Carillon News

Mobile carillons in the news and a new publication

The Carillon Academy of Lier, Belgium, offered a carillon summer course in July for beginning and intermediate levels as well as a masterclass for advanced students. The course was taught by Koen Van Assche and Geert D’hollander, with instruction on making carillon arrangements by Anna Maria Reverté. Lodging was in the abbey of Averbode.  

Dick Gegner was honored Monday at Memorial Day ceremonies in the Village of Mariemont by being named Mariemont Citizen of the Year, by the Mayor and Council. Gegner has been the carillonneur of the Mary M. Emery Memorial Carillon in Mariemont, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, for 45 years. 

Mobile carillons in the news

Dutch carillonneur Boudewijn Zwart took his mobile carillon to Ireland for a series of recitals in Cork City and St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh. The photos show the carillon being hoisted into the Blackpool Library in Cork for a series of children’s concerts, and Adrian Gebruers lending a helping hand for a budding carillonneur’s first rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” This attracted considerable media attention, including headline billing on Irish television’s peak-time news bulletins.

Cast in Bronze creator Frank DellaPenna commissioned the first mobile carillon ever to be constructed in the United States. The 35 bells on the carillon consist of 25 Petit & Fritsen bells and 10 Eijsbouts bells. Both bell foundries are in the Netherlands. Ewald A. Stellrecht, proprietor of ESE Machines in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, designed and build a keyboard, frame, and carillon action. Michael Shaffer of Bandara, Texas, constructed the wooden music rack.  David Mars, owner of Texas Trans Am Service and Restoration in Fort Worth, Texas, custom-built the carillon trailer. The bourdon, inscribed to Anne and Frank DellaPenna, weighs 640 pounds. The batons (keys) are made from Lucite, which is more weather and rodent resistant than traditional wood. For the audience to visualize the carillon’s similarity with other keyboard instruments, the batons are purposefully colored black and white. The new carillon was inaugurated at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. DellaPenna created Cast in Bronze, a musical act employing his four-ton mobile carillon, over 20 years ago to bring the haunting beauty of the carillon to more listeners by demonstrating its versatility with other instruments. More info at castinbronze.com.

New publication

Publishing company Davidsfonds published a book by Luc Rombouts: Zingend brons. 500 jaar beiaardmuziek in de Lage Landen en de Nieuwe Wereld (“Singing Bronze. 500 Years of Carillon Music in the Low Countries and the New World”). The book gives a complete overview of the past and present of the carillon, starting with the first jingling bells in the Middle East, and ending with the present status of the carillon and the threats to and potential of the instrument in the future. It is written not only for carillon enthusiasts and specialists, but also to arouse interest for the carillon with the greater public. It contains no lists or inventories of carillons, but tells a story of development, flourishing and decline, of aspirations, successes, and disappointments.

Three chapters are devoted to the carillon art in North America: 1) “Memorial Bells,” about the English bell foundries and the creation of carillons in the Anglo-Saxon world between the two World Wars; 2) “Dutch production vs. Carillon Americana,” about the successes of the Dutch bell foundries after WW II and the struggle against electronic “carillons” in the USA and Europe; and 3) “American Beauty,” about the advent of the American carillon movement and the creation of a new carillon repertoire beginning in the 1950s.

Zingend brons is written in Dutch. It contains 460 pages and 230 full-color pictures.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; or e-mail [email protected]. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: www.gcna.org.

Brian Swager is carillon editor of THE DIAPASON

Two Dutch organist/carillonneurs were named Knights in the Order of Oranje-Nassau: Adolph Rots of Garrelsweer and Gert Oldenbeuving of Zutphen.

Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) and the School for Studies in Art & Culture announce that the school’s Bachelor of Music program is now accepting applications from Canadian and international students wishing to pursue carillon performance studies. The university has installed a practice carillon in a specially designed room on campus, and has entered into an agreement with the House of Commons whereby Carleton students may play at regulated times on the Peace Tower carillon. For more information: www.carleton.ca/music.

Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, held a ceremony to rename the Berea College carillon after John Courter. Courter, who died in June 2010, joined the Berea College faculty in 1971 and served there for 39 years. He was music professor, organist, and carillonneur at the college and is highly regarded here and abroad for his carillon compositions. A large bronze plaque was installed in Draper Hall, which houses the carillon.  

