Orgelbau Vleugels

Pipe organ manufacturing in Hardheim has existed since 1855, when organ-builder Ignaz Dörr started his own workshop. In 1958 Orgelbaumeister Hans Theodor Vleugels (born 1931) took over Maximilian Bader's workshop and two years later his brother's Wilhelm Bader. From 1960 to 1966 Paul Mund and Hans Theodor Vleugels led the company together. In 1967 Hans Theodor Vleugels founded the Orgelbau-Vleugels GmbH. While following traditional south German models, the company initially built instruments incorporating modern technologies such as electric stop action. Cases had very contemporary designs, such as the organ in Cologne-Gremberg, set on a mushroom-shaped concrete pedestal, or in another organ that has free hanging steel frame with plexiglass used for the swell box and rollerboards, thus enabling a free view into the workings of the instrument. During the 1970s the firm abandoned the use of tropical woods and laminates in favour of solid woods, and electric action likewise was discarded in favor of mechanical action. While continuing to build new organs in the 1980s the firm began to devote attention to the restoration of older instruments, including organs of the South German Baroque, and Romantic instruments with valve chests and pneumatic actions. in 1988 the company moved into a large, open, and modern shop; that same year, Hans-Georg Vleugels (born in Stuttgart in 1958) became director of the firm. In 1991 Hans-Georg Vleugels took over the company chair and currently runs the company together with his son Johannes D.C. Vleugels (born 1983) in the second and third generation. Today there are three generations of master pipe organ builders in the Vleugels family working together.

Developments during the 1990s included the restoration of several important concert hall organs: Görlitz Stadthalle (1910 Sauer organ; 1991; 4/71); Heidelber Stadthalle (4/56); and Prague, Smetana-Saal (1912 Voit und Söhne, 1995–96; 3/70). The construction of large instruments in a late-nineteenth-century style was also completed at Aschaffenburg, Herz-Jesu Kirche (1995; 4/63); Munich, Bürgersaalkirche (1994; 3/50); Kitzingen, Stadtpfarrkirche St. Johannes (1996; 3/54); and Jülich, Probsteikirche (1998; 3/45). The Jülich organ contains accessories including thunder rolls, rain machine, and a croaking bullfrog. Vleugels also built new organs in the South German style in historic cases at Würzburg, Käppele (1991; 2/31) and Schäftlarn Benediktinerabtei (1996; 2/31). There were new directions in constructing cases using special materials - a glass case for the Christopherus-Kapelle of the Franz-Josef-Strauss airport in Munich (1/6) - and dramatic artistic effects with contemporary painting as in Kitzingen, Stadtpfarrkirche St. Johannes (1996; 3/54) and Runding, St. Andreas (1998, 2/36). Finally the 1990s saw the restoration of several historic organs in Germany: Gaibach, Heilig-Kreuz-Kapelle (1699 Schleich organ; 1989–90; 1/7); Gaibach, Pfarrkirche (1748 Seuffert organm 1997; 1/12); Mainz Budenheim (1747 Kohlhaas organ); and Laumersheim in der Pfalz (1717 Hoffmann organ).