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Photos by Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
IF YOU GO
THE FRIENDS OF THE KOTZSCHMAR ORGAN SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
WHEN: All concerts are at 7:30 p.m. with a pre-concert conversation beginning at 6:30 p.m. Remaining dates are Tuesday with Felix Hell; Aug. 4 with Thomas Heywood; Aug. 18 with Ray Cornils; and Aug. 25 with Barbara Dennerlein.
WHERE: Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland
HOW MUCH: $15 suggested donation (at the door), free for those age 21 and younger
INFORMATION: Go to www.foko.org or call 553-4363.
PUBLIC TOURS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
WHEN: Noon on Aug. 20 and Sept. 1
HOW MUCH: Free (donations accepted)
PORTLAND — Picture an organ – the musical instrument, not a kidney – in your mind.
If all you see is a square box with some keyboards, you likely would be astounded by an often overlooked gem in Portland.
The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ in Merrill Auditorium is a pipe organ that was among the largest of its kind when it was constructed in 1912 by the Austin Organ Co. of Connecticut. The Kotzschmar has the square box with the keyboards, of course, but that square box is just the tip of the iceberg.
Merrill's organ has parts all over the auditorium – below and behind the stage, and even six stories up, in the ceiling. It's the ultimate in surround sound, and a pair of upcoming public tours can allow you to experience it.
Ray Cornils, Portland's municipal organist, said the Kotzschmar organ is in Merrill because of Cyrus H.K. Curtis, a Philadelphia publisher who grew up in Maine. He donated $30,000 for the organ. Today, after a number of expansions, the organ's replacement value is close to $4 million.
It was named in honor of Hermann Kotzschmar, who was the organist at Portland's First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church for almost 50 years, and it was the first organ in the United States to be designated a municipal organ when it was installed in August 1912.
It is now the oldest functioning municipal organ in the country.
"It's an enormous instrument that moves an incredible amount of energy at all times," said Cornils, "but it also has an ability to move people."
Not to mention accommodate people. Yes, there are parts of the Kotzschmar organ where people can actually walk in.
The nonprofit Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ offers several walk-in tours of the organ during the year. Two are coming up – Aug. 20 and Sept. 1 – and even though parts of the organ are not opened to the public because of safety concerns, tour-goers are invited inside the wind chest, a chamber covering about 825 square feet that Cornils calls "the lungs" of the instrument.
The wind chest is located above Merrill's stage, behind the facade of pipes along the back wall.
Looking up inside the chamber, you can see some of the more than 6,800 pipes in the organ. The number is so great because the organ essentially acts as an orchestra, with the ability to mimic flutes, clarinets, trumpets, French horns and other instruments.
Outside the wind chest, on Merrill's stage, Cornils is a blur of motion at the organ's console. His hands whip from playing one of the keyboards to pulling one of the 229 stop knobs located on the left and right sides of the console. At the same time, his feet are busy at the 32 foot keys, five foot pedals and a dizzying array of toe-stops.
The end result can be the most gentle of lullabies or the most celebratory of marches, and the moving sounds the organ produces are what make the instrument so special, Cornils said.
Staff Writer Stephanie Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6455 or at: sbouchard@pressherald.com
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