TRIBUTE TO CHIRSTIAN “CHRISTY” HENGEL

Christy Hengel was the Concertina icon in the United States of America, particularly in the Midwest.  Born Christmas Day 1922, the great-great grandson of two of the first settlers in Brown County, Minnesota. He will always be remembered whenever old-tyme music and polkas are played. Hengel was a Stradivarius of the concertina, a maker of some of the finest instruments ever squeezed.

Christy Hengel may say he was “just an old farm boy,”

Christy was a legend in the Concertina World, starting as a young man interested in the concertina and getting his first concertina (paid for by trapping skunks weasels) in 1939 at age 16 1/2.

Growing up on a farm near Wanda Minnesota, Hengel began tinkering and modifying concertinas and rebuilding old ones in the mid 1940s.

He even built his own transportation, making a motorbike from spare parts, despite the comments from his father, who thought he was crazy.

Chicago is really where the story takes off.  That’s where Hengel went in late December of 1952 to buy a large amount of equipment with which he could make the instruments.  This purchase included the entire remaining concertina manufacturing inventory from the old Otto Schlicht factory, and returning it to Wanda Minnesota.

In 1955, Hengel completed his very first brand-new concertina in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.

Hengel moved to New Ulm permanently in 1965 after an eight-year stint in Waseca

“The trick of the instrument is really in the tuning” say Hengel.  He had a special gift.  “Anybody who was anybody in the business played a Hengel.”  “I’m a self-learned tuner,” he adds

Hengel said that concertina players loved the sound of a Hengel instrument, and how easily it played.  His secret, he said, was increasing the size of the air holes that funneled air past the reeds in the concertina. The greater volume of air produced a richer sound, and made the concertina easier to play. The instruments are known for a clear, crisp sound and perfect pitch and are considered the “industry standard” by many.

Hengel paid great attention to detail in his instruments, and took great pride in his creations.  He was recognized in 1987 as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts and traveled to Washington where he was honored as a contributor to American folk Art in 1989. He was inducted into the World Concertina Congress in 1990.  His work got the attention of the National Geographic Magazine, which featured him in 1991. He was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 1999. The Minnesota Historical Society placed one of his concertinas in its museum in St. Paul in 2000.

Some of Hengel’s older concertinas have sold for thousands of dollars.  People come from all over the Midwest to purchase instruments from him.

Hengel was also a member of the Prairieland Flywheelers Two Cylinder Club and collected John Deer tractors including a Waterloo Boy, which is the first tractor made by John Deer based in Waterloo, Iowa.

Christian “Christy” Hengel

Christian “Christy” Hengel

NEW ULM — Christian “Christy” Hengel, 84 of New Ulm, died Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at the Sleepy Eye Care Center in Sleepy Eye. 

Funeral Service will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday Dec. 15 at the Minnesota Valley Funeral Home in New Ulm, with Father Craig Timmermann officiating.  Burial will be at 12:30 p.m. at St. John Lutheran Cemetery in Owatonna. 

Visitation will be from 4 - 8 p.m. on Friday and from 7:30 a.m. until the time of the service on Saturday at the Minnesota Valley Funeral Home in New Ulm.

Christy is survived by ex-wife and friend Val Hengel of Mesa, Ariz., sisters: Agnes Grausam of Sleepy Eye, Mary Ann Kotten of Sleepy Eye, Isabelle Hoffmann of Cypress, Calif.; brother: Ray Hengel of Sleepy Eye; brother-in-law Vesty Kotten, of Sleepy Eye; special friend, Stella Drill of New Ulm. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother, Jerome Hengel, brothers-in-law Tom Hoffmann and Michael Grausam; sister-in-law, Simone Hengel.

Christian Donald Hengel was born on Dec. 25, 1922 to George and Anna (Schroeder) Hengel in Wanda.  He attended school at District #99 in Willow Lake Township, Brown County. 

On June 18, 1962 he was united in marriage to Valera Runnerstrom in Waseca.  

Christy played concertina and traveled with the Six Fat Dutchmen and the Jolly Brewers Bands.  He later formed the Christy Hengel and the All Stars Band.  The State of Minnesota Arts Museum purchased a concertina from Christy and has it on display in St. Paul.   

Christy was best known as the maker of the Hengel Concertinas.  He was a member of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame and the Prairieland Flywheelers 2 Cylinder Club.