Kansas Congress Report
In the spring of 1854 the Massachusetts legislature chartered the New England Emigrant Aid Company, whose mission was to promote the settlement of Kansas by people who opposed slavery. Among the towns founded under its direction was Lawrence, and it was there that the University of Kansas was established. Central to its lovely campus, located on Mount Oread, is the World War II Memorial Campanile with its carillon.
Hosted by University Carillonneur Albert Gerken and the University's Department of Music and Dance, 132 individuals participated in the 55th Congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, June 3-7, 1997, which celebrated the instrument's restoration and with it the lives and contributions of four individuals whose careers as composers are inextricably linked to the carillon and to the University. Honored were Ronald Barnes, Roy Hamlin Johnson, John Pozdro and Gary White, who took inspiration from the magnificent Taylor carillon and contributed to the profession beyond words. Through recitals and presentations, the delegates, representing Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, The Netherlands and The United States of America, witnessed in glorious measure the significance of those contributions and of the instrument that inspired them.
John Gouwens played the opening recital, which included two compositions commissioned by the GCNA: Figments (1982) by Gary White, and Easter Dawning (1992) by George Crumb. Albert Gerken, like Gouwens, featured each of the four composers being honored, and premiered two works: Roy Hamlin Johnson's Winter Fanfares (1996), commissioned by the Department of Music and Dance and dedicated to Gerken, and Winds of Autumn, by John Pozdro. Other recitalists were Robert Byrnes, Don Cook, Bill De Turk, David Hunsberger, Karel Keldermans, Brian Swager, and Sally Slade Warner.
Six individuals were accorded Carillonneur status by vote of the Guild after playing successful examination recitals: Elaine Brewer, a Lawrence, Kansas freelance harpist; Helen Hawley, Organist/Choir Director at Plymouth Congregational Church, Lawrence; Rosemary Laing of Victoria, British Columbia, who is Carillonneur of the Netherlands Centennial Carillon, Organist at First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Music Specialist at the University of Victoria; Patrick Macoska, Organist/Choirmaster at St. Mary's of Redford, Detroit, Michigan; Suzanne Magassy, Carillonneur at the National Carillon, Canberra, Australia, and the only person outside of North America to have become a Carillonneur member of the GCNA; and Gloria Werblow, Carillonneur at the Rainbow Tower Carillon, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Carillonneur/Handbell Director at Calvary Episcopal Church, Williamsville, New York.
Presentations were enlightening and enjoyable. Mark Holmberg provided a historical overview of the KU carillon. Don Cook conducted a presentation/discussion on carillon music that meets pedagogical needs. Karel Keldermans described Gillett and Johnston's impact on carillon design in North America, focusing on the Rockefeller Chapel instrument at the University of Chicago. Brian Swager continued his description, begun in a Cohasset presentation, of baroque performance practice for carillonneurs, while Bill De Turk, anticipating his own recital, discussed the work of Samuel Barber, Gian-Carlo Menotti and Nino Rota while composers-in-residence at Bok Tower. In a session on Russian campanology, Edward Williams reviewed some of the more spectacular projects of Russian bellfounders.
George Gregory, joined in performance by Guild volunteers and KU music faculty, demonstrated the use of cup-shaped bells. John Pozdro led a session on composing, Andrea McCrady offered suggestions on how to play the carillon so as to avoid injury, and Roy Hamlin Johnson recalled his early efforts to learn how to compose for the carillon. Two new instruments were highlighted in illustrated presentations: Margo Halsted introduced the Lurie Carillon, located on the north campus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Beverly Buchanan described the Carillon Beach instrument, located at Panama City, Florida. Milford Myhre and Ronald Barnes gave a master class. There were tours of the Reuter Organ Company, and two KU students performed on the recently completed Wolff organ in the new Bales Recital Hall. John Agraz, Arla Jo Anderton, and John Courter were elected board members at-large.
Meeks and Watson hosted a welcoming reception, and Schulmerich hosted a closing ice cream social at the Campanile. The John Taylor Bellfounders hosted a candlelight buffet at the Dyche Natural History Museum. The Verdin Company hosted the annual pizza party at historic Liberty Hall, with entertainment by the Chuck Berg Quartet. The Royal Eijsbouts Bellfounders hosted the Congress banquet at KU's Adams Alumni Center, after which Bert Gerken formally introduced and thanked Ron Barnes, Roy Johnson, John Pozdro, and Gary White.
Profile: University of Kansas
The World War II Memorial Carillon and Campanile, inspired by the memories of classmates, teachers, friends, and relatives, stands as the most outstanding visual symbol of the University of Kansas.
In 1945, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Hugo T. "Dutch" Wedell, secretary of the Kansas Alumni Association Fred Ellsworth, Chancellor Deane W. Malott, and their tireless volunteers began a campaign which would raise $343,000 from 8,000 individuals to build KU's memorial to its war dead, the 276 students and faculty whose names appear in the Memorial Room of the Campanile, and to additional individuals in whose memory bells and donations were given. Through many people's efforts, the World War II Memorial Carillon and Campanile was constructed. The Belgian Anton Brees, then carillonneur at Lake Wales, Florida, and Duke University, played the dedicatory recital to over 7000 listeners on May 27, 1951. Thus, KU became one of the first universities in the nation to complete a major World War II memorial. An inscription in the Memorial Room at the base of the tower reads: "Free government does not bestow repose upon its citizens, but sets them in the vanguard of battle to defend the liberty of every man."
The Campanile is 120 feet tall and made of native Kansas limestone quarried in Cottonwood Falls and Junction City. It was inspired by a plan by Olin Templin and designed by Kansas City architects Homer F. Neville (class of '22) and Edward B. Delk. The fifty-three bronze bells were cast by the John Taylor Foundry in 1950 and range in weight from 12 pounds to 13,490 pounds. The bourdon is keyed to G and sounds F-sharp. Frank Godfrey supervised the design, casting, and installation of the KU bells.
State of Kansas funds provided for maintenance of the Campanile structure itself, but there was never a maintenance fund for the musical instrument inside. Because the carillon received only minimal maintenance after the day of its dedication in 1951, use and time took their toll. By 1991 the carillon had fallen into disrepair, with no funds available for restoration. Deterioration was so extensive that the cost for repair had risen to $425,000. It needed new playing and practice consoles, new bell clappers and hardware, an entire new mechanical action, and a bell frame.
Fortunately for the beloved campus landmark and everyone who cherished it, Keith and Joan Bunnel, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, contributed the entire $425,000, because they cared deeply about the carillon and those to whom it was dedicated.
The bells were silenced in 1993 to begin renovation. The Verdin Company of Cincinnati performed the work, and the new consoles were supplied by Meeks, Watson, & Company. That same year, former Chancellor Deane Malott of Ithaca, New York, agreed to lead a campaign to establish a $200,000 endowed maintenance fund that will provide annual inspection and upkeep of the carillon, in order to avoid the same deterioration that occurred in the first forty years. With Malott's leadership and the inspiration of the Keith and Joan Bunnel gift, nearly one thousand alumni responded to the call, exceeding the campaign's goal and ensuring that the KU carillon remains in perfect condition forevermore.
Ronald Barnes was University Carillonneur from 1951 to 1963 during which period the instrument was influential in the development of a North American school of carillon composition. Primary in this movement were KU composers Roy Hamlin Johnson, John Pozdro, and Gary White.
The University Carillonneur since 1963 has been Professor Albert Gerken of the KU Department of Music and Dance in the School of Fine Arts. Gerken supervised the entire carillon renovation and played the rededication on April 26, 1996.
