Swiss House Organ

House organ by Josef Loosser, Lueppfertsweil, Gemeind Cappel, St. Gall (Switzerland), 1786 (NMM 4897).

One of the most colorful instruments on exhibit at the National Music Museum is this magnificently painted house organ, built in 1786 by Josef Loosser in a workshop attached to his house just outside Ebnat-Kappel, a village located on the Thur River in the Toggenburger Valley of northeastern Switzerland. The case is painted in the traditional style (a free rococo with stylised flowers) of the Toggenburger region, complemented by gilded carvings in front of the pipes and at the top of the marbled cornices. Such organs were built to be used in homes to accompany singing of canticles and sacred songs, at a time when music was banned in many Swiss churches. The Museum's example is the only 6-stop organ by Loosser known to survive.