Robert Heilbuth - eccentric pipe organ builder/composer

[MonicaDupont]

I'm Robert's only living relative & watched him build his masterpieces.I'm 63 now & started seeing the beginning of this at age 7.He was amazing & I'd like to thank you for posting this & also thank people who left kind comments.He was indeed a genius! GP wrote me here & asked how to reach me & honestly,I only check YouTube about once a month-best way- type my name into Reverb Nation or My Space & I'll get your email & yes, I would love to share some Cousin Robert stories with you ! thank you !

[john1801rambo]

sounds pretty good for something built "out of bits and pieces" ! This is I assume what we call a Fairground organ in the UK....

[tinnellhickory]

My husband and I knew Robert well. We have much of his music recorded, some he did for our wild west show. We still own a fabulous air calliope that Robert built - the pipes are all made of wood. Unlike steam, which runs out if a key is held down too long...the air calliope can sustain notes due to the endless supply of air. It's a real musical instrument. Robert was truly a genius.

[namaste91]

such people should be under "protection of species";) It's amazing: San Francisco seems to be a habitat for freaks and mechanical music instruments!Two of the reasons i have to go there!!

[niche2000]

So many home built organs just do not cut it musically. This mans work is exceptional. He was clearly not only an excellent craftsman and engineer but also had a keen musical ear.

The voicing, regulating, tuning and arrangements are fantastic. I do hope the current owners continue to maintain this instrument to Mr Heilbuth's high standards.

A true delight!

[garys737]

Incredible....................­......

[warboner]

so ghost-like but so beautiful at the same time

[Karlfalcon]

Whatever happened to these instruments after he died?

[ttikker]

The band organ is still in that house, now belonging to Robert's inheritor. The larger organ was bequeathed to me, and I have it in storage, hoping to set it up later this year.

[BlackVance]

This is probably one of the most heartwarming things I've seen. I wish I could meet him...

[ttikker]

Robert died in 2002 at the age of 89.

[animesis]

im sad to hear that Heilbuth passed away, he has left a great legacy in these organs! and I wish i could have met him

[KawhackitaRag]

This fact of his previous job experience (if true), would help explain how he was able to create, using what appear to be old church and theatre organ pipes, a band organ that sounds almost exactly like a Wurlitzer 165!

[ttikker]

This band organ actually uses a WurliTzer tracker bar.  But Robert didn't like the W rolls, and so cut his own. he also added holes to the tracker bar to accommodate additional chromatic pitches, more stops etc.

[KawhackitaRag]

Somebody told me that Heilbuth used to work for an orchestrion builder in Germany, possibly Hupfeld. They also said that the late Charlie Smallwood (a major early SF collector) once let him borrow the rank of violin pipes in his Wurlitzer A or AX coin piano. When Heilbuth returned and put them back, the violin pipes sounded amazing, like a fine European orchestrion! Charlie asked what he'd done, but I don't think Heilbuth ever revealed the secret.

[ttikker]

Robert never told me about working for an orchestrion builder. He knew various pipe-organ builders in Hamburg, though, including Kemper and von Beckerath. He was a skilled pipe voicer himself, both revoicing old pipes and making new ones. His main work was as piano tuner.

[nicolaj0154]

nice organ you recorded!. that sound reminds me of the sound of a band organ at the fairground right in front of the carousel!.

[54spiritedwill54]

Wow, that's a fantastic arrangement! just fabulous!

[Organgrinder010]

This video has such a heartwarming feel to it. Unbelievable to see all the great work put into such a fine instrument, and hear it play, and know that it was the vision of one man.

[cynthialstern]

Robert Heibuth was my father's father's sister's son. When he died, he claimed to have no living relatives, which was probably not so much a lie as a reflection of his desire to have nothing further to do with the folks with whom he and his mom stayed, briefly, in San Francisco, after escaping Nazi Germany. I never met him, but my father mentioned him a few times, along with anecdotes about his organs and ideas around health food fads.

