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The church organs
The church has two organs. The old baroque organ stands in the north transept, while the main organ stands in the far west end of the nave, under the rose window.
The Wagner organ
The Cathedral's famous baroque organ was built by renowned organ builder Joachim Wagner and was completed in 1741. Wagner belonged to the community of organ builders around Johann Sebastian Bach, and his instruments lend themselves well for interpretations of Bach's music. The history of the baroque organ in the Cathedral is a history of modification, until it was finally stowed away when the new organ was set up in 1930. However, a surprising amount of the original material was still intact when the facade and the remains of the baroque organ were shipped to the great organ builder Jürgen Ahrend's workshop in Germany. In 1994 the organ was completely restored and was again placed in the north transept of Nidaros Cathedral in all its former glory. Today there are only four other large Wagner organs, all in the Berlin area, in addition to ours. The organ in Nidaros Cathedral has 30 registers distributed on two manuals and pedals. |
The Steinmeyer organ
The large main organ in Nidaros Cathedral was built by the German company Steinmeyer. With its 127 registers the organ was one of the largest in North Europe until 1960, when it was moved and substantially modified. Even though the rebuilding ruined much of the original design and the acoustic balance, the sound of the instrument still affords the listener a sense of the original sound from the organ in the Cathedral. The organ is currently in a poor condition, but is still well worth preserving. A committee convened to assess the Steinmeyer organ in 1992 unanimously proposed that the organ should be restored to its original condition. Very few of these large German organs from this period still exist. Since 1999, a committee representing the concerned parties has been putting together specific plans for repairing and restoring the organ.
Up to 1993 the baroque organ facade was placed in front of the Steinmeyer organ as an ornament. |
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 The specification of the Steinmeyer organ
The specification of the Wagner organ
The Steinmeyer organ: CD recordings
The Wagner organ: CD recordings
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