Wilhelm Sauer (organ builder)

Wilhelm Sauer (around 1910)

Office building of the organ building company in Frankfurt (Oder) , 1952

Wilhelm Carl Friedrich Sauer (born March 23, 1831 in Schönbeck , † April 9, 1916 in Frankfurt (Oder) ) was an important German organ builder from the Romantic and Late Romantic periods .

Life

Childhood and youth

Wilhelm Sauer was the younger son of the blacksmith Ernst Sauer (1799–1873) and his wife Johanna Christina, b. Sumke (1800–1882), born in Schönbeck near Friedland in Mecklenburg-Strelitz . In 1835 his father caused a sensation for his place of residence with an organ built as an autodidact . The Grand Duke then gave him a scholarship with the condition that he should be trained as an organ builder , which happened in Ohrdruf .

When Wilhelm was seven years old, the family moved to the neighboring town of Friedland in Mecklenburg, where his father built a production building and began building organs on a commercial basis. Wilhelm Sauer spent his youth there, attended grammar school in Friedland, graduated from high school in 1849 and began studying at the Berlin Building Academy . After two semesters he broke off and did an apprenticeship as an organ builder with his father. In 1851 he served in the military.

Years of traveling and activity in Deutsch Krone

After that Wilhelm Sauer was “out of the country”. He worked (around 1852/1853) as a journeyman with Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in Paris, the most important organ builder of his time, with Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Ludwigsburg and probably also in Switzerland and England.

In 1854 he returned to Friedland and worked on the new organ for the local Marienkirche under his father. When he opened a branch in the West Prussian Deutsch Krone in 1855 , he handed over the management to his son Wilhelm. This must have already passed his master's examination by this time.

Organ building institute in Frankfurt (Oder)

On March 1, 1856, Wilhelm Sauer founded a branch in Frankfurt (Oder). This was initially located in the rooms of the “Zum Goldenen Löwen” inn at 3 Crossener Straße in Dammvorstadt (today Słubice, ul. 1 Maja). Later he founded Wilhelm Sauer Orgelbau-Anstalt Frankfurt AO there

In 1860 Wilhelm Sauer founded a branch in Königsberg . This was later given up again (after 1871?) When the traffic connections had improved. Over 130 organs were built in East and West Prussia by 1910.

In 1866 Wilhelm Sauer bought a plot of land at Park 13 (today Paul-Feldner-Straße 13) in the Guben suburb with a factory owner's villa. There he built workshops and an organ hall. In 1884 he was appointed "Royal Court Organ Builder". At the end of the 19th century, the company had around 120 employees.

Last years and death

On October 1, 1910, Wilhelm Sauer sold the company to his managing director and deputy Paul Walcker in Ludwigsburg. He died in Frankfurt on April 9, 1916. He was buried in the city's cemetery. His tombstone is preserved in today's Kleistpark.

character

According to an old employee of the Sauer company who still knew him personally, Wilhelm Sauer was a "quiet man who was always objective, correct and friendly in every situation." His entire work follows the following motto:

"We praise God and let him rule,
build new organs and repair the old ones."

Successor companies

In 1917 Paul Walcker handed the company over to his nephew Oskar Walcker. The location in Frankfurt (Oder) remained until 1994 and was then relocated to Müllrose. An independent company, W. Sauer Orgelbau Frankfurt (Oder), has existed since 2000 .

Organs

Wilhelm Sauer and his colleagues built over 1100 organs during their lifetime . His largest and most famous instruments can be found in the Berlin Cathedral (1903, IV / 113), in the Leipzig Thomaskirche (1888/1908, III / 88) and in the Görlitz town hall (1910, IV / 72). The then largest organ in the world in the Wroclaw Centennial Hall (1913, V / 200) is no longer preserved in its original form; Most of it is now in the Wroclaw Cathedral .

marriage and family

In 1859, Wilhelm Sauer and Minna Auguste Penske († 1876), daughter of a cantor, married. Their daughter Johanna (1859–1887) was born out of the marriage.

In 1878 Sauer married Anna Bauer (January 18, 1848 - August 11, 1924), daughter of a brewery owner and city councilor in Potsdam . With her he had the sons Wilhelm (1879–1962) and Franz Gustav Adolf (1883–1945) missing. His grandson Wolfgang Sauer (1920–1989) became a professor of German history at the University of California, Berkeley .

Honors

• 1899: Order of the Red Eagle
• 1899: Order of Merit for Art and Science
• 1901: Order of the Crown
• 1905: Medal for Art and Science
• 1906: Order of the Red Eagle with a bow
• 1909: Knight's Cross

Works (selection)

Wilhelm Sauer built or converted over 1,100 organs, mainly in Prussia, but also in other German territories, as well as in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, South America and Asia. Many of them have been preserved.

The size of the instruments is described in the Manuals column by the number of manuals and the presence of a pedal and in the Register column by the number of sounding registers. A capital “P” stands for an independent pedal, a lowercase “p” for an attached pedal. A italics indicates that the organ in question has not survived more or only dates back to the prospectus from the workshop. Instruments created after 1910 can be found in the list of works by W. Sauer Orgelbau .

year	opus	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1852		Lychen	St. John		I / P	13	with father Ernst Sauer, 1874 to Gerswalde , 1999–2003 restoration by Scheffler
1853		Boek	St. John's Church		I / p	05	Wilhelm Sauer's oldest preserved work. Client: Monastery captain Carl Peter Johann von Le Fort ; Acceptance: August 8, 1853 by court organist Carl Ernst Friedrich Weingärtner "with great praise". Around 1900 Carl Börger added a sub-bass on its own pneumatic pedal tray. Restoration from 1995 to 2003 by the organ workshop Christian Scheffler → Organ
1854		Friedland , Mecklenburg	St. Mary		III / P	30th	with father Ernst Sauer, in the baroque prospectus by Baumann and Richter, replaced in 1934 by the Sauer organ in the previous prospectus
1855		Badresch	Village church		I / P	9	May 1855 contract, August 1855 delivery, today all metal pipes are missing
1861		Tilsit	Lithuanian Church			22nd	first larger organ, 1945/1952 destroyed with church
1864	94	Marienwerder , East Prussia, today Kwidzyn	Cathedral church		III / P	49	Prospect pipes handed in in 1917, all metal pipes lost in 1945, repairs and alterations in 1958 and 1972/1974, reconstruction of the Sauer organ planned → organ
1869	95	Berlin	St. Thomas Church		IV / P	52	Dismantled after war damage (1944), rebuilt in 1970 by Rudolf v. Beckerath (II / P / 25)
1870		Labiau , East Prussia, today Polesk	City Church				Destroyed in 1945
1872	235	Döbberin	Village church		I / P	08th	mechanical cone tray
1874	209	Doberlug-Kirchhain	Monastery church		II / P	26th	mechanical cone shop
1874	212	Sorquitten , East Prussia, today Sorkwity	Village church				received, possibly in poor condition
1876		Bydgoszcz , Poznan Province, today Bydgoszcz	St. Paul's Church		III / P	43
1878-1879	248	Frankfurt (Oder)	Sankt Gertraud Church		III / P	36	mechanical cone shop
1882	335	Sprottau , Silesia, today Szprotawa	Church, today Church of the Assumption of Mary		II / P	27	1917 Delivery of the prospect pipes, otherwise preserved, urgently in need of restoration
1883	401	Wernigerode	Church of Our Lady		II / P	30th	Construction in the baroque prospect of the previous organ (1765–1783); largely preserved
1884	419	Cost brew	Village church		I / P	07th	originally comes from the Ev. Klettwitz Church , which was expanded and rebuilt due to lack of space and received a larger organ
1884	432	St. Petersburg	conservatory		II / P	8th	1970 to Pushkin in today's art high school “A. Akhmatova ”, in very bad condition, one of two surviving Wilhelm Sauer organs in Russia
1885-1886		Eickel	Johanneskirche		II / P	33	New construction costs amounted to 12,000 marks. 1911 Retrofitting an electric blower. Total loss on April 12, 1944 as a result of the war.
1886		Insterburg , East Prussia	Luther Church				in the baroque prospectus by Johann Preuss , destroyed in 1945
1887	475	Laer , Frankfurt am Main	Blessing Church		II / P	28	Produced in 1887 for the Evangelical Church in today's Bochum district of Laer and stored in 1974 because the church was torn down; Acquired by the Hessian regional church and installed in the Blessed Church in Frankfurt-Griesheim in 1995
1888		Goettingen	St. Nikolai Church (University Church )		II / P	23	partly preserved, redesigned in baroque style in the 20th century and renovated several times
1885-1889	501	Leipzig	Thomas Church		III / P	63	Expansion to 88 registers in 1908
1889	505	Amsterdam	St. Nicholas Basilica		III / P	40	two barkers
1890	530	Bralitz	Village church		II / P	13	largely preserved; 2014/2015 restoration and return to original condition
1891	544	Mühlhausen / Thuringia	Marienkirche		III / P	54	built with 61 registers
1891		Barneberg	Friedenskirche		II / P	19th	neo-Gothic prospectus
1891	557	Sieversdorf	Village church		I / P	06th
1892		Berlin	Garrison Church		III / P	70	April 13, 1908 Destruction of the church by fire
1892	569	Luckenwalde	St. Joseph		II / P	11	→ organ
1893		Berlin	Immanuel Church		II / P	29
1894	620	Apolda	Luther Church		III / P	47	→ organ
1894		Saalfeld	Johanneskirche		III / P	49	1894 new building behind the historic prospectus by Johann Georg Fincke ? and the carpenter Johann-Georg Ziegenspeck (1709–1714); 1932 reconstruction by Sauer, 1993–1996 restoration by Rösel & Hercher organ building and return to the state of 1932
1894		Bremen	Bremen Cathedral		III / P	65	1926 and 1939 expanded by W. Sauer organ building; today IV / P / 98
1894-1895	660	Charlottenburg	Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church		IV / P	93	1920 Expansion by Sauer Organ Builders to IV / P, 103, destroyed in 1943 with the church
1895	661	Miter	City Church of Gehren		II / P	23	pneumatic cone tray
1895/1896		Potsdam - Nauen suburb	Pentecostal Church		II / P	16	1896: Extension by a second manual and enlargement to 16 registers by the Sauer company. 1933: Second expansion to 28 registers by the Schuke organ building company . 2010: Since the Sauer organ was irreparably damaged, the Schuke company was commissioned to build a new instrument, which could be installed in 2011, but has not yet been fully implemented.
1896	704	Berlin	John's basilica		II / P	38	pneumatic cone chest, four high-pressure registers, minor changes in 1950, renovation in 2011. Disposition → organ
1897		Golzow (Chorin) , Uckermark	Village church		II / P	15th	mechanical cone tray; 1911 reconstruction by Sauer, after the Second World War a lot of pipework stolen and mechanics destroyed, 1993–1994 reconstruction by Fahlberg including some registers of the Johanniskirche in Brandenburg
1898	731	Wuppertal - Elberfeld	Cemetery church		II / P	30th	Partial renovation in 1995
1898	752	Markgrafpieske	Markgrafpieske village church		II / P	14th	The parish paid Sauer 4,412 gold marks for the instrument .
1898	755	Moscow	Church of St. Peter and Paul		III / P	33	Restored in 2006 by Reinhard Hüfgen
1898		Gumbinnen , East Prussia	Old town church				in Baroque prospectus by Casparini , destroyed after 1945
1898		World (Eiderstedt)	St. Michael Church		II / P	14th	behind the prospectus from around 1750–1780; 2001/2007 renovation by Scheffler
1899	793	Erbach / Odenwald	Evangelical town church		II / P	19th	Prospectus from the previous organ by Johann Nikolaus Schäfer (1725). Pneumatic action. Except for the prospect pipes and the organ motor, still in original condition. Last renovated in 1999.
1899		Neuendorf near Potsdam	Bethlehem Church				The company Gustav Kuntzsch , Institute for ecclesiastical art, Wernigerode , created the organ. Although the church, which was badly damaged in World War II, could have been rebuilt, it was blown up in 1952.
1901	860	Frankfurt (Oder)	Holy Cross Church		III / P	46	received almost unchanged, pneumatic cone chests
1901	846	eat	Evangelical Church Katernberg		II / P	29	Restored by Voigt 2007-2017
1902	869	Driesen , Neumark, today Drezdenko	Church, today the Church of the Transfiguration		II / P	30th	Pneumatic cone chests, organ prospectus by Gustav Kuntzsch , 1917 surrender of prospect pipes, loss of the Clarinette 8 'register, otherwise preserved, 2006/2007 restoration and reconstruction of the lost registers by Cepka
1902		Königsberg-Haberberg , East Prussia	Trinity Church		III / P	50	in the Baroque prospectus by Casparini , destroyed in 1945
1902	864	Mönchengladbach- Rheydt	Protestant main church Rheydt		III / P	40	pneumatic cone shop; Restored in 1985/1986 by K. Schuke , newly intoned in 2012 by Matthias Wagner (Orgelbau Verschueren)
1902-1903		Bad Harzburg	Luther Church		III / P	40	Originally II / P / 29; 21 stops reconstructed by the Christian Scheffler organ workshop 1997–2001 and expanded in the style of Sauer
1903		Altglietzen , Oderbruch	Village church		II / P	20th	in housing by Johann Gottlieb Landow (1835)
1903	886	Bornim ( Potsdam )	Village church		II / P	13
1903		Mirbach / Eifel	Redeemer Chapel			06th	Donation on the occasion of the building by the v. Mirbach
1903		Neuhaus	Trinity Church		II / P	13
1904	902	Leipzig	Michaeliskirche		III / P	47	Romantic disposition; almost completely preserved. → organ
1904	915	Dortmund Dorstfeld	Evangelical Church Dorstfeld		III / P	40	Since 2019/2020 in the Ev. City Church , Gronau (Westphalia) Romantic disposition; completely preserved. → organ
1905		Berlin	Dom		IV / P	113	was considered the largest organ in Germany in its time → Organ
1905	930	Altenburg	Brethren Church		III / P	50	1927–1937 and 1943 rearranged, restored to its original condition in 1990–2006
1905	945	Fulda	Holy Spirit Church		II / P	16	Since 1990 in its original condition from 1905.
1906	981	Neuzelle Monastery	St. Mary's Church		II / P	24	Reconstruction in 2001 by the organ workshop Christian Scheffler ( Sieversdorf ) → Organ
1907	970	Klettwitz	Protestant church		II / P	12
1908	1011	Chemnitz-Lutherviertel	Luther Church		III / P	50	1938 rearrangements
1908		Potsdam	Nikolaikirche		III / P	49	Total loss in April 1945 as a result of the war.
1908	1020	bad Homburg	Church of the Redeemer		III / P	56	The sound of the remote control emerges above the sanctuary; Restored in 1993 and extended by a fourth manual to IV / P / 68
1909	1025	bad Salzungen	City Church		III / P	41	The organ was constructed according to Max Reger's ideas and restored from 1994 to 2000.
1910		Jerusalem	Ascension Church		II / P	24	Built in 1910 together with the church by the Auguste Victoria Foundation and practically in its original condition. The only surviving German organ in Palestine
1910	1097	Schönbeck	Village church		I / P	08th	The gift from Wilhelm Sauer to the parish of his hometown was the last instrument that was built under his direction before it was handed over to Paul Walcker. Reorganized in 1951, renovated by Sauer in 2005.
1910	1100	Goerlitz	Görlitz City Hall		IV / P	71	Concert organ, fourth manual as remote control, fully pneumatic action; completely preserved

literature

Individual representations

• Hans-Joachim Falkenberg: The organ builder Wilhelm Sauer (1831-1916): life and work. Organ building specialist publisher Rensch, Lauffen 1990, ISBN 3-921848-17-2 . Table of Contents (PDF)
• Orgel-Sauer, Frankfurt, Oder . Pape, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-921140-83-3 (first edition: 1925, reprint).

Catalog raisonnés

• Wilhelm Sauer: Directory of the works built by Wilhelm Sauer, Frankfurt a. O. Naumann, Leipzig 1907, OCLC 174567491 (published on the occasion of the 1000th organ in Homburg vd H.). Digitized city archive Frankfurt
• Catalog raisonné W. Sauer Frankfurt (Oder). Garbage Rose 2007.

Lexicon article

• Uwe Pape , Christhard Kirchner: Sour. In: Uwe Pape, Wolfram Hackel, Christhard Kirchner: Lexicon of North German Organ Builders. Volume 4. Berlin, Brandenburg and the surrounding area. Pape Verlag, Berlin 2017, pp. 474–477.
• Theodor Wohnhaas:  Sauer, Wilhelm. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1422-1423.
• Hermann Fischer:  Sauer, Wilhelm Carl Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 458 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Uwe Pape: Sauer, Wilhelm Karl Friedrich. In: Biographical Lexicon for Mecklenburg. Volume 6. Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-7950-3750-5 , pp. 245-246.