The University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel has released a new compact disc of organ, choral, and carillon music, Rockefeller Gala I, recorded live at the chapel, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of John D. Rockefeller’s “final gift” that established the chapel and its diverse arts and spiritual programs. The 71-minute CD features university organist Thomas Weisflog, carillonneurs Wylie Crawford and James Fackenthal, and the Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir under the direction of James Kallembach performing English, French, and American classics in the contemporary era. Almost all of this music was written during the lifetime of the chapel itself. Rockefeller made his donation in 1910, and the initial architectural drawings were created shortly after the end of the First World War. Construction was begun in 1925, and the chapel was dedicated in 1928.  The E. M. Skinner organ was built with the chapel itself, and the carillon was installed in 1932. The CD can be purchased by mailing a check for $17 to: Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago IL 60637, attention Lorraine Brochu.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; or e-mail
[email protected]. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: www.gcna.org.

Brian Swager is carillon editor of THE DIAPASON.

Competitions

In celebration of the 450th anniversary of the birth of Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1625), the Martini Carillon Foundation of Groningen is organizing a carillon performance competition in cooperation with the Dutch Carillon Guild. It will take place on September 15, 2012 and consists of two parts: playing the Martini carillon, and making an arrangement for carillon of a keyboard composition of J. P. Sweelinck. Further information and rules are available at 

www.klokkenspel.org.

The Carillon Society of Australia, Inc., organized a student carillon composition competition in conjunction with the Wesley Music Foundation. They received 20 entries from students of the Australian National University and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. First prize ($2,000) was awarded to Leonard Wiess for “The Bells of Nyx.” Ella Macens won the second prize ($1,000) with “The Transfixed Walls.” Third prize ($500) was awarded to Austin Har for “The Devil’s Merry-Go-Round.”

GCNA news

Five members of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America successfully passed the examination for carillonneur certification during the congress at Kirk in the Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan: Joseph Brink of Yale University, Stephan Burton of Brigham Young University, Nick Huang of Yale University, Joseph Peeples of Brigham Young Univeristy, and Chelsea Vaught of the University of Kansas. The next congress of the GCNA will be hosted by Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, June 19–22, 2012.

Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral was damaged by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake last August. The cathedral was closed on August 23, and the carillon was silenced with the exception of the commemorative ringing of the bourdon bell on September 11. Cathedral carillonneur Edward Nassor reported that the 53-bell Kibbey carillon was repaired by the cathedral’s facilities department. The tower stabilization has progressed to the point that the bells can be played without risk to the tower. Scaffolding has been erected atop the Gloria in Excelsis (central) Tower bracing the four corner pinnacles. Separate scaffolding has been built to support the transept and west towers. 

The earthquake caused the clappers on four of the largest bells to swing violently enough to pull the cables out of the turnbuckles that connect the tracker wires to the keyboard. The cables that had pulled out of the keyboard were reattached, so the bells can now play normally. Nassor performed on the carillon, for the first time since the earthquake, during the Cathedral Choral Society’s Joy of Christmas concerts. The first selection played was Wendell Westcott’s arrangement of Joy to the World. The concert concluded with Lisa Lonie’s Fantasy on “I Saw Three Ships.” Now that the carillon has been repaired and the tower is stabilized, carillon music will resume sounding over the cathedral close before Sunday Holy Eucharist and for Saturday recitals.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; or e-mail
[email protected]/?A>. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: www.gcna.org.

Brian Swager is carillon editor of THE DIAPASON.

Aimé Lombaert, a well-known Flemish carillonneur, passed away on October 30, 2008, at age 63. He had just retired from his positions as municipal carillonneur in the Belgian cities of
Bruges, Deinze, Poperinge, Damme, and Geraardsbergen. Lombaert was born in Oudenaarde, Belgium, and studied at the Royal Music Conservatory in Ghent, the Lemmens Institute, and the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen. He received his diploma from the Royal Carillon School in 1978, became assistant carillonneur to Eugeen Uten in Bruges in 1980, succeeding him as municipal carillonneur in 1984. In Deinze, he played one of the few “major-third” carillons.

As a result of the economic downturn, Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, announced the cancellation of its International Carillon Festival in 2009 as well as the elimination of the positions of the assistant carillonneur/librarian and the administrative assistant.

David Monaghan, Curator of Canada’s House of Commons, announced the appointment of Andrea McCrady to the position of Dominion Carillonneur on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. McCrady’s former carillon position at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington is open.

