Wolfgang Brommer asked:

> Dear friends, I am searching for music called in German,
> "Wenn die Blaetter leise rauschen [When the leaves softly rustle]".
> It must be a song out of the 1910 to 1930 era.  Do you know this
> song?  Any recordings?
>
> This music is on a barrel organ but the pins on the barrel are
> broken, so we want to replace the song.

Robbie remarked:

>[ Found at http://www.bobsmusic.de/schlagervor20.htm :
>[   Wenn die Blätter leise rauschen, Walzerlied,
>[   Musik: Paul Lincke, Text: Otto Wellmann,
>[   Verlag: Hymnophon, Berlin (1897)
>[ -- Robbie

Well, to be true, searching with Google, using the complete title did
give four pages with results, most of them based in Germany, the
homeland of Wolfgang; next door, so to say.

A lot of these links, like the one Robbie found, do offer recordings.
A recording could be helpful to find out what notes are missing;
however, that's not what Wolfgang seems to be looking for.  I think
he wants the sheet music.

Well, the sheet music is offered, too.  Of course, one could say, by
the major German music publisher: Schott.  But some other, lower priced
ones also are at hand.

There are specialised sheet music antiquarians also.  They rather
seldom show up in the Internet, due to the fact that it is quite
impossible to operate a web site plus data base on old sheet music
without enormous workload.  Given the low profit on old sheet music,
they have to operate low level, and can not afford the money, nor do
have the time for web sites (if they are interested in computers and
Internet at all).

I wonder if it might not be possible to fix the barrel just by "looking
at it".  After all, if there was a pin inserted but broken, there might
be a piece remaining, or at least the hole where it was.  Given the
fact that the music is a quite uncomplicated waltz (strictly in 3/4
time), insecurities regarding the position of the replacement pins can
hardly be a problem for a skilled guy like Wolfgang, I suppose.  If the
barrel itself is in a good condition, this would be the better way.

If the barrel is too far from restauration it better can be used as
the pattern for a complete new one, preserving the old barrel as a
"document".  This basically also was the method used by the Dutch
museum, "Van Speelklok to Pierement", when they were asked to rework
the barrel of the Salzburg "Stier" organ.  As might be remembered, this
also gave them the opportunity to re-use the original music.

Greetings from the Netherlands,
Jan Kijlstra