organ127
organ 127
January 2013
4 manuals
67 speaking stops
Click here for full spec
Tewkesbury
Abbey
Milton Organ
Builders:
J W Walker 1948
Kenneth Jones, 1997
Weblinks:
Tewkesbury Abbey
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Organ of the Month archive
(contains over 120 organs)
In 1631, Robert Dallam built a new organ for Magdalene College, Oxford. After a brief spell at Hampton Court Palace, the organ was re-erected at Magdalen in 1661 and subsequently re-modelled by Renatus Harris in 1690. In 1736 this two-manual (Great & Choir) instrument of 13 stops was sold to Tewkesbury Abbey.
A Swell Organ was added by John Holland in 1796, and in 1848 a re-build was carried out by 'Father' Willis. By 1924, the specification had been expanded to 21 stops.
Major work was carried out in 1948 by J W Walker that resulted in the organ being expanded to no less than five manual divisions.
The latest reconstruction was carried out in 1997 by Kenneth Jones and Associates of Bray, resulting in a four-manual instrument of 4611 pipes. The lower three keyboards have mechanical action, with the Solo and Apse divisions having electro-pnuematic action. The consultant for this work was Nicholas Kynaston, and he gave the inaugural recital on the restored instrument in May 1997.
You can listen to Stanislav Surin playing the Milton organ as January 13's Music of the Month