Trinity College, a liberal arts school with approximately 2,200 students in Hartford, Connecticut, is seeking a college carillonneur. The original 30-bell carillon built by the John Taylor Bellfoundry was enlarged to 49 bells in 1978. It hangs in the tower of the Trinity College Chapel.

Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, holds its 2009 Carillon Festival September 5, 10 am–4 pm. The guest carillonneur is Adrian Patrick Gebruers from Cobh, Ireland. He will conduct a seminar on Irish carillon music and perform a recital at the festival. In addition, the ISU Celtic Dance Society will present a program on Celtic dances. Hosting the festival is associate professor of music and university carillonneur Tin-shi Tam. In conjunction with the carillon festival, a carillon composition competition is being held to encourage the writing of original carillon compositions by young composers, under age 35. Prizes include a cash award of $500 and the premiere performance of the winning composition at the festival.

The Begijnhof Church, Sint-Jan-de-Doper (St. John the Baptist), in Leuven (Louvain), Belgium, is expanding its 16-bell chime into a carillon. The historic series of 16 Gillett & Johnston bells, which were once part of the carillon of the Leuven University Library, have been played in recent years by an automatic chiming mechanism. The Royal Eijsbouts firm of Asten, the Netherlands, is casting 29 new bells in the profile and tuning of the Gillett & Johnston bells. The instrument will be played by means of a baton keyboard in the new world standard. The Begijnhof is now part of the university and belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage. The carillon will be played for the first time during the Open Monument Day on September 13.

Carillonneur Piet van den Broek passed away on October 26, 2008, at age 92. Van den Broek was director of the Royal Belgian Carillon School and municipal carillonneur in Mechelen, Belgium, from 1965 until his retirement in 1981. Born in Chaam, the Netherlands, he left at age 18 for Mechelen to study at the Lemmens Institute. Upon his graduation in 1938 he became adjunct organist at St. Rombouts Cathedral. He began carillon studies with Staf Nees in 1941 and received his final diploma from the carillon school four years later.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; <brian@
allegrofuoco.com>. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: GCNA, 37 Noel Dr., Williamsville, NY 14221; <www.gcna.org&gt;.

Brian Swager is carillon editor of THE DIAPASON.

New world-standard console in Victoria, British Columbia
Rosemary Laing, carillonneur of the Netherlands Centennial Carillon in Victoria, British Columbia, sends news of the installation of a new playing console. The donor who underwrote the project wished for the most part to remain anonymous and chose August 1, 2007, for the dedication ceremony and inaugural recital in honor of his wife’s birthday. It came as a complete surprise to her, and she was moved to tears as the crowd belted out a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” accompanied by the carillon. She had been told that she was attending just another museum function. It was Victoria’s best-kept secret.
Several dignitaries were on hand, along with invited guests, the family of Carillonneur Emeritus Herman Bergink, patrons of the Royal British Columbia Museum, and a handful of the original Dutch donors who had made the Netherlands Centennial Carillon a reality in the late sixties. The media was out in full force, and the carillon was featured in all types of coverage, from live CBC radio interviews, to an article in The Globe & Mail, a national newspaper. A lavish catered reception followed the outdoor ceremony and carillon recital on a lovely summer’s afternoon in Victoria, a gentle breeze blowing off the water, the scent of flowers in the air.
But for Rosemary Laing, the story began in the dead of winter, when she was awakened from a deep sleep in the middle of the night by a phone call from the Royal Eijsbouts Bellfoundry in Asten, the Netherlands. Victoria was in the midst of a rare snowstorm, and the city had been at a complete standstill for days. When the phone rang, she panicked, afraid that it might be heralding the early arrival of her first grandchild, during a blizzard. Fortunately, it wasn’t her grandchild, but rather, a birth of a different sort. The voice on the other end excitedly spoke about a new carillon console soon to be on its way, and in her shock and disbelief the next morning, she wondered if it had been a dream. In fact, it wasn’t until she actually saw the new console in the tower that she was convinced that it was real.
The Royal BC Museum had gone shopping for a new automatic playing system to replace the broken original roll-type player, and, thanks to the Royal Eijsbouts Bellfoundry, had come home with a lovely new baton playing console, which conforms to the newly developed world standard, as well as an automatic player controlled by a MIDI system utilizing the clappers inside the lower 48 bells. Rosemary finds that the new console is aesthetically appealing and a real pleasure to play. Victoria is indeed fortunate to have this new instrument. Many thanks to the donor for his wonderful generosity!
The Netherlands Centennial Carillon was a gift from British Columbia’s Dutch community to honor Canada’s 100th anniversary in 1967 and in recognition of Canada’s role in the liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. The tower stands 90 feet high, and the carillon is composed of 62 bells cast by the Petit & Fritsen Royal Bellfoundry in Aarle-Rixtel, the Netherlands. The original 49 bells were installed in 1968, and 13 bells were added in 1971. The tower is located on Victoria’s Inner Harbour, in front of the Royal BC Museum and Provincial Archives.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; <[email protected]>. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: GCNA, 37 Noel Dr., Williamsville, NY 14221; <www.gcna.org&gt;.

