A church in Berlin has hosted soccer fans of all stripes during this World Cup and Germans took comfort in the lilting strains of organ music during their devastating defeat to Spain.
The house of worship in the capital’s trendy, multicultural district of Kreuzberg has shown several of the German national team’s matches on a giant screen, but with the sound turned off and replaced by an organ accompaniment — much like a silent movie.
The man at the keys is Carsten-Stephan von Bothmer, who must improvise to find just the right dramatic chords to go with dribbling, shooting and the precious goals. It is a guaranteed vuvuzela-free zone.
Von Bothmer, who also works as a pianist for screenings of silent films in the German capital, has a small screen set up on the organ so he can follow the action on the pitch as his fingers race up and down the keyboard.
He says soccer presents a particular challenge.
In a movie “the range is quite broad, from love scenes to chase scenes, whereas a football match has fewer possibilities,” von Bothmer said.
However, this does not stop him from offering a varied, crowd-pleasing accompaniment of dynamic arpeggios to go with a dramatic series of passes and mounting chords to build suspense during an advance toward goal.
When the action is less than gripping, von Bothmer sprinkles a bit of Fuer Elise or The Pink Panther just to hold the interest of the crowd, which has often reached 500 fans during the championship.
The absence of often banal television commentary seemed to focus minds on the players’ technique and bring the beautiful game to life, fans said.
“I can concentrate more on the match this way — otherwise you allow them to tell you everything,” fan Sabine said, referring to the commentators.
Despite Germany’s crushing 1-0 loss, von Bothmer said he would accompany the World Cup final today when Spain battle the Netherlands.
“I invite you to come see who will win on Sunday, the Protestants or the Catholics,” he said at the end of Wednesday’s broadcast.
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