Hermann Kotzschmar: Portland's Musical Genius

Text by Janice Parkinson-Tucker

Images from Maine Historical Society, First Parish in Portland, Friends of Kotzschmar Organ, and Portland Public Library

Hermann Kotzschmar solidly established Portland as a center for music excellence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A German immigrant who arrived in Portland in 1849 at age 20, Kotzschmar was a young man with a passion for music.

At his death in 1908, he left a city well endowed with a rich musical heritage.

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