The history of organ building in Molfetta is lost in the mists of time. The firts information available are related to the early Cathedral of...

The history of organ building in Molfetta is lost in the mists of time. The firts information available are related to the early Cathedral of the town (today known as St. Conrad's Cathedral), the foundation of which dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1842 Michele Romano reported in his 'Saggio sulla storia di Molfetta' (Essay on the history of Molfetta) of a ''very elegant and magnificent organ'' and an ''orchestra with mottled and golden organ, with carvings and art works with the coat of arms of the Pope at the top''. Antonio Salvemini, in his 'Saggio storico (Historical Essay) of 1878, wrote a 'great organ built in 1584 at the expense of the Chapter of Molfetta Cathedral all gilded with gold sequins, which was destroyed at the beginning of this century for boing ruined by the sea moisture'. Archive indications known today are not very well organized; howerer, an act of 1543, related to a benefir of 'Just patronatus laicorum', stating the exstence of an altar, allows us to indicate the existence of an organ in the main church of Molfetta, about forty years before the date given by Michele Romano.