Cyn

[xeasternxz]

Mr Heilbuth is an unsung genious, where I am anyway. I hope he's recognised for his talent where ever it is he resides.

[octave4]

You will have to build it. I don't think you could buy any that exist.

[octave4]

The video is pretty poor. If the Camera spent more time on the organ and less time wandering around looking at doors, floor and following people. It is shaket and does show anything but shows everything.

[waldteufel78]

Waldteufel forever :-) Great machine you got there !

[WildStrawberryFilms]

I recorded all of Robert's organ music on 4channel 10.5 ips master tapes. I'm thinking of making them publicly available. Let me know what you think.

[aubreyweirdsley]

I've heard some of your Heilbuth recordings- they are amazing. The world would be a better place if it could experience the recorded proof of Heilbuth's genius.

[farfegnugen]

please send me a message or a link to something about these recordings. i'd love to hear more of this man's work -- absolutely incredible.

[GAVIOLITOM]

hi, did you have any results ? i would be first in the queue for a copy!

[bietebouwer]

@WildStrawberryFilms Out of curiosity: any news on making your recordings publicly available? Once I saw and esp. heard this recording, it became clear to me that Robert Heilbuth was a pure genius, and I'm curious to hear more from him ...

[pianolasociety]

oh what a joy!

[niche2000]

I hope this instument still exists. It may not have a fancy facade, but it sounds fantastic.

[Celticswynd]

Reminds me of a cross between a honkytonk and a coliopie in a good way.

[GAVIOLITOM]

Thanks for the video and thanks to Mr Heilbuth for letting us see and hear his machine! If there was a rcording of it i would most certainly add it to my collection, could we see some more of it? an amazing old gent!

[JingleJoe]

that was amazing! :D I'm going to BE that old man when I'm 70 ;D

p.s. I dont think the video was bad at all :)

[coolowl2006]

Fabulous! What a feat of engineering and arranging - bits and pieces from here and there yet the whole sounds magnificent. It deserves a better film but then, if I had not seen this film, I would not know of its existence.

[Kenlist]

Splendid Instrument - so musical! What a shame that film was not

made by a less spastic-seeming photographer!!

[formichinoo]

Thats not a nice comment for the photographer or spastics!

[tussetuss]

Sure, regarded as a film it´s atrocious ("Spray painting" we used to call it)

iJust close your eyes and listen ;-)

[virginiaorganbuilder]

This amazing organ deserves to have a really good video made of it, and the music is incredible! The organ's history must be very interesting. I can see that the pipes came from a variety of sources, and the action, etc., is a collection of home-made and scavenged.  Wow! Also notable is that the organ is in perfect tune! It deserves to be out in a mall or somewhere entertaining people. I am blown away!

[staunchcharacter]

The SOUND!!! And the arrangement itself!!! This organ and the rolls are exquisite...

[mercoid]

Thank goodness for eccentric nutters like this guy. The world needs more of them.

[mercoid]

HA HAA! @ 3:38...that box looks like a face with a hose nose.

This is a wonderful thing. So much fun to see & hear.

[MarkHarmer]

That was a lot of fun - it would be great to see a multi-pass shoot of this so you get to see all the bits working. I'd agree - sheer genius!! Great that people have the energy and knowledge to do something so amazing.

[speedstick77]

Sheer genius at work.

[bietebouwer]

Wow, that's a fantastic arrangement! I'm curious about his other arrangements!

[KawhackitaRag]

It really takes someone with a good musical ear and good mechanical ability to make something like this and do arrangements this well. I mean, just look at the register chest: it looks like a bunch of popsicle sticks, but works quite promptly! And the arrangements; if you didn't know the 165 scale, you would just see a pattern of random holes rather than bass, acc., melody, and countermelody notes (from left to right), and percussion/registers at the outer margins.

[KawhackitaRag]

This organ has such a wonderful sound, it's amazing. Mr. Heilbuth's arragements are great, too. Hopefully whoever owns the rolls now will allow them to be recut so other organ owners can have some of this wonderful music for their 165-format organs.

[robindeorgelman]

great