The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ


Cyrus H.K. Curtis birthplace, Portland, 1923

Cyrus H.K. Curtis birthplace, Portland, 1923
Item 67539   info
Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media

Kotzschmar stayed with the Curtis family until the birth of their first child, a son, whom the proud parents named Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, in honor of their deepening friendship with the German musician.

Kotzschmar became the organist at First Parish Church on Congress Street, where the Curtis family attended services, so the boy heard his father's friend play the organ every week.

Young Cyrus never had any formal music lessons, but was naturally talented enough to go home and pick out the tunes that he had heard in church on the melodeon in the Curtis living room.

Cyrus H. K. Curtis left Portland when he was 16 and went on to build an impressive empire, The Curtis Publishing Company, which made him a very rich man. But he never forgot his roots and kept in touch with old friends in Portland.

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