Historic Kurtz organ to be played in rare upcoming concert

The historic Kurtz organ will be played in concert on Sunday, May 25, at 4 p.m. in the chapel at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill.

The small, hand-pumped pipe organ, which is part of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives (BHLA) collection, is more than 320 years old. This is a very rare public appearance of the organ, which in recent decades has been played in concert less than a handful of times.

The concert is part of the Great Elgin Pipe Organ Tour 2024-2025 organized and led by Jeff Neufeld, music director and organist at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Elgin, with support from guest musicians.

To attend the May 25 concert, park in the rear lot of the Church of the Brethren General Offices and enter the building through the staff/kitchen entrance.

For more information about the tour see https://fcc-elgin.org/organ-tour. For specific questions about the May 25 concert contact Shawn Flory Replogle, executive director of Organizational Resources for the Church of the Brethren, at sfreplogle@brethren.org.

The Harttman/Kurtz pipe organ

Known officially to the Organ Historical Society as the 1698 Johan Christoph Harttman pipe organ, it is known to the Church of the Brethren as the Kurtz organ named after Henry Kurtz, editor of the first Brethren periodical Gospel Visiter.

Kurtz, who was born in Germany in 1796 and immigrated to the United States in 1817, may have brought the organ with him or acquired it after arriving in the US. The BHLA has reported that Kurtz “rarely used the organ after joining the Brethren because they did not approve of the use of musical instruments.” After his death in 1874, the organ was passed on to his descendants and was given to the Brethren Historical Committee in 1957.

The organ has been restored a few times since then. After its arrival at the BHLA it was in badly deteriorated condition and Brethren musician and seminary professor Alvin Brightbill worked with denominational staff including Paul Bieber to do some preliminary work to restore it.

In 1976, it was played at the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, after having more restoration work done by John Brombaugh of Middletown, Ohio. Brombaugh, an organ restorer of Brethren background, had been trained in Europe.

In 2005, the organ received a special citation from the Historic Organ Citations Committee of the Organ Historical Society as one of the two oldest organs in the United States. The society arranged a special concert that fall in the General Offices chapel to honor the instrument.

Now it has again received attention from an organ restorer in the local area, in preparation for the concert on May 25.

A report on the organ from the BHLA in 1998, on its 300th anniversary, cited an inscription on the wind chest as proof of its age:

“In the forenoon of September 23, 1698, I Johan Christoph Harttman, organ maker of Nürttingen, firmly closed this small wind chest. May God grant that many beautiful and spiritual psalms and songs be played and struck on this work to His name’s honor.”

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