Dear Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Schutt, Mr. Tikker and group,  First, I really
appreciate your posts on Mr. Robert Heilbuth.  Thank you, Mr. Tikker,
for saving his unique pipe organ and I would love to hear it when it
is finally all up and running again.

Thank you also for updating us on the current status of some of his
instruments.  You may wish to also update Mr. Schutt directly, since
I'm not sure he has any current information on these.

Robbie Rhodes, in his paragraph comment appended to Mr. Schutt's post
in 150831 MMDigest (August 31st, 2015), gives two links to audio files
I'd never heard before of Mr. Heilbuth's marvelous, magnificently
voiced band organ.

  https://app.box.com/shared/1hhuo1donc  Robert Heilbuth song 1.mp3
  https://app.box.com/shared/eqyxk5kgkq  Robert Heilbuth song 2.mp3

But first: after having viewed the video of the band organ
(orchestrion) playing Mr. Heilbuth's arrangements of "Minuit Polka"
by Waldteufel, and the old pop hit "Never on Sunday") that was posted
to YouTube several years ago:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5At0FSdY7w4 
  Robert Heilbuth - eccentric pipe organ builder/composer

I noticed how much Mr. Heilbuth's instrument, although voiced and
scaled like a band organ (and very finely, in my opinion!) seems to
actually be constructed along the lines of a large Popper cabinet-style
piano orchestrion, sans the piano of course, with a different type of
homemade spoolbox, and with some of the components arranged "mirror
image", that is, with things that would normally be on the left side in
a Popper (drums, triangle, wood block) now on the right, but still in
the same general orientation, and with what I perceive as some similar
design features.

Could this be a sign that Mr. Heilbuth worked at the Popper factory at
some point?  Is there any evidence of this?  What do you European
orchestrion experts out there think?

Obviously (quite unlike European orchestrions, or for that matter, most
band organs) the organ seems to be built with castoff materials, scrap
lumber, et cetera, but I think it is quite well-built considering all
of this, and plays/functions remarkably well (at least in the video).

Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand, I listened with great
interest to the first audio file, "Robert Heilbuth song 1"

Robbie labeled it as one of Mr. Heilbuth's compositions, but it is
not, and it exists in other vintage arrangements for large European
fairground organs, and I have seen enough different versions of it to
assume it originally had some popularity.

I recognize it from a Wilfried Hömmerich / CHOR Music fairground
organ CD that I have, "Schneider`s Große Konzertorgel" which is CD
#2016 and is a large 78-keyless Wrede organ playing the 36 Ruth scale
music.  On this CD the tune is track #4 and is titled "Die Peruanerin".
This CD may still be purchased here:

  http://www.drehorgelverleih.ch/?m=shop&c=2 
  Ueli's Chilbi & Drehorgel Verleih > CD Verkauf

After a simple YouTube search I came upon this video of the Kleuser
family's style 36 Ruth organ (with very distinctive facade) playing
what I believe is the same exact arrangement as on that CD (possibly
a Ruth factory-arrangement, does anyone know?), and you can hear it
here, starting at 0:37 in the following video:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHUnweS48U 
  36er Ruth von 1910 der Familie Kleuser spielt Die Peruanerin

I have also found this record by Jacques Rotter and his Orchestra
(recorded under a pseudonym), with vocal chorus, from 1921, on YouTube.
This record was apparently recorded in Vienna, and I would guess this
tune to thus date from around 1921(?).

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmTSrbYX5_g 
  Jacques Rotter 1921: Die Peruanerin
  [... Rudolf Nelson's original ragtime-influenced-song & hit ...]

Finally, here is a very entertaining theatrical production, the
"Nelson Revue" from 1982, which includes this song.  I do believe
the musical production itself might be titled "Die Peruanerin" (The
Peruvian) but I'm not sure.  Does anyone know more about the history
of this show or this song?  I can't understand the lyrics.

The video clearly gives the credits of the song's authorship: The words
were written by O. A. Alberts, and the music was composed by Rudolf
Nelson.  Does anyone know more about them?:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUH7rHttqpE 
  Gerrie van der Klei en Jan Mesdag met "Die Peruanerin"

Comparing the records and the Ruth 36 scale arrangement with Mr.
Heilbuth's arrangement, I find his arrangement is much less
straightforward (except at the beginning) and gets extremely elaborate
and _really_ impressive near the end!  Phew!

I especially like his registration in the middle, with the great flute
solo punctuated by lightning fast bell fills. I think this use of
registration is also extremely impressive, and makes for really
exciting registration much like a really good live band.

This is similar to what other of the very best arrangers of the old
days (including Mr. Gustav Bruder) did in their arrangements: they
were fearless, and rather than bow to convention and merely grind out
blah-sounding arrangements (or decent and musical-sounding but not
terrific arrangements) like a few of their predecessors, Mr. Bruder and
others of his stature decided they wanted their arrangements to have
all of the excitement and musicality of a live band, and they were
willing to spend extra time making sure the arrangement was perfect
on the roll (good phrasing, articulation, etc) to achieve this end.

Also, they were not afraid to use the automatic registers, other than
just turning them on at the beginning of a chorus and off (or, changed)
between choruses, they would bring them on and off within sections of
the music, with lightening rapidity, just like in the more exciting
arrangements played by bands and orchestras of that day.  I hear this
in Mr. Heilbuth's roll.

He really was a genius arranger and if this roll is really adaptable
to the Wurlitzer 165 roll scale as someone mentions in the archives (or
even if adaptable to a slightly larger scale along the lines of Stinson
"European" scale with 8 bass notes, 20 counter-melody, 22 melody etc
etc), then I think it should really be scanned and recut from the
hand-cut original and shared!  This would be fantastic to hear on other
organs, if the current owner is willing to loan it.  Thoughts?

Sincerely,
Andrew Barrett

 [ "Die Peruanerin" (in French, "La peruvienne") is a revue by
 [ Rudolf Nelson, text by O. A. Alberts, Berlin, 1918.  A biography
 [ of Nelson is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Nelson 
 [
 [ At http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Peruanerin-Kleinkunst-Bilder-Text-O.A-Alberts-Musik/6458509709/bd 
 [
 [   "The magnificent, yet apolitical Nelson revues were a constituent
 [ of the Golden Twenties in Berlin. ... After the seizure of power by
 [ the Nazis in 1933 Nelson slipped away to Vienna with his revue, but
 [ even there the dismissal was enforced.
 [   "Nelson went to Switzerland and while a guest performer in Zurich
 [ in 1934, he was hired away to Amsterdam.  Here he led the exile
 [ cabaret 'La Gaîté' and guested during the summer months in
 [ Scheveningen.  By 1940, Nelson had created nearly 100 programs that
 [ changed biweekly.  After the invasion of the Wehrmacht he escaped in
 [ hiding from deportation.  When the war ended, he returned to Berlin
 [ and wrote here in 1949 his last revue, 'Berlin Weh Weh [Berlin Woe]'"
 [
 [ -- Robbie