Sixtus Lampl, founder of major organ collection, dies at 85

Sixtus Lampl, a musicologist, musician and founder of the Altes Schloss Valley cultural and organ centre, has died at 85, BR reported. He died on Friday, September 18, after a short, serious illness at Agatharied Hospital in the Miesbach district, the Dr Sixtus and Inge Lampl Foundation said.

Lampl assembled one of the world’s largest and most significant organ collections, which is displayed in Valley. It includes the more than 100-year-old Koulen organ from St Martin’s Church in Landshut, more than 60 pipe organs that are mostly fully preserved, and Bavaria’s only large cinema organ, originally built for the Capitol cinema in Heidelberg.

The foundation said the collection is now on its way to becoming a public museum with support from the German Foundation for Monument Protection.

Lampl was a passionate organ player and collector throughout his life. As a senior conservator at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, he was responsible for Bavaria’s historic organs.

His publishing house issued numerous choral, solo and orchestral works from Bavarian monasteries that had fallen into obscurity. Lampl brought them back to audiences with the ensemble Musica di Baviera, which he founded.

He received the Federal Cross of Merit, the Bavarian Constitutional Order and the Bavarian Order of Merit for his life’s work.