Carillons Belgium and Holland Tower Music in the ... - Forgotten Books

TOWER.

MUSIC IN

THE LOW COUNTRIES

W 8

NEW YORK

C A R I L L O N S

BELGIUM and HOLLAND

TOWER MUSIC IN

TH E LOW COUNTR IES

BY 14/

W ILL IAM GORH AM_RIC E

WITH THIRTY TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANYLONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD

TORONTO : BELL S: COCKBURN MCMXIV

Copyright, 19 14. by

JOHN LANE COMPANY

PUBLISHERS PRINTING COMPANY207-217 West Twen ty -fifth S treet. New York

TO

MY W IFE

THE CHARM ING GUIDEWHOSE UNFAILING INTEREST

HAS INSPIRED THIS BOOK, AND TO

MY SON

wuosn COMPANIONABLE AIDHAS COMPLETED IT

VOORSLAG

H EN the Assis tant Keeper of theB ri ti sh Museum wrote me “I knowof no work on cari l lons

,i t con

vinced me there was need Of ano ther book in

the world . In many j ourneys through the

Low Countries I had admi red the beauty of

bell - towers and had l istened to thei r musicwith increas ing delight . Yet rarely did I findanyone who knew the story of the towers o rcould tel l me about the bel ls . P rimari ly toanswer such questions

,this book was begun .

Soon I real ised that the subj ect dese rvedlarger treatment and that the his tory

,often

times romantic,Oi the cari llon art ought to be

p reserved in an access ib le form .

What is b rought together here is the resul tof explorations among many towers

,and of

careful research in l ibraries of the UnitedStates and in those of Antwerp

,B russels

,the

Hague,and Amsterdam

,and in the B ib l io

theque Nationale of Paris . Perhaps sti l l

more i t i s due to fortunate acquaintance withmen o f countries other than our own

,who

,

7

8“VOOR SLAG

”

sharing my admiration and affection for theDutch and Flemish peoples , have generouslyco- operated in my endeavour to assemble in order widely scattered and Often obscure detai lsconcerning the origin and development of aunique raci al music .M any friends have assi sted me in compilation and translation

,and to them all I make

grateful acknowledgment . Particularly Iwish to record my recognition of the interestexp ressed by M r. Andrew D . White

,of

Ithaca,Chai rman Of the American Delega

tion at the Fi rst Hague Conference , Who hasvi s i ted more than once the p rincipal bell - tow

ers of Hol land and B elgium . My thanks arealso special ly due to M r . A . J . F. van Laer

,

the State Archivist,Albany ; to M r. Freder

ick Rocke,organist and Choi r-master of the

Cathedral of All Saints,Albany ; to the cari l

lonneur of Mechl in , M r . Josef Denyn ; tothat of Gouda

,M r. G. van Zuylen ; and to

that of the Hague,M r. J . A . de Zwaan

,for

valuab le aid and suggestions . And to M r. J .

J . A . Knoote,of the Hague

,and to M r. J . den

B oer,OfM iddleburg , I am indeb ted for many

facts and several i l lustrations .

“VOORSLAG

”9

My indeb tedness i s also acknowledged toM r . W. W . Starmer

,of Tunb ridgeWell s

,fo r

the information I have obtained from his let

ters and from his addresses on bel l -music . Herecently wrote me : “I could give you enough

matte r to fil l a book,on Clock chimes alone

,

Here in my study I have no less than 12000

communications catalogued .

” Above all,I

am under ob l igation to M r . P rosper Verheyden

,ofAntwerp

,Who has kindly given me

the benefit of h i s advice and has generously

put at my service knowledge attained by longand careful s tudy.

The courtesy of the Houghton M ii n

Company,Of B oston

,in allowing me to re

p rint the poem by Longfellow is much appreciated .

The sources of my information have beenso various and so largely from books in lan

guages other than English that some inaccuracies may be found . If so

,I should be glad

to have them made known to me . And ifthose in any country who know or find addi

tional facts wil l send them to me , I shal l beequally glad .

The revival Of interest in cari llon musi c i s

10“VOORSLAG

”

W idesp read,a revival insp i red most of al l by

the devo tion,genius

,and wonderful skil l of

Josef Denyn , greatest of bel l -masters . Travellers from other lands return again and again

to the LOW Countries,attracted by picturesque

scenes of market-place and busy harbour ; ofcivic hal l and Church tower ; of quiet canaland lush field ; but only when the music o fbells i s heard over all does the Charm becomecomplete .

WILLIAM GORHAM RICE .

13 5 W ASHINGTON AVENUE,ALBANY, N . Y .

C O NT ENT S

CHAPTER IPAGE

The land o f carillons—I ts peculiar attractivenessArchitectural beauty o f towers—Defin ition o f carillon—Remarks of Charles Burney ,

l 773—Thefrontiers o f carillon music—S tevenson—S carcityOf carillon literature—Longfellow—Hugo

CHAPTER I IJournals Of travellers—Correr, lOl l—Georgi , 1626

Garamp i, 1764—Evely n ,1641—Other writings

H emony’

s book,1678—Fi scher, l 737—S chaep

ken s , 1857—Haw eis , 1875—Van der Straeten ,l 8o7-88—Gregoir, l 877-79—Starmer—Municipalrecords and local h istorie s

CHAPTER I I IGhent—The centenary—The belfry—The bells—Prin

c ipal carillons of B elgium—Of H olland—Mechlin—Methods o f p lay—Automatic—B y a bell-master—Connection o f keyboard w ith bells—Pedalclavier—Most effective music—Anecdote s o fGhent

CHAPTER IVBruges—Meaning o f “

belfry —Flemish belfriesMunic ip al ownership o f carillons and bell towersLongfellow at B ruges—H is d iary—“

Carillon”A night in Bruges—I ts transformation—The carillon now—“

The B elfry o f B ruges”l l

12 CONTENTS

CHAPTER VPAGE

The primitive carillon—I ts development in the sixteenth century—Municipal clocks—The voors lagThe “j eu de cloche s”—Increase in number o f bells—Improvement o f key board and automatic barrel—A good carillon today—The B eh yn improvements—Important place o f carillons in times past—B russels—Mons—Maastricht—Ath—A christening at Mechlin—A celebration at B ruges—Thetwin carillons at Mafra , Portugal

CHAPTER VIFounders—The H emony s—Their contemporarie s—At

Zutfen—At Amsterdam—P ieter H emony’

s letters—The amount o f their work—The van denGheyns and the van Aers chodts—The Dumery s

—The Waghevens—D e H aze—The Petits—Fremy—Witlockx—Noorden and de Grave—D erk—Modern founders—Old contracts—Maastricht—TheH ague —B russels—Ath—M iddleburg—DanzigOudenaarde—Cost o f bell-metal—I ts composition—Prices o f carillons to-day—Character Of bellsby various founders—Tuning

CHAPTER VIIThe charm o f unseen music—Carillons and the seaDe Am ic i s—Carillons and character—Mu sic usedin automatic play—Examples Ofmusic used now

and in the seventeenth century—Effect o f air currents—The drum—Method o f setting tunes—Theimproved cy linder—Drum play at MechlinPraise and condemnation—Clavier play—Decadence and revival—The music—I ts characterWhere to listen—Market day music—Festive con

certs—Description Of a keyboard . .

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

Carillonneurs and their pay—Amsterdam—Pieter Pater—P ieter Chatelet’s contract—D irck SchollPothOff—Matth ias van den Gheyn—HaveralsPay and dutie s in the s ixteenth and seventeenthcenturies—To- day—H ered itary bell-masteryFirst inspiration—K indness Of carillonneurs—Ap ostcard canvass—Further kindnesse s—BrielSch iedam—Delft—Tours sugge sted—The carillonregion—Mechlin the climax

CHAPTER IXH ow the Mechlin carillon was got

—Choosing th ebell-master—Mechlin—Louvain—Bruges a s hostMechlin prize comp etitions , 1897 and 1910

Mr . Deny n’

s play ing—H is other activitie s for theart—The Deny n festival , 1912—The new b ellThe afternoon rec ital—The evening recital—Thepresentation and speeches—The carillon schoolThe need o f ir—What has been done—I ts scopeD ifficultie s o f p ractice—H ope against

CHAPTER X

A vis it to Mechlin , August 18, 1913

APPENDIX AL ist o f carillons in H olland

APPENDIX BLi st o f carillons in B elgium .

