Wilhelm Bader Sr.

Wilhelm Bader Sr. (* November 23, 1846 in Haßmersheim am Neckar; † February 11, 1927 ) was a German organ builder in Hardheim .

Life

Wilhelm Bader probably learned the trade of organ builder from Johann Mayer in Hainstadt in the 1860s. It is not known when he came to Hardheim. On April 19, 1886, however, he entered into the 10-year guarantee for the organ in Waldmühlbach by Ignaz Dörr . After his death, Bader took over the Dörr organ building workshop in 1886 and moved it to “Lange Gasse” in Hardheim. Around 1912, a new organ building workshop was built on the two pieces of land acquired from a former tannery. Two of his sons, Wilhelm Bader junior and Maximilian Bader (called Max), learned the trade of organ building in their parents' business. Son Cornel, who also trained as an organ builder in his parents' business, later completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith and started his own locksmith business in Hardheim.

Wilhelm Bader died on February 11, 1927 and was buried in the Hardheim cemetery. The organ building workshop was run by his son Wilhelm Bader jun. continued.

plant

The organ in Mondfeld was Wilhelm Bader senior's first independent work. In October 1894 Wilhelm Bader sen. Together with his two sons Wilhelm and Max, the organ of the Hardheim parish church of St. Alban, which was newly built in the years 1891–1894, popularly called "Erftaldom". The relatively large organ had 26 registers, divided into 2 manuals and pedal. Wilhelm Bader Sr. is described by his descendants as "an extremely ambitious, real man with a clear conscience". As he had learned, he built mechanical cone chests, but prepared himself for the pneumatic tube action as early as 1895. In 1897 he installed his first pneumatic organ in Eichtersheim .

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1887	Moon field	cath.		I.	10
1894	Hardheim	St. Alban		II	26th
1904	Hettigenbeuren	cath.		I.	8th

literature

• The organ - queen of instruments. Around 150 years of organ building tradition in Hardheim , brochure accompanying the special exhibition in the Erfatal Museum