Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost

Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost (born around 1680; died 12 August 1759 in Altenburg) was a leading Thuringian organ-builder.

In early 1718 Trost moved to the house of his brother-in-law in Mockern, and then again to Altenburg in 1722, after the death of his father.

A later organist at Altenburg, Wilhelm Stade [de] praised the organ in 1880 in his assessment: Die Orgel der Schlosskirche gilt als eine der besten Orgeln Deutschlands, und dies nicht mit Unrecht, denn sie zeichnet sich durch Glanz, Kraft, besonders der Bässe, durch charakteristische, feinsinnige Intonation einzelner Stimmen aus; die Solidität der Arbeit ließ nicht zu wünschen übrig.

The organ of the palace chapel is rated as one of the best in Germany, and this with good reason, because it is outstanding for its brilliance, its power, and especially for its bass notes, and through the characteristic sensitive intonation of its individual voices.

While Gottfried Silbermann built fairly conventional organs following five basic standardised patterns, Trost was more experimental.

[2]: p.33 From start to finish many men, Have suffered building organs, then We too have joined their ranks, with Trost: "Consolation" is his name's translation, But he gives us scant elation, "No-Trost!"

Despite his appreciation of the organ, Silbermann made various suggestions for improvements, "concerning which H. Trost went to much effort, sparing himself no work, but which can have brought him little profit".

The Arabic numerals indicate the number of sounding registers (i.e. stop-knobs excluding accessories such as tremulants and couplers).