APPENDIX C

L i st Of carillons in other countries—Austria-Hungary—Denmark—France—Germany—Great BritainI taly—Luxemburg Portugal—Russia SpainSweden—United S tates o f America

13

14 CONTENTS

APPENDIX D

L i sts o f bells in carillon at Mechlin—Carillon at GhentPeal o f Exeter Cathedral—Chime Of Corn ell

University

APPENDIX E

Report Of the Jury at the Mechlin prize competitionin 1910

APPENDIX E

English bells and change ringing—Other notes

PAGE

ILLUSTRATIONS

Mechl in : Saint Rombold’s Tower Frontispiece

Groningen : Saint M artin ’s Church 20

Amsterdam : The M int Tower in 1765 24

Antwerp : The Cathedral Spire 28

The H ague : The B ell Tower in the D istance 32

Delft : The N ew Church in 1729 38

Fanci ful Picture of an Ancient Carillon 42

Ghent : The B elfry 46

B ruges : The D rum 54

Antwerp : The Key B oard 56

B ruges : The B elfry 62

B ruges : The B ells 68

Edam : The B ell Tower 76

Oudenaarde : The Town Hal l Tower 80

Mons : The B el fry . 84

Zutfen : TheWine H ouseTower and M arket Square 90

U trecht : The Cathedral Tower 94

M iddleburg : The Abbey Tower , inWinter 102

Appingedam : The B ell Tower 106

Amsterdam : V iew from the Palace B ell - level 108

M echlin : Transmission B ars and Wires 120

H aarlem : The Great Church from the Spaarne 126

15

16 ILLUSTRATIONS

Mechl in : The Key BoardAmsterdam : The Carillonneur in H is Tower CabinMechlin : The B ellsSchiedam : The B ell Tower

Ypres : The Cloth Hal l Tower

Josef Denyn of Mechlin : The Great B ell-Mas terAmersfoort : The Tower of Our LadyEnkhuizen : The Dromedary TowerVeere : The Town Hall

Antwerp : The Cathedral Spire at Sunrise

Map of the Carillon RegionCar illon Music

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CAR IL L ON S

CHAPTER I

“Flanders where the Carillons r ipple from old Spires .

DOWDEN“In H olland the pass ing hour s ings . DE AM ICIS

Y s to ry i s one of discovery and ex

plo ration ; exploration leading Often

into fascinating aerial fields,and

discovery,fo r many Americans

,at least

,of a

new kind of music . Yet the land of which I

write i s not far off and the music has long

been heard . Ver M eer and Remb randt,van

Dyck and Rubens,l i stened to i t as they paint

ed the l i fe of thei r time,and sti l l in ou r day

the benediction of thi s music continues fo r

travellers and for al l people in the LOW

Countries .

It i s heard from S t . Catherine’s tower at

B riel,on the island of Voorne

,where firs t

19

20 CAR ILLONS OF

The B eggars of the Sea rose up against

the power Of Spain,and i t sounds from

that fifteenth century New Church at Delft,

where Wi l l i am of Orange,victorious but as

sassinated,forever res ts . From S t . S tephen’s

tower at N imeguen, ris ing above wide river

waters,i t marks the hours fo r the pass ing

boatmen,and from S t . Lawrence’s tower at

Rotterdam i t gives a welcome to sailors com

ing home from distant seas.

Hundreds of s tudents hear i ts cal l at the

Univers i ty of Louvain,and i t uni tes with the

worship of thousands in the Cathedral at

Antwerp . At Yp res i t sounds over the mag

nificent C loth Hall of the merchants ; at

Amsterdam i t floats over the great palace

Of the Queen . The watchmen h igh up in

Groningen ’s tower in the north and those in

Mechlin ’s tower in the south , fol low with

thei r faint- sounding trumpet- s trains the notes

of the bells at each hal f hour of the night ;and the market-men at the weigh -house Of

Alkmaar,and the market-women in thei r

GRONINGEN : S . MARTIN ’

S CHURCH

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND 21

Zealand costumes at M i ddleburg wait fo r

the signal of thi s music to begin thei r sel l

ing at mid - day . From the belfry at Ghent

to-day sounds the concord of bells as i t

d id when the Treaty of 1814 firs t was p ro

claimed,and from the bel fry of B ruges

ring the Chimes,

“low at times and loud at

times,

” which were the Insp i rat i on of Long

fel low when he first journeyed through

Flanders .

So tower afte r tower migh t be named,each

carrying a part in th is chain of melody.

Assuredly no music joins more perfectly in

the celeb ration of days of national rejoic

ing ; but, better sti l l , i t sends down from ai ry

heights an influence which l ightens routine

and to happy occupation adds an accompani

ment of surpassing charm .

Many travellers have sought to compre

hend the secret of the attractiveness of the

LOW Countries . Complex and elusive that

secret doub tless i s,yet I bel ieve we shal l

find a clue fo r our search in a knowledge

“0 TOTTER MLUS IC IN

of thi s di sti nctive mu s ic . Surely i ts long

continued hold upon the people Of Hol l and

and Belgium ; its ssociation wi th s ti rring

even ts in thei r hi story ; its touch wi th p ro

sai c du ties ; its democrati c sp i ri t ; its com

panionshi p wi th time ; its s eat in lofty towers ,

and i ts main ten ance at the publ i c charge

all give sugges tions of raci al temperament

wel l Worth cons idering.

" Iost of th e s e lofty tOWers are themselves

of exqu isi te architectural beauty . Amers foort

and Ou den aarde,Veere and Bl ons

,and all

those al ready spoken Of,are perfect in thei r

setting. Bv thei r p roportions and s trength,

by their domination of the scene

,they satisfy

the eye even be fore the melody of thei r bells

cnmes to please the ear .

B efore app roach ing nearer the domain Of

thi s uni que mu s i c,a bri ef defini tion, show ing

in general1 terms

the sense in wh i ch the word

cari ll on ts =ed here,seems des i rable . Exact

defini tion woul d demand an exten ded consid

c ration Ofmany detai l s whi ch may be better

24 CAR ILLON S OF

and a cnime thi s fundamental difference exists,

namely : the cari llon i s essential ly chromatic

in i ts intervals while the Chime is essenti ally

di atonic,these terms being used as defined by

Dr . C . W . Pearce,in “Modern Academic

Counterpo int,

” where he says : “D i atonic

means p roceeding mostly by tones as opposed

to chromatic,which p roceeds by semitones .

The chromatic characteristic,comb ined as i t

i s with the extended compass and range in

s ize of the bel ls,enab les a master of a cari l lon

keyboard no t only to play the notes of a great

variety of music but to interp ret i ts sentiment

and to produce effects which are distinctive

and beyond the power Of any other musical

instrument .

That quaint book,

“The Present S tate of

Music in Germany,in the N etherlands

, &c .,

being The Journal o f a Tour undertaken to

collect material fo r a General History of

sic by Charles Burney,Musical Doctor

,

on,

informs us that the traveller

was enlivened in h is journey by the sound

B ELGIUM AND HOLLAND 25

of bells . Thei r playing attended him almost

constantly,and we find him reco rding Im

p ressions such as these

COURTRAY. It was in th is town that I first perceived the pass ion for carillons or Ch imes , which isso prevalent through the Netherlands . I happened toarrive at 11 o ’clock and half an hour after thechimes played a great number of chearful tunes , in di fferent keys , which awakened my curiosi ty for this species of music , so much so that when I came to GH ENTI determined to inform mysel f in a particular mannerconcerning the carillon science . For this purpose Imounted the town bel fry from whence I had a full Viewnot only of the city, which is reckoned one of the largestin Europe , but could examine the mechanism of thechimes , so far as they are played by clock-work , andlikewise see the carillonneur perform with a kind of keyscommunicating with the bells , as those of a harpsichordor organ with strings and pipes .”

ale ale are

GRONINGEN. H ere again I found myself in a

country of carillons ; I had indeed heard some sl ight attempts in B remen , but in th is place every hal f hour ismeasured by chimes .”

i t alt

AMSTERDAM . This is truly the country of chimes ;every quarter of an hour a tune is played by them inall the churches .

26 TOWER MUSIC IN

LIEGE . The organist of the Cathedral is likewisecarillonneur as is often the case in the Netherlands ;but here the passion for ch imes begins to diminish .”

9k élé 9k

AIX-LA-CH APELLE . The passion for carillons andch imes seems here at an end . H owever , through a streetthrough which a procession had lately passed , there werehung to festoons and garlands a great number of oblongpieces of glass cut and tuned in such a manner as toform l ittle peals of four and five bells all in the samekey which were played on by the wind . a“ They areput in motion by the most gentle breeze which may trulybe called the carillonneur .”

