A church in Berlin has hosted football 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 trendy, multicultural district of Kreuzberg has shown several of the Germany matches on a giant screen but with the sound turned off, replaced by a 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 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 football presents a particular challenge.
In a film "the range is quite broad, from love scenes to chase scenes, whereas a football match has fewer possibilities," he said.
But 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 a goal.
And 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," said 40-something Sabine, referring to the commentators.
Despite Germany’s crushing 1-0 loss, von Bothmer said he would accompany the final Sunday when Spain battle the Netherlands.
"I invite you to come see who will win Sunday, the Protestants or the Catholics," he said at the end of Wednesday’s broadcast.
