3
09. Octava 2
10. Sesqvialtera 2 fach
11. Mixtura 4 fach
12. Hautbous 8

Oberwerk (C–c3)*

01. Flöte Dupla 8
02. Vagarr 8
03. Flöte travers 8
04. liebl. Principal 4
05. Spitzflöte 4
06. Gedackt-Qvinta 3
07. Wald-Flöte 2
08. Hohl-Flöte 8
09. Vox humana 8
10. Geigenprincipal 4

Pedal (C–d1)*

01. Groß-Principal 16
02. Sub-Bass 16
03. Violon-Bass 16
04. Octaven-Bass 8
05. Celinder-Qvinta 6
06. Posaunen-Bass 32
07. Posaunen-Bass 16
08. Trompetten-Bass 8
09. Qvintadenen-Bass 16 (Trans)
10. Viol d’Gamben-Bass 8 (Trans)
11. Portun-Bass 8 (Trans)
12. Super-Octava 4 (Trans)
13. Röhr-Flöten-Bass 4 (Trans)
14. Mixtur-Baß 6fach (Trans)


OW-HW (Hakenkoppel)
BW-HW (Schiebekoppel)
HW-P (Windkoppel)
BW-P (Hakenkoppel)


Tremulant zur Vox humana
Tremulant zum gesamten Werck
2 Cymbelsterne (C und G)
Zug für die Sperrventile

* Extended Version:
Manuals C–f3
Pedal C–f1


Loaded Version

Memory Requirements 3)

Processor Speed

16-bit, compressed1), singe loop

3100 MB

≥ 2 GHz  DualCore 2)

16-bit, compressed, all loops

3400 MB

≥ 2 GHz DualCore 2)

24-bit, compressed, all loops

6500 MB

≥ 2 GHz  DualCore 2)

Lossless compression (no loss of sound quality!)

Minimal configuration: Dual-Core, 4 GByte main memory, optimal configuration: QuadCore, 8 GByte RAM




The following demo pieces were recorded with the Hauptwerk Advanced Edition software and the Trost virtual organ sample set, with no additional effects processing.

Live recorded demos by
Anton Doornhein, NL:

J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Passacaglia c-moll  BWV 582  13:50 min | Registration

Partita "Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig"  BWV 768 20:17 min | RegistrationPraeludium C-Dur  BWV 547 4:33 min
Principal 8, Portun 8, Octava 4, Rohrflöte 4, Super-Octava 2, Mixtura 6-8f, BW-HW
BW: Gedackt 8, Nachthorn 8, Principal 4, Nachthorn 4, Octava 2, Mixtura 4f
PED: Groß-Principal 16, Violon-Baß 16, Sub-Baß 16, Octaven-Baß 8, Celinder-Qvinta 6,
Posaunen-Baß 16, Trompetten-Baß 8, HW-P, BW-P

Fuga C-Dur  BWV 547 5:05 min
Principal 8, Portun 8, Octava 4, Rohrflöte 4, Celinder-Qvinta 3, Sesqvialtera 2f,
Super-Octava 2, Mixtura 6-8f, BW-HW (+ Groß-Qvintadena 16, + Fagott 16, + Trompetta 8)
BW: Gedackt 8, Nachthorn 8, Principal 4, Nachthorn 4, Gemshorn 4, Octava 2 (+ Mixtura 4f)
Posaunen-Baß 32, Posaunen-Baß 16, Trompetten-Baß 8, HW-P, BW-P (+ Celinder-Qvinta 6)

Partita "O Gott, Du frommer Gott"  BWV 767
Choral HW:
Portun-Untersatz 16, Portun 8, Principal 8
Var 1 HW: Portun 8, Principal 8, Rohrflöte 4  BW: Gedackt 8, Flöte douce 4
Var 2 OW:
Flöte Dupla  8, Spiz-Flöte 4
Var 3 HW:
Groß-Qvintadena 16, Rohrflöte 4, Fagott 16 OW: Hohl-Flöte 8, Wald-Flöte 2
Var 4 BW:
Nachthorn 8, Nachthorn 4,
Var 5 HW:
Quintadena 8, Rohrflöte 4   BW: Hautbous 8,
Var 6 OW:
Flöte Dupla  8, Hohlflöte 8
Var 7 HW:
Portun 8, Und Maris 8,
Var 8 HW:
Principal 8, Portun 8, Rohrflöte 4, Octava 4, Super-Octava 2, Mixtura 8f
+( Portun-Untersatz 16, Sesquialtera, BW-HW)
BW: Gedackt 8, Principal 4, Flöte douce 4, Spitz-Qvinta 3
+ (Nachthorn 8, Octava 2, Sesquialtera)

Musicalisches Opfer, Ricercare à  6 BWV 1079  9:25 min

Musicalisches Opfer, Trio in c BWV 1079  8:25 min

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654):
Modus ludendi pleno Organo pedaliter à 6 Voc. (Mean tone 6th comma)  2:15 min

Numerous other live recordings can be found on the ConcertHall Website
(Advanced Search, Organ: OAM - Trost Organ Waltershausen)

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No demo sounds may be used or transmitted in any form for public purposes without the prior permission of the publisher!

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