The pass ion fo r this music from the be

ginning of i ts l arger development in the

s ixteenth century followed racial influence

rather than pol itical f rontiers . Wi th scarcely

an exception,each p rincipal town of the

ancient N etherlands,bo th north and south

,

early estab l i shed i ts municipal cari llon and

maintained i t wi th devoted sp i ri t . In north

ern France too,as at Douai

,Arras

,Lille

,

Camb rai,and Dunki rk

,and here and there

in border towns of western Germany, as at

M almedy and Duren , bell towers have long

THE LOW COUNTR IES 27

existed,and many of these possess even now

thei r complement of harmonious bells .

I t was at Antwerp on the Scheldt that

Arethusa and C igarette began thei r voyage,

and in that delightful chapter,

“The O ise in

Flood,

” Stevenson thus tel ls how a new sen

sation of sound revealed i tsel f

On the other side of the valley a group of red roofsand a belfry showed among the foliage ; thence someinspired bell ringer made the afternoon musical on achime of bells . There was someth ing very sweet andtaking in the air he played and we thought we had neverheard bells speak so intelligently or sing so melodiouslyas these . I t must have been after some such measurethat the spinners and the young maids sang ‘

Come away,Death ’ in the Shakespearian Illyria .

“There is so often a threatening note, someth ingblatant and metall ic in

’

the voice of bells that I bel ieve we have fully more pain than pleasure in hearingthem ; these as they sounded abroad , now high , nowlow , now with a plaintive cadence were alwaysmoderate and tunable and seemed to fall into the Spiri tof the still rustic places l ike noise of a waterfall . 9"

I could have blessed the priest or the heritors , or whosoever may be concerned with such affairs in Francewho had left these sweet old bells to gladden the afternoon. At last the bells ceased and with their note the

28 CARILLONS OF

sun withdrew. The piece was at an end ; shadow andsilence possessed the valley of the Oise.

”

What bel ls they were that S tevenson heardwe do not know. Certainly more than once

thei r music must have sounded over him

as Belgian market-place and French church

tower were passed on that inland voyage .

Why should the measures of thi s music

be though t so intell igent and melodious ?

And why Should chimes in those nether lands

awaken so great civic interest and popular

affection,when the playing of bell s at home

often distracts rather than pleases our ear ?

Even i f no complete answer finally appears

here to questions such as these,I trust that

we Shall have been , i f not discoverers , at

leas t explorers together in congenial fields .

Nowhere can be found any comprehen

s ive treatment Of cari l lons,thei r towers

,and

thei r mus ic . True,some traveller has in

cidentally mentioned the beauty Of thei r

melody, or has curiously looked into thei r

playing,or has b riefly described an enchant


ing view from the tower cab in of a cari l

lonneur ; or perhaps some poet has given

them a cha rming setting in his rhyme .

M any of us know the verses in wh ich

Longfellow wrote °

But amid my broken slumbersStill I heard those magic numbers ,As they loud proclaimed the fl ightAnd stolen marches of the night .”

And lovers Of French wil l remember the

poem of Victo r Hugo in “Les rayons et les

omb res,entitled “Ecrit sur l a vi tre d ’une

fenetre flamande”

“J ’aime le carillon dans tes cités antiques,O vieux pays gardien de tes mmurs domestiques ,Noble Flandre , le nord se réchauffe engourdiAu soleil de Castille et s

’

accouple au midi "Le carillon , c’est l’heure inattendue et folle , ‘

Que l ’w il croit voir, vétue en danseuse espagnole ,Apparaitre soudain par le trou vif et ClairQue ferait en s ’ouvrant une porte de l’air ;Elle vient, secouant sur les toits léthargiquesSon tabl ier d ’argent plein de notes magiques ,Réveillant sans pitié les dormeurs ennuyeux

,

Sautant 5. petits pas comme nu oiseau j oyeux ,

3 0 TOWER MUSIC

Vibrant, ainsi qu’

un dard qui tremble dans la cible ;Par nu fréle escalier de cristal invisible

,

Effarée et dansante , elle descend des cieux ;Et l

’

esprit, cc veilleur fait d’

oreilles et d’

yeux

Tandis qu ’elle va, vient , monte et descend encore ,Entend de marche en marche errer son pied sonore "

CHAPTER II

“I had the honour of being every day permitted to

search in the B ibl iothéque da Roi, in Par is, for more

than a month together , in hopes offinding something to

my purpose, but in vain .

”CHARLES BURNEY

H ILE cari llons may not have ap

peared often in general,

l i terature,

frequent notice of them is found in

the letters and diaries of observant travellers .

That the early Venetian ambassadors to the

LOW Countries were imp ressed by thei r mel

ody i s shown clearly in the“Relazione Vene

ziane,

” recently pub l i shed by the Dutch Gov

ernment. There Marcantonio Correr,writing

in 16 1 1 of the tower at M iddleburg,says :

Ha un horologio all’ uso de’ Paesi Bassi , che a tutti

gl i quarti ed a tutte le hore suonano una quantitagrandedi campane musicalmente suonano da per se

con artificio et con tastature secondo ancora che si su

onano gl i organi .”

The exp ress ion al l ’ uso de’ Paes i Bassi,

3 1

3 2 CAR ILLONS OF

indicates that the ambassador,who doubt

less had travelled ih many European coun

tries,regarded the cari l lon as pecul iar to

the lands of Remb randt and Rubens . Par

ticularly interesting, too , i s a passage from

Francesco B ell i ’s account of the journey of

Ambassador Gio rgio Gio rgi in 1626 :

Le campane d i questi paesi servono per musicahanno una temperatura soave ed una consonanza ar

monica , ch’

isprime ed un i sce tutte le voci ; ed in Agaappunto il batter dell ’hora é prevenuto da un concertod i campanell i sonori e dilicati al possib ile . Aggiungoqui la industri a ed il modo d ’un publico benefizio, ch’

33 una campana di tanta , no so se io dica riputazione osuperstizione, che a morti non si suona per manco d icinque ducati per hora .”

The bells in these ( low) countries serve for music ;their timbre is so sweet and their harmony so completethat they express and include all the notes of the voice ;and in the H ague the striking Of the hour is precededby a concert from the belfry which is most melodiousand delicate . Thrift here comb ines with a form of publ ic benefaction , for a hell is so regarded , I do not knowwhether I should say with reverence or supersti tion ,that for the dead i t is not sounded for less than five

Nducats an hour . ”

3 4s TOWER MUSIC IN

son who plays , strikes the various bells in such a wayas to produce musical chords and makes various melodies which are quite pleasing .”

And of the C i ty Hall,now the Palace

,at

Amsterdam,he says :

“I examined the carillon , the drum of which has7200 holes for various chords and pieces of music wh ichare produced by the arrangement of a number of pegsthat are inserted into these holes and which , as the drumrevolves , strike certain levers which raise the hammersthat strike the bells .”

It is indicative of the place cari llons oc

cup ied in the affai rs of the seventeenth cen

tury that grave ambassadors considered i t

worth while to send account of thi s mus ic

of bel ls to the Doge and Senate of the far

away Southern Republ ic .

James Howell,in one of hi s Famil iar Let

ters,dated Antwerp

,1622

,gives “A Survey

of the Seventeen Provinces , and b riefly men

tions that “Those curious quadrants,chim’

s

and d ial ls were firs t us ’d by them .

”

The earl ies t considerab le reference to cari l

lons in English seems,however

,to be in the

THE LOW COUNTR IES 3 5

Diary of John Evelyn . This is h is inter

esting entry

Amsterdam,August , 1641. The turrets , or steeples ,

are adorned after a particul ar manner and invention ;the chimes of bells are so rarely managed , that beingcurious to know whether the motion was from any en

gine , I went up to that of S t . N icholas , where I foundone who played all sorts of compositions from the tablature before him , as i f he had fingered an organ ; forso were the hammers f astened with ‘wires to severalkeys put into a frame twenty feet below the bells , uponwhich ( by help of a wooden instrument , not much nu

l ike a weaver’s shuttle , that guarded his hand ) he struckon the keys and played to admiration . All this while ,through the clattering of the wires , din of the too nearlysounding bells , and noise that his wooden gloves made ,the confusion was so great, that i t was impossible forthe musician , or any that stood near him ,

to hear anything h imself ; yet, to those at a distance , and especiallyin the streets , the harmony and the time were the mostexact and agreeable.

