organ210
Organs
organ 210
December 2019
2 manuals
19 speaking stops
Click here for full spec
National Museum
Wales, Cardiff
Builders
John Snetzler, 1774
Samuel Green, 1783
Gray & Davison, 1863
Goetze & Gwynn, 1996
Weblinks:
Pass your mouse over a photo
for a brief description
Click on the photo to obtain
a full-size image
Click here for
Organ of the Month archive
(contains over 200 organs)
A number of BOA members attended the OrganFest weekend in Cardiff earlier this year, an event promoted jointly by the IAO, BIOS and RCO. This is the first of a short series of organs heard there.
One of the weekend's visits was to the National Museum Wales to hear the organ housed there, which began life in 1774 as a house organ for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn at his London residence in St James's Square. Sir Watkin was a Welsh landowner, politican and patron of the arts.
Originally the work of the famous Swiss builder John Snetzler, by 1783 the organ had already been slightly modified by Samuel Green. It is contained within a beautifully decorated case by Robert Adam. The organ was moved to the Williams-Wynn country seat at Wynnstay Hall near Ruabon in 1863 and rebuilt by Gray & Davison, who maintained it until 1941. Repair work, significantly to the Swell chest, was carried out by HN&B in 1981. The organ was moved to its present location and restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 1996. There are regular Thursday lunchtime concerts here.
You can listen to another Goetze & Gwynn restoration of an historic organ as December 2019's Music of the Month.