The top of the line organs built by Gebrueder Bruder of Waldkirch were
the Elite Orchestra Apollo fairground organs.  They were nearly double
the price of the typical piano/forte organs built by Bruder.  What made
them special were their many ranks of large scale orchestral pipework,
expanded percussion, and swell shutters for expression.  The facades
were usually very elaborate.  They were a departure from the typical
German fair organ construction style in that they did not have the
typical forte mixture pipes.  According to a surviving letter from
Gebr.  Bruder, when the Elite Orchestra Apollo organs debuted at the
trade fair, they received the highest praise.  According to fair organ
experts, the reason these organs were built by Bruder was to compete
with the orchestral Gavioli products being built in Waldkirch at the
time.  The designs had the input of the famed arranger Gustav Bruder.

The Wurlitzer Company was so impressed with the 69 key version that
they copied it as their Style 165.  Even more musically impressive
and expansive than the 165/69 key version was the 80 keyless Elite
Orchestra Apollo which featured chromatic melody, accompaniment, and
countermelody sections.  The countermelody featured brass trumpets
(piston) in addition to wood trumpets.  The bass section had 10 notes
with the trombones coming on with a register.  Upon viewing interior
photos, one enthusiast described the 80 keyless Elite Apollo as
a Wurlitzer 165 on hormones!

The 80 keyless Apollos could easily compete with and were more
orchestral than the Ruth 38's and could hold their own with the large
89-key G4 Gaviolis made in Waldkirch.  Probably due to their high price,
not many large Elite Orchestra Apollos were made.  Consequently they
are exceedingly rare today.  Only three 80 keyless Elite Orchestra
Apollos are known to exist.

Two are being restored in the workshops of Jens Wendel in Ruedesheim,
Germany.  Jens Wendel is a noted restorer and builder of orchestrions
and has reconstructed instruments from the Hupfeld Pan to the Hupfeld
Phonoliszt Violina to the Weber Maesto.  The first 80 keyless Elite
Orchestra Apollo finished by Jens is owned by the Wisconsin popular
tourist attraction called "House on the Rock".  For years no one knew
exactly what this organ was until I located an original photo showing
the organ new at the Waldkirch works.

This organ was imported in the heyday of fair organs by William F.
Mangels of Coney Island.  It was later maintained by Louis Berni's
firm.  In later years it played for a skating rink in the CeMar
Amusement Park in Marion, Iowa before being sold to the House on
the Rock.

This weekend this rare organ will make its musical debut at Siegfried
Wendel's Collector's Market in Ruedesheim, Germany.  For the event the
organ will feature arrangements by American arranger Wayne Holton and
by Dutch arrangers Jan Kees De Ruijter and Tom Meijer.

To see this organ on the web visit http://www.timtrager.com/ and go to
the "Rotogravure" section to the last row of photos.  Study the photos
and you will agree that the Elite Orchestra Apollo fair organs are
beautifully constructed and are among the best organs ever built in
Waldkirch.  When the photos were taken the brass trumpets were not yet
reinstalled.

This weekend for the first time in many years the full majestic sound
of one of these organs will be heard!

Tim Trager
http://www.timtrager.com