”

That there never has been attempted unti l

now any comprehensive histori c treatmentOf this Characteri stic democratic municipal

music of the LOW Countries i s difficul t to

bel ieve . Especial ly does this omission seem

3 8 TOWER MUSIC IN

sustained and endorsed by the s ignatures of

the ci ty cari l lonneurs Of B riel,Delft and

Amsterdam . The book ends with these l ive

ly verses by D i rck Scholl of Delft di rected

agains t Quiryn van B lankenburgh, Official

cari l lonneur of the Hague,who

,i t appears

,

had Strongly argued that C Sharp and D Sharp

were necessary

De Cis en Dis die zyn ter Gouw,

Is dat niet volmaakt gebouw ?

Quirinus geci t het woord van Ja,Kan ’

t beter voor ons dan niet besta ?

H IJ raad de Stad en leid haar omTot iets dat meesten tij d blijft stom

Ja ieder slag kost een pond groot,Z ij hangen daar als levend-dood .

Which may thus be put in English

Those bells Cis and Dis of old Gouda’s b ig Chime,In truth were they bought to make melody fine ?

Quirinus says : Yes , that their music is rare .To us i t were well had they never hung there ;

The city was cheated and wrongly inducedTo purchase what scarcely could ever be used .Each stroke of these bells costs a pound , so ’tis sa idPretending they’re l iving, in fact they are dead "

NIEUWE a t“ . StURSUL’

s KERCK.

DELFT : THE NEW CHURCH IN 1729


The second book,a smal l quarto having

only about a score of pages,i s also Dutch

and its title i s : “Verhandel ing van de Klok

ken en het KlokkeSpel .” It was pub l i shed

at Utrecht in 1737 by J . P . A . Fischer,an

organis t and caril lonneur wel l - known at that

time . A fanci ful i l lustration therein of a

carillonneur at his keyboard is taken from

Mersenne’s

“Harmonie Universel le,”

1636 .

While Fi scher discusses the o rigin of the

Klokkespel— the Dutch word fo r cari llon

and gives rules fo r setting tunes fo r automatic

hour play his larger interest is in bell s gener

al ly and in curious tales about them and he

p resents nothing comprehensive concerning

the cari llon art .

The Journal of D r . Burney,pub l i shed in

1773 , has al ready been quoted . He has much

more to say about cari llons,and the tech

nical ski l l exhib i ted in thei r playing was

very amazing to him . Nevertheless,he had

l i ttle sympathy with what he so Often calls

the “pass ion for caril lons,and his conclu

40 CAR ILLON S OF

s ion was that they were of no genuine mu

sical importance . Alexandre Schaepkens,“D i recteur de l ’Ecole de Dess in de M aas

tricht,Chevalier de l ’ordre de la Couronne

de Chine,

” pub l i shed at B russels in 1857 a

small volume,

“Des C loches et de leur usage ,”

in which are quo ted two or three pages of

interesting specifications f rom seventeenth

century cari l lon contracts .

Quite a contrary view to that of D r .

Burney was p resented a hundred years later

by another Englishman,the Rev. H . R .

H aweis. In “Music and Morals,

” printed

at London in 1875 , he discussed carillons

with much enthus iasm,advocated thei r use

in England as far superior to chimes,and

urged his countrymen to take up thei r p lay

ing in the place of change - ringing . Then,

even as now,exact knowledge of cari llons

was difficult to obtain,and M r. H aweis ap

parently not having the time to search out

such detai led information as was available,

contented h imsel f with a general treatment

42 TOWER MUSIC IN

made much use,giving a sympathetic and ac

curate analysi s Of the characteristics of the

carillon and he contemplates putting in more

permanent form his valuab le conclusions .

The pub l ications enumerated cover sub

stantial ly all that has been written , so far

as I can ascertain,upon the b roader features

of the cari llon art . Remaining to be con

sidered are the early municipal records so

religiously p reserved in Holland and B el

gium ; the l ater archaeological annals , con

tributed by Dr . G . van Doorslaer,Pro fessor

W. P . H . Jansen,D . F . Scheurleer

,F. A .

Hoefer, J . W . Enschedé and other careful

investigato rs,and the p resent day local pam

phlets often ephemeral and rare and many

times containing facts and traditions not else

where to be found . These al l yield cumu

lative evidence of the close relationship of

the cari l lon to the civic and social l i fe Of

the LOW Countries throughout the past four

centuries .

It early became clear to me that the caril

FANC IFUL PICTURE OF AN ANC IENT CARILLONMERSENNE

’

S H ARMON IE UN IVERSELLE , 163 6


lons themselves must be heard and seen to

be ful ly understood . Wi th th i s purpose I

have visi ted al l the towers thus far men

tioned and many others besides .

CHAPTER III

When I came to Ghent I determined to inform my

self in a particular manner concern ing the car illon

science. CHARLES BURNEY

HE traveller who would most com

fortably gain the heights of a bell

tower,and most eas i ly see the bells

and the mechanism o f a large caril lon should

visi t the belfry of Ghent in B elgium . This

alone of the towers in the Low Countries has

an electric l i ft . Perhaps some explorer may

feel that the atmosphere of the antique is dis

turbed by so modern an invention , but by its

aid the ascent becomes poss ib le for many who

would not undertake the arduous cl imb,some

times Of several hundred steps necessary to

reach a cari l lonneur’s cab in . Antwerp,for

instance,has 622 s teps ; B ruges 402 ; and

Mechlin 400 , to the bells .

Ghent at this time will special ly attract

Engl ish - Speaking people and,indeed , those of

44


all l ands who feel that the alleged gains of

war are the great i l lusion of the p resent day .

The same cari llon which rang out a century

ago,will welcome now the completion of a

hundred years of peace between Great B ri tain

and the United States , begun by the treaty

signed on December 24th, 1814. That Christ

mas Eve agreement was the work of J . Q .

Adams,Gallatin

,C l ay

,Bayard

,a nd Russel l

,

rep resentatives at Ghent on the part of the

United States,aided by the wisdom OfMadi

son and Monroe at home . On the part of

England i t was due to Castle reagh,B athurst

,

L iverpool,and Wel l ington

,though none of

these men were actually Peace Commissioners .

NO accompl i shment of the treaty was more

important than that which p rovided for the

arb i tration of the boundary between the

United States and Canada ; a l ine , with i ts

sub sequent extens ions,running by land and

water nearly 4000 miles . Since the signing Of

the treaty,not a few I rri tati ng controvers ies

have arisen between the nations who were

46 TOWER MUSIC IN

parties to i t,and great populations active in

trade rival ries have come to exist on either

s ide of the dividing l ine,but through all

,that

l ine has continued unfortified , unguarded ,and unpatrolled . B oth adj acent peoples have

maintained thei r rights,both have advanced

in p rosperi ty and,as fixed by arb i tration

,that

boundary has remained secure with neither

forts,nor soldiers

,nor ships of war upon it to

keep a threatening or even a p ro tective watch .

The fine house,with extensive grounds

,in

the Rue des Chartreux in which the conclu

sion of the negoti ations of 1814 took place ,known then as the house of L ieven Bauwens

and occupied by the B ritish Peace Commis

sioners, i s now a Carthusian convent . I t was

there,in the long saloon looking out upon an

inner court which contains a del ightful fo rmal

garden,that the treaty was s igned . The carved

woodwork and deco rated ceil ing have re

mained in thei r o riginal fo rm,but the room

itsel f was divided in recent years by plain par

titions into three parts . It i s a satis faction to

THE LOW COUNTRIES 47

know that this historic meeting-place has lately

been restored to its earl ie r Si ze and dignity .

Not far distant in the very heart of the o ld

ci ty is the Pl ace Saint Bavon,at one s ide of

wh ich rises the great bell - tower . The heights

of this belfry once gained,the traveller finds

himself among a greater company of bells,

both large and small,than he has ever before

seen . In all there are 52 bells . Fixed upon

a heavy framework o f wooden beams,they ex

tend in parallel rows,tie r above tier

,fil l ing

the sides of the great tower room . The l ittle

bells are hung the highest . The b ig ones just

clear the floor . The largest of al l i s talle r

than a tal l man . Its diameter,

inches,i s

even greater - than i ts height . I t weighs s ix

tons . On i t i s this inscription in Flemish,

“My name is Roland ; when I tol l there i s

fi re,and when I ring

,there 18 Vi cto ry in the

land .

