Theodor
Frobenius was born in a small
town Weikersheim in Bavaria
Germany in 1885. His father was
a wine keeper - wine cellar
manager. When Theodor was
thirteen years old he became an
apprentice at August Laukhuff
organbuilder. The Laukhuff
organbuilder factory was located
just across the street from his
home. The apprenticeship was
four years, and after a further
year Theodor left
Weikhersheim to travel around
and work in other workshops.
Back then it was common for
young journeymen to travel
around in Europe work in
different places in order to
acquire a comprehensive
knowledge and skills. For
Theodor it was for three and a
half years in various German
workshops. Along the way he met
a Danish organ builder companion
A.C. Zachariassen, who later
take over an organ builder
workshop in Aarhus (Denmark) and
Theodor traveled to Denmark to
work with him. The plan was that
he stays for a year or two, but
it went quite different. During
the renovation of the organ in
Viborg Cathedral, he met his
future wife, and the plan to
travel back to Germany has
vanished.
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Opus list:
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Aalunds
Mølle - København
Nørrebrogade 148.
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Theodor
Frobenius in
Aarhus 1908
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Establishing of the
company
In 1909 Theodor Frobenius took the
management of a new organbuilder
workshop as the Copenhagen piano
manufacturer Chr. Winther expanded his
business. The organ building shop was
housed in an old dismantled mill in
Nørrebro, Copenhagen. The first task was
the building of a six-voice organ for
Harboøre Kirke. This work had been
started by an accredited organ builder
but never finished, so in fact, it was a
whole new instrument. Winther and
Frobenius continued to work on two
smaller organs, and then they got a
contract for the construction of two
larger organs (17 and 22 voices) in
Godthaabskirken and Gustafskyrken (the
Swedish church in Copenhagen). This way,
a door was opened for new and larger
tasks, including organs to Aalborg Vor
Frue Kirke and Budolfi Kirke (Aalborg
Cathedral). The organs were all personal
victories for Theodor and within a few
years, the name Frobenius was associated
with high quality. In 1914, Theodor was
taken up as a partner in the firm, which
now was named Chr. Winther & Th.
Frobenius Church Organ Factory. The old
mill become too small, and the growing
company therefore moved to larger
workshops in Classensgade, Copenhagen.
Already in 1917, it was clear that it
was natural to separate the organ
production from the piano company. The
administrative cooperation was
terminated, and Theodor Frobenius became
the sole owner. In 1926 the company was
moved to Kgs. Lyngby, where it resided
for the next 92 years, and made more
than 900 new organs. Since 2018,
Frobenius Orgelbyggeri has resided in
our new, modern workshop in Birkerød
outside Copenhagen.
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| Mahikari
Grand Shrine, Takayama Japan
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Mahikari
Grand Shrine, Takayama
Japan- Original Concept Art
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The
Frobenius Family
Theodore Frobenius was happy that all
three of his children chose to spend
their working lives as organ builders.
Under the leadership of Walther and
Erik, the company was converted into a
public limited company and was named Th.
Frobenius & Sønner (Frobenius &
Sons) A/S. Erik was responsible for the
voicing and the tonal quality of the
instruments while Rita, over a lifetime,
worked with the financial details of
production and services. The
generational change in the company did
not mean that Theodor left his
profession; even in his very old age he
stood faithfully every day, and often
late into the evening, in the workshop
where he prepared pipes for their final
voicing. With extreme care he made the
pipes ready for the final tonal
adjustment which would take place in the
church.
Theodor Frobenius
died in 1972. Rita Schepeler died in
2001, Erik Frobenius passed away in
2002, and
Walther Frobenius followed him in
2007.
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Theodor
Frobenius - 1953
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Erik
Frobenius - 1952
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Rita
Schepeler -1953 |
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in June of
1952
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Erik
Frobenius (left)
- 1939
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Walter
Frobenius on the right,
with two
co-workers
-1952 |
Frobenius Foundation /
Leadership
Where succession after Theodor
had been straightforward, there was no
immediate possibility for a third
Frobenius generation to take over the
company and family tradition. Rita and
Erik therefore created a foundation
'Frobeniusfonden', which took over the
shares and ownership of the company.
Organ builder Henning Jensen (former
founder and owner of Fyns
Orgelbyggeri) became the CEO of
Frobenius. Since 2017, organ builder
Eskild Momme has led the company as
CEO.
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Opus 1000.
-1998
the Kirk of the Canongate,
Edinburgh's Old Town, in
Scotland
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World
Famous Frobenius organ in
Queen's College
Chapel
Oxford - England
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Oude Tonge,
Hervormde Kerk
Holland, 1966
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Jensen & Thomsen
In 1996 Frobenius took over the organ
builders Jensen & Thomsen, a company
founded by two former employees of
Frobenius, Knud Jensen and Richard
Thomsen. The idea was to complete the
work that this organ building had on
order, but it turned out that even after
the acquisition there were many clients
who loved and wanted Jensen &
Thomsen organs. So the production
continued, and in the next 12 years the
company built a number of new
instruments. In 2007 the brand was
completely discontinued.
Organ Builder Carsten Lund
Frobenius took over this company in
2010. As in the case of Jensen &
Thomsen, there was still demand for
organs from Carsten Lund, so the
production continued. In the following
7 years, 6 new Carsten Lund
instruments were delivered in Denmark
and Norway. The last Carsten Lund
organ was delivered to Jevnaker in
Norway in 2017.
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on
the first
floor of the workshop
in Kongens
Lyngby where the
company was from
1926 until 2018
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Moving of the Company
After 92 years the
company moved the production and
headquarters from Kongens Lyngby.
The new place is not far away,
just 14 km (8.7 miles) more to the
north, in the industrial area of
the city of Birkerød. The
production and maintenance of the
organs continues according to our
traditions, as our high-quality
standards require.
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Part of
the wood
processing floor in Birkerød
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