Born in Weißenfels, Schäfer attended the Musisches Gymnasium Frankfurt as a boarding school student from 1939 to 1945 under the direction of Kurt Thomas.
From October 1945, he attended the municipal secondary school for boys in Schönebeck, where he passed the Abitur in September 1946.
[2] His teachers included Günther Ramin (organ), Robert Köbler (piano) and Johannes Weyrauch (music theory).
"Unlike many others, all composers can be played on his organ in an acceptable compromise," Schäfer told during an interview with the Erfurter Stadtanzeiger.
Throughout his professional career, Schäfer performed in organ concerts in Germany and abroad, including at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Schauspielhaus Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, in the Federal Republic of Germany and in Poland.
The Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 by Johann Sebastian Bach was recorded for the GDR television on the organ of the Predigerkirche Erfurt (broadcast 26 December 1983).