” M ade in 13 14, i t was recas t in 1659

and wil l have again to be recast as a crack

developed in July,19 14. The smallest bel l

has both a heigh t and a diameter Ofonly about

48 CARILLONS OF

8 inches and weighs less than 18 pounds . In

some ways,nothing gives a better idea of a

great cari l lon to one who has not seen i t than

a l i s t of bel ls composing i t. Such a l is t of the

Ghent cari l lon,with some details of each bell

,

i s given in an appendix .

Of greater consequence,however

,than

number,or size

,or weight i s the pi tch rela

tionship of the bells . For it i s to be borne

in mind that throughout vi rtually its enti re

compass the bel ls of every cari l lon p rogress

by regular semitone or chromatic intervals .

Ghent has these intervals complete through

four and one - half octaves,except that in the

lowest part of i ts bass,two semitones are

omitted . Other cari l lons have somewhat

fewer bells but this essentially chromatic scale

i s characteristic of all,and the compass of the

most impo rtant i s from three to four octaves .

Omission of bells in the bass is p rimari ly be

cause of thei r great weight and therefore

great cost . H emony’s Spi rited li ttle book

upon thi s subj ect and the declaration of the


amusing Gouda verses,

“E ach stroke costs a

pound,so ’ti s s aid

,

” will be recalled . An ex

amination of the l i st of the bells of Ghent

shows that i f the omitted bass bell s had been

supplied,they would have weighed about

nine tons . In other words these two would

have weighed as much as the 46 composing

the middle and upper parts of the cari llon .

There are today in B elgium about 30 cari l

lons of importance and in Holland about 20 .

I f those of lesser consequence are included the

total fo r both countries wil l be well over 100 .

M any authori ties give higher figures,B rock

German Encyclopedia saying therehaus

are I I 5 in the Netherlands and 97 in B elgium ,

but such numbers must include many cari l

lons not now existing . The individual i ty of

thei r towers and thei r surroundings will make

all cari llons of interest to s tudents and to trav

ellers with ample time at thei r disposal . But

there are many no t in either of these p rivi

leged Cl asses,and for thei r benefit I name a

score that seem most worth hearing .

50 TOWER MUSIC

Curiously enough,op inion as to what are

the best seems rarely to have been recorded,

though I discover that Ghent in 1543 sent

four commissioners to examine the cari l lons

of Antwerp,Mechl in

,Tongerloo

,and Lou

vain,apparently then considered the most

famous . Similarly commissioners from Ypres

went to hear the cari l lons of Lille,Tournai

,

Ghent,Aalst

,and M echlin

,in 1575 . De Sany

an histori an of music l iving at B russels,made

a l is t in 1642 of renowned cari llons in his day

and headed i t with B russels,Louvain

,Ant

werp , Ghent, M echlin , Mons , and Tournai .

In our own day van der Straeten indicates as

the best,M echl in

,Antwerp

,Delft

,and Gro

ningen,and Larousse gives as the most impor

tant,Amsterdam

,Delft

,Haarlem

,B ruges

,

M echlin,Antwerp

,Ghent

,Aalst

,and Oude

naarde . The l ists here given embody conclu

s ions which have been reached after hearing

many cari l lons and after talking with many

cari l lonneurs and lovers of the art . I offer

them as a suggestion rather than as a s tate

5 2 CAR ILLONS OF

ment o f recognized relative standing,fo r in

such a matter no absolute‘

determination i s

possible . In making up these groups,accu

racy of the p itch of the bells,thei r timb re

,

thei r weight,thei r compass

,the perfection of

thei r p l aying mechanism,thei r arrangement

in the tower, and the s ituation of the tower

i tsel f— al l have been considered . The follow

ing,in my judgment

,are the best caril lons in

B elgium and in Holland .

BEST CARILLONS IN BELGIUM

TOWERSint RomboutstorenTour de Saint-RombautSaint Rombold’s Tower

Halletoren

Tour des H allesBelfry

Onze Lieve VrouwetorenTour de Notre DameCathedral of Our Lady

KlokketorenB effroiB elfry

SintGeertruitoren

Ste . Gertrude, S . Gertrude’s

45

5 4 TOWER MUSIC IN

BEST CARILLONS IN HOLLAND—Continued .

NUMBERTOWN TOWER

OF BELLSHaarlcm Groote Kerk

Groningen Martinikerk

Kampen Bovenkerk

Generally speaking,the B elgium arrange

ment and mechanical adjustment are superio r

to the Dutch and the effect p roduced is,there

fore,more satis facto ry . But those who would

gain an adequate idea of what this unique

music really i s,should hear as large a number

as poss ible o f the caril lons just named and

should hear them played by a cari l lonneur .

Above all,endeavor should be made to hear at

M echl in an evening concert by Josef Denyn .

A caril lon is played in two ways :

I

Automatical ly by means of a revolving

cylinder Thus played a cari llon may be

thought of as a gigantic music box . Its exact

designation is then “Caril lon a cylindre” or

Cari llon it tambour . Before the hour strikes


and at certain other intervals this cyl inder or

d rum is moved by a mechanism of i ts own

wh i ch i s released at the p roper moment by

the great tower- clock . On the hour music i s

p layed for a minute or more ; at the halves

and quarters the p lay is for less time,and in

some places at the eighths there are flourishes

of a few notes .

P ins or studs of i ron are placed in holes on

the surface of the cyl inder arranged so that

as the cyl inder revolves they trip levers con

nected with hammers which strike the outs ide

of the bells . Sometimes there are or

more holes suitab le to receive the pins ; s ay

100 rows,o r measures

,of 100 holes each .

Thus an unl imited number of tunes can be

played . In order to secure the quick repeti

tion of a note a single bel l i s sometimes

equipped with as many as Six hammers . The

pins are variously offset from thei r centres ;thus a bel l may be sounded by the use of a

p roperly selected pin at any one or all of sev

eral po ints in a measure .

5 6 CAR ILLON S OF

Tunes are set upon the cyl inder by the cari l

lonneur,and by periodic changing are mad e

app rop ri ate to the season of the year . Town

tradition , handed down for a century or more ,sometimes fixes these tunes

,but more fre

quently the musical taste of the cari llonneur

governs .

A cari llon is also played

I I

By a bell -master, or cari l lonneur, using a

clavier or keyboard resemb l ing that of a piano

or organ . Thus played a cari llon may be

thought of as a gigantic pianoforte o r organ .

I ts exact designation is then “Cari l lon it

clavier.” During market hours,at festivals

,

and in midday or evening concerts,popular

songs,operatic ai rs

,national hymns and a

great variety of other tunes are played by the

cari l lonneur . Th is p laying by means of the

clavie r i s often cal led a cari llon concert .

Each key of the clavier is connected by

lever and wi re with the clapper of i ts co rre

5 8 TOWER MUSIC IN

mand of the resources of his instrument by

allowing the use both of hands and of feet

and so enab les him to play music in three or

more parts .

On the manual clavier,as M r . S tarmer

points out,great dexteri ty of hand is essential

,

fo r much of the execution is with a kind of

tremulando in wh i ch the keys are played from

the wris t and the elbow . Scales and arpeggios

are accomplished by a constant crossing of the

hands . The greater part of the playing i s on

the smaller bel ls with occasional use of the

l arge ones . The reasons fo r thi s are that small

bel ls are more easi ly sounded,and that the

effect o f chords i s much more satisfactory on

them,due to the fact that on the large bells

the harmon i c tones are p rominent and,when

sounded together,frequently interfere with

each other in a disagreeab le manner . This i s

not the case with the smaller bells as thei r

harmonic tones are too h igh in the scale of

sounds to distress the ear . Chords are most

satis facto ry when played arpeggiando and


scale passages can be rendered with great

rapidi ty and are most effective . When play

ing in three or more parts,however

,the great

est care is necessary as to the disposi tion of

the different notes of the chords , the best ef

feets being obtained by keeping a wide inter

val between the low note and the note next

above i t . Al l degrees of . crescendo and of

diminuendo are poss ib le . Vibration of the

bell s does not long pers is t,so that

,ap art from

the fact that the effectual damping of bells i s

p ractical ly an impossib i l i ty,when cari l lons are

played by an expert performer,there i s no

real necess ity for such a thing . Wi th smaller

bells the sound is so quickly effaced that when

the effect ofsustained chords i s desi red,i t i s

ob tained by a rapid tremulando,much as in

pianoforte playing .

