Mighty Kotzschmar Organ featured in a Spectacular Yuletide Concert,
December 21, 1999

When was the last time you have attended an evening of pipe organ music
which "remained in your memory" long after the final notes had ended?
When did you ever hear a gigantic organ blending in with a brass
ensemble so perfectly that with closed eyes, it was difficult, if not
impossible, to discern whether you were hearing musicians on the stage
or a 4-manual pipe organ, played by a talented musician?

The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ was installed in the magnificent City
Hall Auditorium of Portland, Maine, in 1912, a gift of the Cyrus Curtis
publishing family, and in 1927 this world-class organ was enlarged and
fitted with a separate console.

At the time that the Austin Company (Hartford, CT) erected this 98-stop
instrument, it was the second largest in the world, and today is one of
two remaining "municipal organs", maintained and used regularly by the
City of Portland.  Many other municipal organs were allowed to
disintegrate and are no longer in existence today.  ([If you doubt this
assessment of the Kotzschmar Organ, read most any comprehensive book on
the "King of Instruments" and you'll discover references to his
particular Austin, the pride of Portland, Maine.)

As one whose life has been spent in the medium of mechanical musical
instruments, i.e., arranging music rolls and/or co-founding The Musical
Wonder House, the newly restored organ spoke in many "musical
languages" to this writer, since the Austin showed its multi-purposes
in the newly refurbished hall, now named The Merrill Auditorium.

Without having a muddy, 'churchy' sound, the 4-manual instrument can
play as soft as a whisper or as loud and forceful as a symphony
orchestra, and just about any place in between -- at least under the
fingers and feet of the current Municipal Organist, the talented Ray
Cornils.

The Kotzschmar Organ not only replicates, as perfectly as any pipe
organ could, the many voices and textures of the orchestra itself
(aided by percussion devices, newly rebuilt after many years of
disrepair), but it also transmits to one who's familiar with
orchestrions, 'reproducing' pianos, barrel organs and Pianolas the
effects that commercial instruments of the past could only suggest,
through the combination of the organist, his instrument and the
improved acoustics of the Merrill Auditorium.

The tremolo, judiciously used, was artistic, and not 'hammy' as is so
often the case in theatre organs.  The clarity of the stops is nothing
short of astounding, now that the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ
(founded in 1981) have spent so many years of untold hours bringing the
instrument back to its original condition, which includes two 32' ranks
(a Magneton and a Bombard) which were disconnected during a renova-
tion(?) in the in the late 1960s.

(Player-piano enthusiasts should read the word "renovation(?)" in the
same tone as a "restoration(?)" in the pneumatic player action field!
I recall the leaning, pipes and the general condition of the organ
after this so-called restoration, and stopped attending Kotzschmar
concerts shortly after this work was done.  In fact, a guest organist
was heard to say (the auditorium acoustics carrying every soft sound!),
"This sounds like Niagara Falls," when the blower was switched on, just
before his performance was to begin.)

I'm happy to report that one must travel to Buffalo, New York for the
real Niagara Falls, and that this magnificent municipal organ is, once
again, a triumph of restoration, including the toy shelf, which is used
effectively by guest artists like Dennis James, who is a master at
accompanying silent films.

The 87th season featured the 10th annual "Christmas With Cornils"
event, comprising the famous organ along with Jara Goodrich (harpist),
The Festival Brass (brass and percussion instrumentalists who perform
with the Portland Symphony Orchestra) and The Parish Ringers: 11
handbell artists from the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine.

Music included Traditional Carols, a harp composition by Carlos Salzedo
(associated with Duo-Art Pianola rolls, and a Maine Summer resident!),
a stirring Bizet number by The Festival Brass -- something for every-
one, including "Winter Wonderland" by The Parish Ringers and "Deck the
Halls" by organist Cornils.  The final portion of the concert was an
audience sing along of five carols, with the words provided in the
program.  (As with some of my Artcraft rolls, there were cues for the
audience of almost 3000 people: "interlude", "3 times", "slower and
very grand", and so forth.)

