Organ details

History

The famous baroque organ in Roskilde Cathedral contains a substantial amount of historical pipes, making it one of the worlds finest historical organs. Two, maybe three generations of pipes date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. All facade pipes are from 1654 and around 44 % of the total amount of pipes in the organ are old.

Gothic: the oldest part of the pulpit date back to mid 15th century
1554-55: the Dutchman Herman Raphaëlis Rottenstein-Pock builds a new organ. The front of the pulpit with the facade of the Rygpositiv date back to this time.
1611: the organ is rebuilt by Nicolaus Maas. The royal box of King Chr IV opposite the organ dates back to the same year.
“Anno 1654” at the top of the facade indicates that the organ is rebuilt and enlarged by Gregor Mülisch and Peter Karstensen Botz. The facade gets all its baroque decorations and the small Brystpositiv is added.
1833 Marcussen & Reuter undertakes a big rebuild of the organ.
1876 Daniel Köhne makes substantial changes to the organ.
1926 Frobenius enlarges the organ. Almost all pipes from before 1833 are preserved. But unfortunately many pipes from 1833 are lost.
1991 The reconstruction of the Baroque Organ by Marcussen & Søhn. The old parts of the organ case and its floor are restored. All historic pipes are restored and they form the model for a reconstruction of the missing pipes.

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Specification

I Rygpositiv CDE-c3	II Manualvaerk CDEFGAB-c3	III Brystpositiv CDEFGAB-c3	Pedal CDE-d1
Principal 4 ◦ Gedact 8 ✯ Gedact 4 ✯ Octava 2 ◦ Sesquialt II ◦ Salicional 2 ◦ Sedecima 1 ◦ Mixtur III ◦ Hoboy 8 ◦ Tremulant I + P	Principal 8 ◦ Spitzflöjt 8 ✯ Bordun 16 ✯ Octava 4 ◦ Rohrflöjt 4 Nassath 3 Super Octava 2 ◦ Mixtur IV-V ◦ Trompet 8 III + II I + II II + P	Gedact 8 Waltflöjt 2 Gedactflöjt 4 Octava 2 ◦ Sedecima 1 ◦ Regal 8 ◦ Geigen Regal 4 ◦	Principal 16 ◦ Octava 8 ◦ Gedact 8 ◦ Octava 4 Mixtur IV Posaun 16 Trompet 8 Schalmej 4 Tremulant	Cymbelstern with Glockenspiel ◦ Birdsong Tremulant Calcanten Bell a1 = 432 Hz Temperament: Unequal with four pure fifths