To sum up : In the first method,that of

automatic cylinder play,the outer surface of

the bell i s Struck by a hammer actuated by a

cyl inder which operates in connection with

the tower- clock . In the second method,that

60 CAR ILLON S

of keyboard play,the inside of the bel l is

s truck by the clapper actuated by a cari l

lonneur.

But enough fo r the p resent of the mechan

ism of the bells,and the intricacy of thei r play .

Above us,surmounting the topmost Spi re of

Ghent s belfry is the gilded copper dragon

which has looked down upon many sti rring

scenes in Flemish histo ry . There is a legend

that the C rusaders b rought this dragon from

Constantinople to crown the bel fry of B ruges

and that there i t remained unti l Artevelde,

victorious,carried i t a p rized trophy to Ghent

where it was again set h igh above bells . As

we meditate and gaze upon the vast expanse

before descending to the Place Saint Bavon,

there comes vividly to mind that day when’ti s s aid Charles V

,s tanding where we stand

,

and beholding the splendid panorama,an

swered Alva’s cruel suggestion that the city

Should be destroyed ,w ith :“Comb ien faudrait

i l de peaux d ’Espagne pour fai re un Gant de

cette grandeur ?”

CHAPTER IV

“In the ancient town ofB ruges .

LONGFELLOW

E'STWARD across the even Flem

ish plain,ab loom with intensive

farming,i t i s a short trip from

Ghent to B ruges , i ts ancient rival , ti l l recently

famous for its quaintness and quiet . Once

inhab ited by energetic and independent mer

chants and traders,the ci ty’s central feature

i s the towering belfry ris ing on the south s ide

of the Groo te M arkt . Standing as a conSp ic

uous emblem of municipal l iberties,the bel

fry is characteri stic ofFlemish towns .

To say that belfry in i ts o rigin is not con

nected with bel l appears to deny what i s

mani festly true . The fact is however,that

they have a purely chance resemb l ance . The

Oxford Dictionary says

B el fry : Pointing to a late Latin type ‘berefredus ,

’

adopted from Teutonic ‘

bergfrid.

’ In Engl ish , its ac61

62 TOWER MUSIC IN

ceptance was doubtless due to popular association with‘bell ’ and the particular association which was in cousequence given to the word . The meaning has passed froma movable tower used by besiegers and besieged

,to a

tower to protect watchmen , a watch tower , beacontower , alarum bell tower , bell tower , place where a bellis hung . ‘Frid , ’ i t is generally agreed , is a form of ‘fridu ,

’

peace , security , shel ter ; and‘berg-en ’ means to protect

,

defend ; the whole meaning ‘protecting or defensive placeof shelter . ’

Thus these towers were symbo ls of muni

c ipal freedom and represented to the eye and

ear the idea of civic solidari ty . Grant Allen,

in “The European Tour,

” analysing the char

acter of the art of B elgium,remarks :

These Flemish belfries are in themselves very interesting relics , because they were the first symbols ofcorporate existence and municipal power which everytown wished to erect in the M iddle Ages . The use ofthe bell was to summon the citizens to arms in defenceof their rights , or to counsel for their common liberties .Every Teutonic burgher community desired to wring theright of erecting such a belfry from its feudal lord ; andthose of B ruges and Ghent are still maj estic memorialsof the freedom- loving wool- staplers of the th irteenthcentury . By the side of the B elfry stands the Cloth H all ,representing the trade from which the town derived itswealth .

”

BRUGE s : THE BELFRY

64 CAR ILLON S OF

turies, must find expression in the music of the belfrybells . Success and failure , smiles and tears, illusions andreal ities , must all be blended here into one sweet harmony . A consummate artist is essential , but one whounderstands B ruges is essential also , for the difficult taskis assigned him of concretising, so to speak , the soul ofthe Flemish town . In the merry laughter and plaintivesighing of the old bells , the citizens of B ruges require tofind the echo of that which they feel within themselves .

“Rodenbach has resuscitated the soul of B ruges ; hehas helped us not only to hear , but to be penetrated by,the infinitely sad and wonderfully sweet music whichvibrates in the air of the old Flemish city . I t bringsback to us the memory of the glorious past , brill iant withhope , of a world that was and that is no more , whoseSplendour was great but ephemeral , and which survivesonly in venerable and moss-grown ruins .”

I f Ghent’s bells are easiest of access , B ruges’

are most celeb rated in verse . It was here that

Longfellow came under the spell of the cari l

lon . At once his imagination was awakened

and we foresee his poem in these b rief entries

in his diary Of 1842

May 30. In the evening took the railway from Ghentto B ruges . Stopped at La Fleur de B le' , attracted by thename

,and found it a good hotel . I t was not yet night ;

and I strolled through the fine old streets and felt myself

B ELGIUM AND HOLLAN D 65

a hundred years old . The chimes seemed to be ringingincessantly ; and the air of repose and antiquity was del ightful . Oh , those chimes , those chimes "howdeliciously they lull one to sleep " The l ittle bells , withtheir clear , l iquid notes , l ike the voices of boys in achoir

,and the solemn bass of the great bell tolling in ,

l ike the voice of a fr iar "“May 3 1. Rose before five and cl imbed the high belfry which was once crowned by the gilded Copper dragonnow at Ghent . The carillon of forty- eight bell s ; the l i ttle chamber in the tower ; the machinery, l ike a hugebarrel-organ , with keys like a musical instrument for thecarillonneur ; the , view from the tower ; the singing ofswal lows with the chimes ; the fresh morning air ; themist in the horizon ; the red roofs far below ; the canal ,l ike a s ilver clasp , l inking the city with the sea ,—howmuch to remember "”

The poem,of which Cari llon is the firs t

part,was p robab ly begun there

,his edito r

says,and finished later when he was again at

B ruges on his return home . More than any

other l i terary utterance i ts verses have drawn

English- speaking travellers to this unique

music . How wonderful ly his genius gives

the scene at night,when si lence perfects the

sound of the bells .

66 TOWER MUSIC IN

CARILLON

In the ancient town of B ruges,

In the quaint old Flemish City,As the evening shades descended ,Low and loud and sweetly blended

,

Low at times and loud at times ,And Changing like a poet’s rhymes ,Rang the beautiful wild chimesFrom the belfry in the marketOf the ancient town of B ruges .

Then , with deep sonorous clangorCalmly answering their sweet anger,When the wrangling bells had ended ,Slowly struck the clock eleven ,And , from out the silent heaven ,Silence on the town descended .S ilence , silence everywhere,On the earth and in the air ,Save that footsteps here and thereOf some burgher home returning,By the street lamps faintly burning,For a moment woke the echoesOf the ancient town of Bruges .

But amid my broken slumbersStill I heard those magic numbers ,As they loud proclaimed the fl ightAnd stolen marches of the night ;

THE LOW COUNTR IES

Till their chimes in sweet coll isionM ingled with each wandering vision ,M ingled with the fortune- tell ingG ipsy-bands of dreams and fancies ,Which amid the waste expansesOf the silent land of trancesH ave their solitary dwell ing ;All else seemed asleep in B ruges ,In the quaint old Flemish Ci ty .

And I thought how like these chimesAre the poet’s airy rhymes ,Al l his rhymes and roundelays ,H is conceits , and songs , and ditti es ,From the belfry of his brain ,Scattered downward , though in vain ,On the roofs and stones of cities "For by night the drowsy earUnder its curtains cannot hear ,And by day men go their ways ,H earing the music as they pass ,But deeming it no more , alas "Than the hollow sound of brass .

Yet, perchance a sleepless W ight,Lodging at some humble innIn the narrow lanes of l i fe,When the dusk and hush of nightShut out the incessant dinOf dayl ight and its toil and strife,

67

68 CAR ILLON S OF

May l isten with a calm del ightTo the poet’s melodies ,Till he hears , or dreams he hears ,Intermingled with the song,Thoughts that he has cherished long ;H ears amid the chime and singingThe bells of his own village ringing,And wakes , and finds h is slumberous eyesWet with most delicious tears .

Thus dreamed I , as by night I layIn B ruges, at the Fleur de Blé,Listening with a wild del ightTo the chimes that , through the night,Rang their changes from the belfryOf that quaint old Flemish city.

The Fleur de B lé has disappeared and few

know even where i t was . Searching recently,

I had the good fortune to discover i ts s i te,now

occupied by the theatre of the City. Looking

over the trees of the gardens to the south,one

sees the belfry h igh above all and hears,Often

undisturbed by other sounds,i ts music .

