I just received a video from Hansjorg Leible which shows two of
his clever mechanical organs.  Hansjorg's creations combine music,
automata, and humor in a very appealing way.

The first organ is barrel operated.  A rank of wooden pipes is fronted
by several moving fairy tale characters.  Each character has it's own
sound effect when it moves.  For example, a princess throws fruits into
a huge frog's gaping mouth, a knight whacks a toothy alligator, a stork
squawks, etc.

It's all carved of dyed wood and is very effective musically with
modern, fun arrangements.  The second organ looks to be over 3 feet
square and has a medieval banquet scene with a gent shoveling potatoes
into his mouth and guests clanking their plates to the music.  This one
is roll operated.  Behind this scene is a pretty rank of figured maple
flutes.

To give you an idea of cost, the fairy tale organ is about DM 45,000
and takes 10 months to construct.  If you might be interested, his
address is:

  Ing. Hansjorg Leible
  Kirchstrasse 2
  79400 Kandern, Holzen
  Germany

He offers the video free, but a little currency in the envelope might
be polite.

Philip Jamison
West Chester, Pennsylvania USA