Brian Swager is carillon editor for THE DIAPASON.

A carillonneur is featured in a 2006 murder mystery, Swing by Rupert Holmes (Random House, ISBN: 140006158X). It takes place in 1940 at the height of the big band era. The setting is San Francisco and the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Musical clues are provided in an accompanying CD of jazzy numbers.

Richard Watson announces a new website for Meeks, Watson & Company. The bell founding and carillon building firm, based in Georgetown, Ohio, installs both stationary and swinging bells, peals, chimes, and carillons. They also renovate, tune, and recast older instruments; <http://www.mwbells.com/&gt;.

Jill Johnston has written a biography of her father, Cyril F. Johnston, one of the foremost English bellfounders in the first half of the 20th century. She has intertwined her birth circumstances and motivations for writing the book, which inevitably led to her investigations of the bells that her father cast. England’s Child: The Carillon and the Casting of Big Bells is published by Cadmus Editions.

An Eijsbouts mobile carillon has arrived in the USA at Chime Master Systems in Lancaster, Ohio. This carillon comprises four octaves/48 bells. Information and schedule can be found at <mobilemillennium.com>. There is one other mobile carillon in America, a 35-bell instrument built by Petit & Fritsen, played by Frank DellaPenna and his Cast in Bronze. Information and schedule can be found at <castinbronze.com>.

Christoph Paccard Bellfoundries of Charleston, South Carolina has announced that they have become the exclusive representative in the United States for the Paccard Bellfoundry of Annecy, France. Stan Christoph is the president of the new firm. Paccard was formerly represented by the van Bergen Company.

Three record bells have been cast in the last decade. The largest tolling bell in the world was cast in 2006 by the Royal Eijsbouts firm of Asten, the Netherlands. Commissioned by Kiyozaku Shoji for the Tokinosumika park in Gotemba, Japan, the bell weighs 36,250 kg (79,918 lbs), has a diameter of 3.82 meters (12.5 feet), and is 3.72 meters (12.2 feet) high. It sounds a G-sharp. The previous record for a tolling bell was set in 1998 by the Peace Bell cast by the Paccard Bellfoundry of Annecy, France, for the Millennium Monument in Newport, Kentucky. It weighs 33,285 kg (73,381 lbs), has a diameter of 3.7 meters (12.1 feet), and sounds an A. Both bells were too large to be cast in the bellfoundries, so both firms used the facilities of foundries that make ship propellers. Eijsbouts used Wärtsilä in Drunen, the Netherlands, and Paccard used Fonderies de l’Atlantique in Nantes, France. The lowest sounding carillon bell in Europe was cast by Royal Eijsbouts for the carillon of Ghent, Belgium, in May 2008. The Matilde bell was named for Matilde of Portugal, who was Countess of Flanders from 1157 to 1218. The bell sounds E, leaning toward E-flat, just as the entire carillon is closer to A-flat than to A. It weighs a bit more than the 10-ton bourdon of the carillon of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

Nunc Dimittis
The carillon world was saddened by the passing of two lovely carillonneurs recently. Marilyn Clark was carillonneur of the Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage in Gloucester, Massachusetts. I have many fond memories of Marilyn from visits to play in Gloucester, her visit to Bloomington, Indiana, and carillon congresses. Marilyn was a role model for me, especially in her ability to be so generous with warmth and loving kindness. Sue Magassy of Canberra, Australia, was the first foreign carillonneur to pass the playing examination in order to become a carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. A gregarious character and zealous supporter of the carillon art, she traveled all over the world to attend carillon events.

Send items for “Carillon News” to Dr. Brian Swager, c/o The Diapason, 3030 W. Salt Creek Lane, Suite 201, Arlington Heights, IL 60005-5025; <[email protected]>. For information on the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America: GCNA, 37 Noel Dr., Williamsville, NY 14221; <www.gcna.org&gt;.