The evening sky at our fi rs t arrival in

Bruges was rosy with a sunset glow which

lingered unti l nearly midnight . As we took a

BRUGE S : THE BELLS

Thi s shows bells equipped wi thmany hammers to allow qui ck repeti tionofthe same note in automatic play

70 TOWER MUS IC IN

a deep bell s truck ten and we turned home

ward .

Since that summer,B ruges has suffered an

awakening,which though i t may have given

satis faction to the inhab i tants,has

,alas

,de

stroyed a certain repose charming to trav

ellers . Electric cars now pass through the

Groote M arkt and “B ruges en avant” has be

come the s logan of “B ruges la morte . But

with these innovations,the cari llon has not

been neglected and,happily

,the greatest of

bell -masters,Josef Denyn, was summoned to

give his advice . Under his supervis ion,dur

ing the winter of 19 13- 14 the keyboard was

reconstructed,Sp rings were placed behind the

clappers of the bells,and adjustments were

made which greatly increase the ab i l i ty of the

cari l lonneur to produce efi‘ects befitting the

fame of the bel fry .

The cari l lon consi sts of 47 bells made by

Jo ris Dumery of Antwerp in 1743 , his bells

succeeding those destroyed by fire in 1741 .

M r . Starmer in 1905 describes the B ruges


cari llon as consisting of four octaves G to G

with low A flat and B flat missing . M r .

Denyn after recently improving i t said

The b ig bell,the do of the keyboard , is an A going

towards A flat . Its tone is nearly one whole tone higherthan that of ‘Salvator ,

’ the base of the carillon at Mechl in . In its principal accord , do , the B ruges carillon isnot quite in tune ; i t is entirely out of tune in the octavesof mi .

“According to the disposition of bells and keyboard , Ido not play as easily as at Mechl in , for at Bruges thesmall bells are distant about ten metres from thekeyboard . This hinders securing responsive connections , andso the firmness of the play ing suffers . But the keyboarditself is now the most perfect anywhere . What a p itythat the mellow- toned bells are not all quite in tune .As to

‘

the smaller bells , I much p refer my Mechl in ones .They may be somewhat harsher of sound , but surelythey are more silvery ( i .e. brilliant ) and I th ink I canget better effects with them .

”

So this quaint old Flemish ci ty is ri s ing

from its sleep of almost three hundred years .

And if we should climb the belf ry,we should

hear in daytime now sounds of a greater ac

tivity than aroused Longfellow from h i s mus

ing there more than half a century ago . As

72 CARILLON S OF

we read the later verses of “The B elfry of

B ruges,i ts p ictures conceived as he stood on

the lofty balcony near the bells,i t i s not alone

his own vis ions that become real . His art p ro

duces in us also a reflective mood and other

scenes and events in history associated with

bell tower after bel l tower in the Low Coun

tries come to mind .

THE BELFRY OF BRUGES

In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old andbrown ;

Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded , still it watcheso’er the town .

As the summer mom was breaking, on that lofty towerI stood ,

And the world threw off the darkness , l ike the Weedsof widowhood .

Thick with towns and hamlets studded , and with streamsand vapours grey ,

Like a shield embossed with silver , round and vast thelandscape lay.

At my feet the city slumbered . From its ch imneys , hereand there ,

Wreaths of snow-white smoke, ascending, vanished , ghostlike , into air .


Not a sound rose from the city at that early morninghour,

But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower .

From their nests beneath the rafters sang the swallowswild and high ;

And the world , beneath rne sleeping, seemed more distantthan the sky .

Then most musical and solemn , bringing back the oldent imes ,

Wi th their strange , unearthly changes rang the melancholy chimes ,

Like the psalms from some old Cloister , when the nunssing in the choir ;

And the great bell tolled among them , l ike the chantingof a friar.

Visions of the days departed , shadowy phantoms filledmy brain ;

They who l ive in history only, seemed to walk the earthagain .

I beheld the Flemish weavers , with Namur and Jul iersbold ,

Marching homeward from the bloody battle of the Spursof Gold ;

74 TOWER MUSIC

Saw the fight at M innewater , saw the Wh ite H oodsmoving west ,

Saw great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon ’snest .

And again the whiskered Spaniard all the land withterror smote ;

And again the wild alarum sounded from the tocsin ’sthroat ;

Till the bell of Ghent responded o’er lagoon and dikeof sand ,

I am Roland " I am Roland " there is victory in theland "”

Then the sound of drums aroused me . The awakenedcity’s roar

Chased the phantoms I had summoned back into theirgraves once more .

H ours had passed away like minutes ; and , before I wasaware,

Lo " the shadow of the belfry crossed the sun- illuminedsquare .

CHAPTER V:

Le campane d i questi paesi servono per musica; hanno

una temperatura soave ed una consonanza armoniea.

”

GIORGIO GIORGI

HE word caril lon i s hardly used in

the land where cari l lons th rive . In

Holland the usual name for the in

strument is klokkenspel ( l i teral ly , bellplay) ,while in B elgium it i s beiaard . The bel l

master is known as klokkenist or klokken

speler (with many vari ations ) and beiaard ier.

The corresponding verbs,bespelen , beiaarden ,

and cari llonner,refer to cl avier play only .

Cari l lon,at firs t quatrillon , i s of course

adopted from the French and comes,accord

ing to L ittré,from medieval Latin quadr i l

lionem . Thus the name of the caril lon is

traced to the four diatonic bel ls which made

up the tintinnabulum of the twel fth century .

More definitely,however

,the instrument as

75

76 CARILLON S OF

we know i t,had its o rigin in a mechanical

arrangement of sets of small bells in connec

tion with the clocks wh ich in the fifteenth cen

tu ry came to be an essenti al part of the muni

cipal towers of the Low Countries . This

mechanism,s triking the small bells just be

fo re the hour,announced that the heavy hour

bell was about to sound . I t was not long be

fore more than four bells were used,and as

the number increased,the mechanism was ar

ranged to play a l i ttle tune . Thus we reach

the 8 or 10 bells o f the Flemish “voorslag

” or“forestroke, obviously so cal led from its play

before the hour . To possess a “voorslag” was

an indication of municipal p rogress and the

p rincip al Flemish towns were soon thus

equipped . Owing to this periodic playing,

which before long p receded the strokes of the

half-hour as well,bel l music came to be a

d i stinctive feature of the Low Countries .

As p rosperity increased and as taste devel

oped,s ti l l more satis facto ry musical effects

were sought . B ell s were added to the “voor


s lag all the intervals of the chromatic scale

were suppl ied ; and the barrel Of the playing

device was enlarged unti l each quarter hour

had i ts share of notes,and the hour tunes l asted

a minute or more . Th i s music was something

that everyone could enjoy without s topping

work . He did no t go to i t ; i t came to him .

I t suited both h i s industrious d i sposi tion and

his reposeful temperament .

The clavier or manual keyboard was - com

ing into use with chromatic stringed instru

ments . What more natural than that i t should

be used,in addition to the automatic pl aying

mechanism up to th i s time so lely employed,

with sets o f bell s that had all the semitones ?

Nor was i t s trange that to meet the requi re

ments of the constantly greater number of

bells , and thei r increased weight , a pedal key

board should soon be invented to supplement

the manual . It i s not known when the great

chromatic expans ion occurred,nor can we

tell where claviers,in connection with bells

,

firs t appeared . It seems to have been a grad

78 TOWER MUSIC IN

ual development,an outgrowth of the love Of

the people for a music which,as i t decorated

the pass ing of time,welcomed all

,the high

and the low,the arti s t and the artisan

,the

man in his shop,the woman at her home

,as

participants in the pleasure i t could give .

The researches of D r . van Doorslaer as to

the origin and development of the art admi

rably cover the early days o f the B elgian field .

Concerning later times and Dutch bells,in

fo rmation has been gained from many o ther

sources .

Jan van Leiden,a Carmelite p rior

,writing

in the early part of the fifteenth century about

the abbey of Egmond in Holland,says that a

certain Franco,abbot there from 1 182 to 1206

,

had a “klokkespel

” made for the gateway .

Whatever truth there may be in this tale,

wh i ch has been mentioned by Gregoi r and

others,nothing has been discovered to show

how many bells there were at Egmond or that

they were chromatic o r how they were played .

The fi rs t trustworthy information is found

CAR ILLON S OF

not unti l the beginning of the s ixteenth that

they had been developed sufli c iently to give

a tune with variations . Van der S traeten tells

of some bells which in 1501 at Oudenaarde

played the motives of the “Veni Sancte Spi

ri tus” and of the “Peccatores.

