Robert Christian Hebble

Robert Christian Hebble passed peacefully at home on February 17, 2020 in Atlantis, Florida at the age of 86. He is survived by his husband Chuck Zettler; niece Kari Hebble-Condie and husband Robert Condie of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and long-time friend Edward Krynicki of Boynton Beach, Florida. Robert was predeceased by his parents Christian and Elizabeth Hebble and a brother Alan Hebble.

Robert was a composer and organist of international renown. A graduate of West Orange High School, West Orange, New Jersey, Yale University and the Juilliard School, Robert studied with such musical giants as Vittorio Gianinni and Roger Sessions. At Nadia Boulanger’s request, Robert went to Paris to spend a full year of private study in composition with the legendary musician.

For over thirty years, Robert’s career was closely linked with the great organist Virgil Fox. Dr. Fox was one of the first to recognize his creative gifts, appointing Robert as his assistant at the age of sixteen at New York’s Riverside Church. Robert traveled extensively as an organist, pianist, composer and clinician throughout the United States, Canada and Far East. Among many commissions and publications, his extensive choral and organ writings include the dedicatory organ composition Heraldings for the Crystal Cathedral; a major work, A Symphony of Light, as the premier organ composition commissioned in memory of Virgil Fox which he performed in Paris at the Cathedral of Notre Dame; Cathedral Tapestry for two organs and carillon – commissioned by the Crystal Cathedral for the twentieth anniversary of the Hazel Wright Organ; and Cathedral of Commerce, commissioned by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ for the 100th anniversary of the famous instrument in the Philadelphia store.

Mr. Hebble was a member of the American Guild of Organists, has been both choral music reviewer and contributor for The American Organist magazine. He was a teacher at Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey. He was on the faculty of the Stevens Institute of Technology for many years and the original consultant to Carnegie Hall in the design of its five-manual Rodgers Organ. Robert Hebble is listed in The International Who’s Who In Music, and was honored by the prestigious Philadelphia Orphesus Club at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Mr. Hebble was also an honored member of the prestigious international roster of Steinway Artists for piano performance.

Throughout his career Robert Hebble distinguished himself as a colorist; a musician whose conception of beauty finds variety in harmony the way an artist mixes color. His prismatic use of musical sound was the trademark of his concerts, writings and improvisations. After serving as a church organist for fifty-seven years, Robert retired in 2003, from his post of twenty-one years as Director of Music and Organist at First Congregational Church of Lake Worth, Florida. Upon the occasion of his retirement, Fred Swann, President of the American Guild of Organists, reflected on Robert’s influence on church music in America. He commented that “through his many compositions which are widely known and performed throughout the nation, Robert Hebble has been and will continue to be one of the most celebrated American composers”.

Robert Hebble was a kind, talented, generous man who made the world more beautiful and left an indelible mark on countless lives. He was a soul created for the glory of heaven. Robert was a parishioner of The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida where a service in thanksgiving for his life will be held at later date to be announced.