Carl Volkmann (1826-1884) came from Thuringia. It is also unknown where he learned his craft and when exactly he arrived in Gliwice. His son Adolf (1869-1909) later became the successor of his work. The organ-building legacy of the Volkmann family encompasses approximately 30 built organs. The oldest information about Carl Volkmann's activity dates back to the year 1856, concerning the renovation of organs in the old church of St. Wojciech in Mikołów. It is likely that this year marked the beginning of Carl Volkmann's activity, as in that period, organ builders became independent around the age of 30. Among the organs built by Carl Volkmann, the following should be mentioned: Gliwice (evangelical, currently garrison St. Barbara, 1859), Chorzów St. Barbara (1860, the date 1861 is also given), Mikołów St. John (evangelical, 1861), Mysłowice NMP (1863), Racibórz (evangelical, 1864), Old Chorzów (1864), Bielszowice (1865), Katowice (evangelical, 1865), Głubczyce (evangelical, 1866), Siemianowice Śl. (temporary church, later Piekary Śl. Dąbrówka Wielka, 1867), Racibórz-Ostróg (1868), Katowice-Szopienice (around 1868), Katowice Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1869-1870), Ruda Śląska MB of the Rosary (1869), Repty Śląskie (1871), Godula (1871), Lipiny (1872, 1884?), Chorzów St. Jadwiga Śląska (1873-1874, 1875?), Radzionków (1875), Zabrze (evangelical, 1875), Tarnowskie Góry St. Ap. Peter and Paul (1875), Mysłowice (evangelical, 1877), Chorzów (evangelical, St. Elizabeth, 1880), and Świbie (1882). It is most likely that other organ builders from Gliwice, including the already mentioned Ernst Kurzer and Urban Scholtyssek, were collaborators of Carl Volkmann. Confirmation of this fact may be the information about the formal establishment of his own workshop by E. Kurzer only in 1884, the year of Carl Volkmann's death. An additional argument is that Kurzer undertook work previously carried out by Volkmann. Carl Volkmann was a respected organ builder both in theory and in practical organ building. Evidence of this can be seen in 1873 when he, together with Józef Nachbar, a music teacher at the teacher training seminar in Pyskowice and former organist of the cathedral in Gniezno, went to the Gniezno cathedral to inspect the renovation of the organs conducted by Ignacy Żebrowski from Warsaw. This was an important "ecumenical" event when a Protestant was included in the assessment of organs in a Catholic cathedral. Carl Volkmann's activity places him among the most outstanding organ builders operating in Upper Silesia in the 19th century.

https://doi.org/10.18290/rh.2019.67.12-10