Foley-Baker, Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, Part 2

Foley-Baker, Inc., of Tolland, Connecticut, to remove and rebuild National Cathedral pipe organ

Two manuals and pedal, 18 stops, 20 ranks, 1,186 pipes

Aeolian-Skinner Opus 892 restored by Foley-Baker

When the University of Minnesota installed a pipe organ in Northrop Auditorium, its 4,800-seat convocation hall, a wise choice was made; they got the best, an Aeolian-Skinner instrument (Opus 892) of four manuals, 6,982 pipes, and 108 ranks. Built in sections between 1932 and 1935, this was one of the largest instruments the company had built to that time, and it remains a remarkable document of a transitional period in the Aeolian-Skinner firm’s evolution. The organ retains much of the Ernest M. Skinner aesthetic, but some scaling and voicing details show the new influence of G.

Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau