The school organ of the former Viktoria Louise School in Berlin-Wilmersdorf (Germany) was built in 1904 by the official court organ builder Wilhelm Sauer, who also built the famous organ of the Berlin Cathedral at the same time. Many historical newspaper articles show that many highly acclaimed concerts were held in this hall until 1938. Eventually, even the capital’s former conservatory moved into the building that is now the Goethe Gymnasium. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, young students and later renowned performers rehearsed here for a time. The building and the organ survived the Second World War almost unscathed. The Sauer organ of the Goethe-Gymnasium Berlin is the last playable historic school organ in Berlin.

From 1954 to 1956, the organ was considerably altered. The auditorium was modernized according to the taste of the time. The original organ case was removed and the existing pipework was installed in a “modern-looking” case. The original romantic stop list was replaced by a neo-baroque one. The pneumatic action was replaced by an electric action. The pneumatic console, which originally stood on a pedestal, was removed and replaced by an electric console on level ground.Today, due to its age of over 100 years, the Sauer organ has many technical defects and there is a risk that the instrument will become unplayable, as was the case between 2004 and 2007. This is mainly due to the fact that repairs have so far been carried out on a makeshift rather than long-term basis, depending on financial possibilities. Thus, a fundamental concept for a permanent restoration has been lacking until now.

The aim is to restore the instrument to its original condition of 1904 with the necessary sustainability. This requires

• restoration of the technical installation,
• restoration of the original stop list,
• conversion and reconstruction of the pneumatic tracker action,
• restoration of the old facade pipes,
• and above all the reconstruction of the old case, which is still kept in the workshop of the Wilhelm Sauer company in Frankfurt/Oder (Germany).

It is a mammoth project that requires a lot of good will, commitment, passion and courage and will certainly take several years. In the end, the instrument will not only shine again in its old external and tonal glory, but will also be available to future generations for musical education and inspiration.

• Six (3 stereo) channels of chromatically sampled stop-by-stop pipes.
• Four screens: Console, Stops, SimpleScreen, Info.
  • 3D representation of the original console and rocker tabs.
  • The simple screens has sliders for mixing the 3 stereo channels.
• Two fixed combinations: Forte and Tutti.
• The sample set works with Hauptwerk™ 4 and Hauptwerk™ 5+.