Wikipedia

Matthias Schuke

Matthias Schuke
Colour Press shot of a half-smiling, elderly, bespectacled, balding man, with white hair and trimmed white beard and moustache.
Schuke c. 2020
Born(1955-07-07)7 July 1955
Potsdam, Germany
Died14 November 2025(2025-11-14) (aged 70)
OccupationOrgan builder
OrganizationsAlexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau
ParentHans-Joachim Schuke
AwardsOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Matthias Schuke (7 July 1955 – 14 November 2025) was a German organ builder. He ran a company in Potsdam, Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau, in the third generation of a family workshop, and passed it to his sons. During his tenure, they built organs such as at the Erfurt Cathedral, the Magdeburg Cathedral, and at the Zamora Cathedral in Mexico, and restored historic organs including the 1624 organ of St. Stephan in Tangermünde.

Life and career

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Schuke organ at the Erfurt Cathedral

Schuke was born in Potsdam on 7 July 1955,[1] the son of Hans-Joachim Schuke[2] who ran a workshop for building pipe organs founded in 1820 and taken over by his father Alexander Schuke in 1894. Hans-Joachim Schuke ran the workshop from 1933 together with his brother Karl Schuke, then from the 1950s alone until it became a state-owned company (Volkseigener Betrieb), Potsdamer Schuke Orgelbau, in 1972 under the GDR regime.[3]

Schuke attended the Polytechnische Oberschule 24 (now Eisenhardtschule Potsdam), from 1962.[4] He trained as a cabinetmaker at the Richard Praetsch carpentry workshop in Babelsberg from 1972 to 1974,[1] required to become an organ builder.[4] He then began training as an organ builder at Potsdamer Schuke Orgelbau,[5] learning the craft all-round in the wood workshop, tin workshop, restoration and voicing departments; he completed his training in 1977.[1] He also achieved the Abitur at evening school simultaneously.[4] In 1985 he began his training as a master organ builder, passing the master craftsman's examination in 1988.[1][3][4]

In 1990 Schuke managed to successfully reprivatise the company in the course of the political and economic Peaceful Revolution, and was thereafter the owner and managing director of Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau.[1][3][5]

During his time with the company, Matthias Schuke was able to realise major projects, in the Leipzig Gewandhaus (1981),[2][5][6] the Erfurt Cathedral (1992),[2] in the Zamora Cathedral in Mexico,[1][6] in the Königsberg Cathedral,[1][7] and in the Magdeburg Cathedral.[1][6] They built organs also in Australia, China, Russia and Taiwan.[5] The company carried out restorations of historic organs including of St. Stephan in Tangermünde, built by Hans Scherer [de] in 1624, in 1994,[2] of the Brandenburg Cathedral[1] in 1998,[8] of St. Marien [de] in Angermünde, and the Schwerin Cathedral.[1]

In 2003 Schuke decided to leave the old small workshop premises, divided in three locations of the Dutch Quarter in Potsdam, to build a new company headquarters in Werder (Havel), moving in February 2004.[3][5][6] In November 2017, he announced that he would gradually hand over the company to his sons Johannes (born 1985) and Michael (born 1989).[5] The sons took over the company management in 2018.[9][10]

Schuke died after a serious illness[11] on 14 November 2025, at the age of 70.[1][8][10][12] He is remembered as a keeper of the tradition of the workshop founded 205 years earlier as well as an innovator.[12]

Awards

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In 1998 Schuke was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as a committed personality in German organ building.[3][5] In 2001 his company achieved first place in the Technology Transfer Prize of the Technology Foundation of the State of Brandenburg, together with the University of Potsdam.[3] The company also received the 2001 Professor Adalbert Seifriz Prize, a nationwide craft prize from the Steinbeis Foundation in Stuttgart for innovations researched with Reimund Gerhard from the University of Potsdam.[3][5][13] In 2009 the company was awarded the Zukunftspreis from the State of Brandenburg.[13] In 2011 the company and Markus Abel, professor at the University of Potsdam, received the Professor Adalbert Seifriz Prize again.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Matthias Schuke dead at 70". Diapason. November 2025. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d Pape, Uwe (2006). "Schuke, 4. Matthias". MGG (in German). Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Kitschke, Andreas (24 November 2025). "Wir trauern. Nachruf auf den Potsdamer Orgelbauer Matthias Schuke". orgel-babelsberg (in German). Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d Neubert, Gunnar (13 June 2018). "Vita von Herrn Matthias Schuke". flaeming365.de (in German). Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Fröhlich, Luise (27 October 2017). "Das Orgelbauen bleibt in der Familie". Märkische Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d Weirauch, Dieter (4 January 2005). "Millionen-Auftrag für Schuke". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  7. ^ E. Neumann-Redlin von Meding, M. Schuke: Schuke organ in the "Königsberg Cathedral" modelled on the Mosengel organ of 1721, in Königsberger Bürgerbrief No. 71 (2008), pp. 39–42
  8. ^ a b "Zum Tod von Orgelbaumeister Matthias Schuke". meetingpoint-brandenburg.de (in German). 22 November 2025. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  9. ^ "Orgelbau in der 4. Generation". Alexander Schuke Orgelbau (in German). Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Werder (Havel) nimmt Abschied von Orgelbaumeister Matthias Schuke". Werder (Havel) (in German). 21 November 2025. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  11. ^ "Traueranzeige". Märkische Allgemeine (in German). 22 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  12. ^ a b Büstrin, Klaus (18 November 2025). "Matthias Schuke mit 70 Jahren verstorben". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Preisträger Zukunftspreis 2009". Brandenburg (in German). 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
  14. ^ "Preis für Orgelbauermeister und Uni-Professor". Handwerkskammer Potsdam (in German). 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2025.

Further reading

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  • Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau GmbH: 100 Jahre Alexander Schuke Orgelbau in Potsdam. thomasius verlag – Thomas Helms, Schwerin 1994
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