Web links

Commons : Sauer organs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Sauer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Wilhelm Sauer in the state bibliography MV
• W. Sauer Orgelbau Frankfurt (Oder) GmbH , official website of the Sauer company
• Article from the German Radio Archive about the organ in the Wroclaw Centennial Hall with sound samples
• Sound samples from Sauer organs
• Transcription of the speech on the occasion of the company's 150th anniversary

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Not: Schönebeck, as it is often wrongly called in the literature.
2. ^ Sauer-Orgel Friedhofskirche Wuppertal curriculum vitae (based on the text on the website of W. Sauer Frankfurt (Oder), which is no longer available)
3. ^ ^{A b} Uwe Pape: Sauer, Wilhelm Karl Friedrich. 2011, p. 245.
4. ↑ The founding date October 1 or 7, 1857, which Sauer later stated, was possibly the beginning of the company's independence; previously it was just a branch of the Deutsch Krone branch.
5. ↑ Detailed description in Werner Renkewitz, Jan Janca , Hermann Fischer : History of the art of organ building in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944. Volume II, 2. From Johann Preuss to E. Kemper & Sohn, Lübeck / Bartenstein. Siebenquart, Cologne 2015, pp. 676–703.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Märkische Oderzeitung / Frankfurter Stadtbote , 25./26. March 2006, p. 21.
7. ^ Unknown, Peter Fräßdorf: Sauernachrichten . Ed .: W. Sauer Orgelbau Frankfurt [Oder] GmbH. No. 4 , 2016, p. 6 .
8. ^ Oskar Gottlieb Blarr : Speech on the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of Wilhelm Sauer organ building in Frankfurt / Oder. (PDF) (No longer available online.) October 6, 2007, archived from the original on April 16, 2016 ; accessed on April 16, 2016 . 
9. ^ Wilhelm Sauer: Directory of the works by Wilhelm Sauer, Frankfurt a. O. Naumann, Leipzig 1907, OCLC 174567491 . Digitized city museum
10. ^ Hannes Ludwig: Organ manual Brandenburg. Volume 1. Uckermark (western part). Freimut und Selbst, Berlin 2005, pp. 102f.
11. ↑ Today's Organ Orgelmuseum Malchow, with history
12. ^ Organ Orgelmuseum Malchow
13. ↑ Werner Renkewitz, Jan Janca: History of the art of organ building in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944. Volume II, 2. From Johann Preuss to E. Kemper & Sohn . Siebenquart, Cologne 2015, pp. 681f.
14. ↑ Call for restoration of the historic Sauer organ in Kwidzyn by Oskar Gottlieb Barr (pdf)
15. ↑ organ organ index
16. ↑ Werner Renkewitz, Jan Janca. Hermann Fischer: History of the art of organ building in East and West Prussia. Volume II, 2. From Johann Preuss to E. Kemper & Sohn. Siebenquart, Cologne 2017, p. 690, also in Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia. Volume 2: Pictures of East Prussian churches. Göttingen 1968, p. 140. No articles in Polish organ databases Musicam Sacram and Wirtualne Centrum Organowe .
17. ^ Friedrich Adler: The St. Pauls Church in Bromberg. In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, Issue XXXII., Issue VII – IX / 1882, Sp. 297 ff. ( Online , accessed on November 18, 2016).
18. ^ Organ Musicam Sacram (Polish)
19. ↑ also 1898 Moscow St. Peter and Paul
20. ↑ See Johannes Daniels, Julius Beckmann: History of the Evangelical Church Community Eickel. Wanne-Eickel 1927, p. 170.
21. ↑ See Wolfgang Berke (Ed.): Night over Wanne-Eickel. Diary of a city. Essen 2005, ISBN 3-89861-474-3 , p. 86.
22. ↑ organ organ index
23. ↑ organ parish Hötensleben
24. ↑ Organ Organ Database (Dutch)
25. ↑ organ organ index
26. ↑ organ organ index
27. ^ History of the organ Organ directory, with historical dispositions
28. ^ Organ Institute for Organ Research
29. ↑ Elke Lang: Baroque splendor and simple beauty. Organs in Brandenburg . Culturcon-Medien, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-941092-35-8 , pp. 113 .
30. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
31. ↑ Restoration of the Sauer organ in the St. Peter and Paul Church in Moscow Organ builder Reinhard Hüfken
32. ↑ Photo Sauer Orgelbau
33. ^ Organ Musicam Sacram (Polish)
34. ^ Organ Institute for Organ Research
35. ↑ Ilona Rohowski, Ingetraud Senst: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany, monuments in Brandenburg. Volume 9.1: District of Märkisch-Oderland. Part 1: towns of Bad Freienwalde and Wriezen, villages in Niederoderbruch. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms am Rhein 2006, ISBN 3-88462-230-7 , p. 235.
36. ^ Foundations of the EKD in the Holy Land
37. ↑ Evangelical Church Music Jerusalem