When I was a child, my parents frequented the RKO Golden Gate Theatre
in San Francisco, still featuring vaudeville in between the black-
and-white movie films.  I remember Dick Haymes, the Ink Spots and
other entertainers performing live, and I forget the movie du jour,
but I recall to this day the bouncing ball audience sing-alongs with the
Wurlitzer organ.)

The Merrill Auditorium, due to its splendid acoustics, made the
audience seem as one with the Austin organ and the other musicians
on stage.  This never happened in my movie theatre days of community
singing, even at Radio City in the early 1960s.  The musical effect of
the Kotzschmar Organ and the full house (save 20 empty seats) is one of
those things you can remember, having been there, but remains a treat
which can't be bottled up or really described for those who weren't
present.

Thus, if you travel to Maine this Summer, you should mark your
itinerary for the eleven summer concerts presented by Mr. Cornils,
followed by eleven weekly concerts with guest organists.  The first one
begins on Tuesday, June 13, 2000.

The Kotzschmar will be receiving its third console next year, a 5-manual
model with solid state digital controls.  There will be a dedication
concert for the new Austin console in October.  You can read all about
this wonderful organ on the web site hosted by the Friends of the
Kotzschmar Organ, Inc. (FOKO) at  http://www.foko.org/

The FOKO Internet pages will introduce you to the Austin organ,
musician Ray Cornils, and the specifications of this instrument with
6600-plus pipes in 8 divisions (2 of which are about six stories upward
in the auditorium's ceiling).  There, you'll also get information on
the forthcoming concert series as well.

VHS tapes at $15.00 each (NTSC format) of the 1/2-hour program
"Midnight Pipes" are for sale by the FOKO.  You can write them at PO
Box 7455, Portland, ME 04112 for information on these, as well as CDs,
cassettes and other items related to the Mighty Kotzschmar.  Donations
are what help keep this organ running, so they are always appreciated.
Theodore Presser, once the publisher of Etude Magazine, was one of the
contributors for the new Austin console.

Since this is a newsletter dedicated to mechanical musical instruments,
I might add that I once published an 88-Note roll in the 1980s, timed
to the celebration for the Statue of Liberty, then being restored,
called "America The Beautiful March".  This was composed by the first
municipal organist, Will MacFarlane, and at the time it was believed
that this setting to the poetry would become ratified as the national
anthem.  (The Star Spangled Banner became "official" many years later,
promoted by Sergei Rachmaninoff, however.)

The year that the Statue of Liberty was being rededicated, I played
this 1917 Concert March version by MacFarlane on our Guided Tours at
the museum.  We'd have a vote for the original hymn, supporting the
same lyrics, versus the music composed by the first Portland City Hall
organist.  Surprisingly, the MacFarlane version won about 50% of the
time!  It takes a little adjustment to sing with it, since "from sea to
shining sea" is repeated, and there are majestic interludes in between
each chorus.  This was a limited edition roll, but references to it can
be found on my web page  http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/ltdrolls.htm
(Since typical Artcraft releases are permanent the few special one-
time-only titles are described on this particular Internet page, being
hidden within our usual array of links and departments.)

Another of the celebrated Portland organists was Edwin H. Lemare who
recorded Welte-Mignon 'reproducing' organ rolls.  As I recall there was
one title bearing his name in my Duo-Art Pianola collection: "Andantino
in D-flat", later the basis for the popular song "Moonlight and Roses".
(No doubt Lemare was involved with Duo-Art Pipe Organ Rolls as well,
but it's too cold tonight to look for my 1925 catalogue in the attic
for any more information of this kind!)

Back in the early 1970s one of the guest Kotzschmar organists performed
(and later delivered to our Musical Wonder House) an early barrel organ
composition called "A Trip to Pawtucket".  Some time, when my other
projects are completed, I might perforate a music roll transcription
for the Pianola, expanded to make use of the pianoforte's spectrum
which were admittedly limited in the original score.

Now, having linked "Christmas With Cornils" to elements of mechanical
music, I invite all readers, who find this subject interesting, to
visit the FOKO web site mentioned above, and also to make the effort to
join us in Y2K summer for some of those 11 City Hall concerts.

This is a special instrument, like no other concert organ in the world!

Regards from Maine,

Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, ME 04578 USA
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/