Otto Schlicht

Otto Schlicht was a German-American manufacturer of concertinas in Chicago.

Biography

Schlicht arrived in the United States from Germany around 1900, having worked on German-type concertinas there. He applied his knowledge to the production of concertinas, and began^{[ when? ]} producing models under the brand-names Patek, Pearl Queen, and Peerless for music shop in Illinois. ^{[1] [2]}

He transitioned to owning his own concertina workshop, where he produced his brands until 1950. Shortly after he ceased working, in 1952 concertina maker Christy Hengel purchased Schlicht's concertina-making equipment, which had been stored in a basement since the workshop closed, for $1500, moving it to his own shop in New Ulm, Minnesota, producing chemnitzer concertinas under the Helgel name. ^[3]

References

1. Litwin, Steve; Kohan, Mark (2004). "The Chemnitzer Concertina: Polka Music's Workhorse". Polish American Journal. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
2. Philip Vilas Bohlman(Philip Bohlman); Otto Holzapfel (2002). Land Without Nightingales: Music in the Making of German-America. University of Wisconsin-Madison. p. 206. ISBN   978-0-924119-04-0.
3. American Folk Art. ABC-CLIO. 19 March 2012. pp. 408–. ISBN   978-0-313-34936-2.