The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, usually referred to as the Kotzschmar Organ, is a pipe organ located at Merrill Auditorium in the City Hall of Portland, Maine, United States.
The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ, usually referred to as the Kotzschmar Organ, is a pipe organ located at Merrill Auditorium in the City Hall of Portland, Maine, United States.
Built in 1911 by the Austin Organ Co. as Opus 323, the Kotzschmar Organ was the second-largest organ in the world at the time, and it remains the largest organ in Maine today. [1]
The organ was donated to the city by Portland native Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, founder of the Curtis Publishing Company of Philadelphia, as a memorial to Hermann Kotzschmar, a close family friend for whom he had been named. Kotzschmar was a German-born musician who came to Portland in 1849, acquired a reputation as the city's most prominent musician, and lived there until his death in 1908. [1]
The Kotzschmar Organ is a prime example of the U.S. style of municipal (city–owned) organs which were once a prevalent part of American culture throughout the first half of the 20th century. [2] It was the first municipal organ built in the U.S., [3] and is one of only two U.S. municipal organs still owned by a municipality – the other being the Spreckels Organ in San Diego, California. [1]
The City of Portland created the position of Municipal Organist in 1912. The position was maintained until 1981 when it was eliminated due to budget constraints. That same year a non-profit organization called Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ was formed in order to provide continued funding for a municipal organist (who would become an FOKO employee), as well as to fund maintenance and restoration of the organ. [1]
To date, there have been eleven municipal organists in Portland: [1]
A partial list of notable organists who have played the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ: [1] [4]
Auburn is a city in south-central Maine, within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities or Lewiston–Auburn (L–A).
Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis was an American publisher of magazines and newspapers, including the Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.
Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs.
Ernest Martin Skinner was an American pipe organ builder. His electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
The symphonic organ is a style of pipe organ that flourished during the first three decades of the 20th century in town halls and other secular public venues, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has roots in 19th-century Europe, and is a variation of the classical pipe organ. It features expanded capabilities, with many pipes imitative of orchestral instruments, and with multiple expressive divisions and organ console controls for seamlessly adjusting volume and tone, generally with electric organ actions and winding. These expansions let the organist approximate a conductor's power to shape the tonal textures of Romantic music and orchestral transcriptions. These organs are generally concert instruments as opposed to church organs. The symphonic organ has seen a revival in the US, Europe and Japan, particularly since the 1980s.
The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest fully functioning pipe organ in the world, based on the number of playing pipes, the number of ranks and its weight. The Wanamaker Organ is located within a spacious 7-story Grand Court at Macy's Center City and is played twice a day Monday through Saturday. The organ is featured at several special concerts held throughout the year, including events featuring the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble.
John Knowles Paine was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music. The senior member of a group of composers collectively known as the Boston Six, Paine was one of those responsible for the first significant body of concert music by composers from the United States. The Boston Six's other five members were Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, Edward MacDowell, George Chadwick, and Horatio Parker.
Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent Airchest, and many remain in fine playing condition to this day.
The Portland Symphony Orchestra (PSO) was established in 1923 in Portland, Maine as the Amateur Strand Symphony Orchestra. Started by a small group of musicians who had sent out invitations to join their organization to people in the area, they had their first rehearsal the following year with 75 instrumentalists, giving their first concert a month later at the Strand Theater. In 1927 the orchestra changed its name to the Portland Municipal Orchestra, and again in 1932 to the Portland Maine Symphony. In 1969, the orchestra's name was changed to the Portland Symphony Orchestra, after that name became available when an older orchestra in Portland, Oregon, relinquished it in favor of a new name, the Oregon Symphony. Today the Portland Symphony Orchestra is recognized to be one of the top orchestras of its size in the country. The concert season runs from September to May and during July, and performs a variety of concerts in their home concert hall Merrill Auditorium.
Merrill Auditorium is a 1,908-seat auditorium located in Portland, Maine, United States. Originally known as Portland City Hall Auditorium, it is located in the eastern section of Portland City Hall.
The Curtis Organ, named for publisher Cyrus H.K. Curtis, is one of the largest pipe organs in the world with 162 ranks and 10,731 pipes. The concert organ, of American Symphonic design, was manufactured by the Austin Organ Company as its Opus 1416 in 1926 for the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition. It was known as the "Organists' Organ" because the specifications were formulated by Henry S. Fry, John M'E. Ward, Rollo F. Maitland, Frederick Maxson, and S. Wesley Sears, all prominent Philadelphia organists.
Felix Hell is a German organist.
Kotzschmar may refer to:
Portland City Hall is the center of city government in Portland, Maine. The fourth city hall built in Portland, it is located at 389 Congress Street, on a prominent rise, anchoring a cluster of civic buildings at the eastern end of Portland's downtown. The structure was built between 1909 and 1912 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Johann Carl Hermann Kotzschmar was a German-American musician, conductor, and composer.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose auditorium and meeting space in downtown Evansville, Indiana.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Maine, USA.
Harold Gleason (1892–1980) was an American organist, teacher, lecturer, and scholar. He is best known as the author of Method of Organ Playing, published in numerous editions made by him and later by his wife, concert organist Catharine Crozier.
Cora Skillings Briggs was an American composer and organist. She studied harmony with Stephen A. Emery and piano and organ with Hermann Kotzschmar and E. W. Hanscom; performed as the organist for the First Congregational Church of her birthplace for forty-eight years. She wrote around eighty sacred Christian songs, the most famous one being Hold Thou My Hand. Her husband, George A. Briggs was a vocalist.