” He also gives

a quotation which p roves that the clavier was

al ready in use there in 15 10.

Gregoi r states that Oudenaarde had “un j eu

de cloches” in 1409 , Antwerp in 1430, Lou

vain in 1434, and Lier in 1495 , and asso

ciates these with the claim for the fi rst cari l

lon,but he mentions no authori ty for these

dates nor does he define un j eu de Cloches .”

In all p robab i l i ty these bells were what have

been mentioned as clocxkins.

”

Louvain,we know

,had 8 bells in 1525 ;

Oudenburg 10,in 1539 ; and Ghent 16

,in

1543 . In the northern part of the N etherlands

p rogress was only sl ightly s lower . Hoo rn had

10 bells in 1528 and Alkmaar 1 1,in 1541 .

Both Leiden and Groningen had carillons in

1577 , and Gouda in 1578. Arnemuiden by

OUDENAARDE : THE TOWN HALL TOWERSKETCH BY JBAN BAES

82 TOWER MUSIC IN

As to the requi rements of a good instrument

to - day,I quote Josef Denyn

“A carillon to give satisfaction , however played , musthave as a minimum 28 bells with the bass bell of notless than 550 pounds . I t should have its bells hung inright lines , the b ig ones, i f possible, somewhat moreinclosed than the smaller, with the bell loft 200 or 300feet high . Towers with Open tops, lanterns , in whichthe bells hang in circles, picturesque as they may be ,cannot possess mechanically perfect carillons, for theconnection between keyboard and bells is not directenough and there is, therefore, a loss of the control neededto produce del icate effects . Th is is a marked fault innumerous Belgian and Dutch carillons .”

The Denyn imp rovements , wh ich have been

the contribution of both father and son,Adolf

and Josef,have been special ly di rected to se

curing a fine adjustment of the connections

to the clapper by means o f guide wires and

sp rings and to keep ing each clapper in exact

posi tion with relation to the sound bow of i ts

bell . N0 Dutch cari l lon yet has these im

provements , though several towns have re

cently taken counsel of M r . Denyn in the mat

ter and are l ikely to follow h i s advice . Among


these are the towns of N imeguen , Zutfen ,and Arnhem ; and the cari l lonneur at Gouda ,M r . van Zuylen, has pub l icly advocated these

improvements,which have al ready been made

in all the larger B elgian cari l lons .

From the s ixteenth to the eigh teenth cen

tury,caril lons were often treated as spoi l s of

war,and especial havoc was w rough t at the

end of that perio d when the French invaders

suppressed the abbeys . Bells cap tured in war

were sometimes recast into cannon or carried

away as troph ies,or again they were ransomed

as a town ’s most p rized possession .

When a city bought a cari l lon i t was for

mally welcomed on i ts arrival by burgomaster

and people,and amid rejoicings

,the bel ls

were consecrated with elaborate ceremony.

Men and women of nob le rank stood sponsors .

Cari l lons then were in fact esteemed an essen

tial part of the useful equipment as wel l as

of the artistic ado rnment o f a p rogressive

N etherl andish city . Item after i tem in old rec

ords show how important a place they ocon

84 CAR ILLONS OF

pied . Thei r care,thei r p roper playing

,thei r

enlargement,were constantly under discus

s ion . Even the referendum was employed to

decide questions relating to them . Towns

were rivals fo r p reeminence in the cari llon

art and bell -masters and bell-makers were

esteemed citizens of great consequence .

B arb iere in “La Cap itulation d’An

vers,

”1585 , tel l s us that one lot of 59 bells

was carried off from B ru ssels to Spain,of

wh ich “3 2 formed a harmony l ike an organ

and could be pl ayed by means of a clavier .

When Louis XIV captured Mons in 169 1 ,

a formal treaty was concluded between the

counci l on the one part and Marshal d ’H u

mieres on the other for the ransom of the

cari l lon . The bell s were thus saved at that

time,but during the French invasion in 1793 ,

all were taken but one . This was in accord

ance with the decree o f the N ational Conven

tion at Pari s on July 23 , 1793 ,“That there

shall be left only one bell in each parish

church ; that all the others shall be placed at


the disposi tion of the Executive Counci l

which shal l p rovide for taking them to the

nearest foundry that they may be there made

into cannon .

During the siege of M aastrich t in 1676,

cannon balls having struck the Town Hall,

the counci l o rdered that the bells should be

dismounted in order that “the cari l lon,much

praised by the musici ans of th i s time may not

be destroyed .

”B russel s had a cari l lon ruined

in the bombardment of 1695 , but the magis

trates concluded to buy a new one in 17 1 1 , fo r,as they said

,

“It i s fo r the honour of a court

town like B russel s to have as one of i ts orna

ments a perfect cari llon wh ich can serve not

only fo r the sati sfaction of the townspeople

but also to give divers ion to strangers who are

often attracted to a town by the harmony of

a cari llon , which thus both adds to the town’s

renown and also increases i ts business .”

O ld records of Ath,Belgium

,give popular

votes upon many detail s of cari llon adminis

tration . I tems in the accounts of M echl in in

86 TOWER MUSIC IN

1682 show that a quarter cask of Rhine wine,

and red ribbons for the clappers and other

accompaniments were bought fo r the fetes

which took place when the 3 3 bells of Notre

D ame were ch ri stened . A l i s t i s also given

of the god- fathers and god -mothers,together

with the elaborate names they bestowed on

each bell . These bells were seized by the

French in 1798 and were sent“pour aug

menter l a pate des canons de Creuzot.”

When the d rum of the new cari l lon of

B ruges was to be installed in 1746, the people

themselves drew i t through the streets to the

belfry,and the second of Feb ruary

,when i t

firs t p layed,was made a general hol iday .

John V of Portugal vis i ted the N ether

lands about 1730 and was so delighted with

cari l lon music that he determined to have a

set of bells for h i s sumptuous palace then

building at M afra . The p rice having been

ascertained,i t was guardedly suggested by his

treasu rer that the cost was great. This impl ied cri tici sm is s aid to have so offended the

CHAPTER VI

“1k verbei myn toon in

’

t zingen

Aen den Aemstel en het Y,

0p den geest van H emony .

” VONDEL

WO brothers attract ou r attention as

picturesque figures i n the N ether

lands in the golden age of cari llon

making . Thei r genius and skil l have made

the name of Hemouy particularly distin

gu ished in the art . Of Frans , the elder, Von

del,the great Netherlandish poet

,exp ressed

his admi ration in verse,s inging “of one who

so skil fully founds his bells that thei r notes

charm our ear and make us wish to dance a

bell - dance on the ai ry tower-galleries .” Of

P ieter,the younger b rother

,we know through

correspondence lately discovered and through

his other writings,that he was one of the

active Spi ri ts of his day,warm I II friendship

and keen in controversy .

The H emonys were natives of Lorraine , but88


early establ i shed themselves at Zutfen . While

of moderate education,they were excellent

craftsmen,p roducing bell s of peculiar beauty

of form and decoration,and possessed a mar

vel lous faculty for tuning bel ls . The corre

spondence of P ieter written in a mongrel

tongue,half Teutonic and half French

,shows

that they were men of great business acumen

and that the p roduct of thei r foundries was

sought throughout thei r own and other coun

tries . It i s thei r bel l s that remain p redom

inant in the towers of the Low Countries to

day . Frans Hemouy l ived from 1597 to 1667and P ieter from 16 19 to 1680 . It i s interest

ing to notice thei r contemporaries in the

N etherlands. Such consideration wil l indi

cate that the cari l lon was the manifestation

in music of the sp i ri t of a people who at

the same time were showing great genius

in’

many other di rections . Remb randt,ver

Meer,Rubens

,van Dyck

,Frans Hals

,and

P ieter de Hooch all l ived at this period .

Likewise Lieven de Kay,the master builder

,

90 TOWER MUSIC IN

and Visscher,the famous engraver

,and Von

del,the dramatis t and poet . Tromp and de

Ruyter were winning thei r naval victories,

and Grotius was writing his great works on

international l aw.

The brothers Hemouy made thei r firs t cari l

lon in 1645 for the Winehouse tower at Zut

fen,and i t was so sati s factory that the city

authori ties issued the following testimonial :“We , the Burgomaster , Schepens , and Councillors of

the city of Zutfen , hereby certify, witness, and declarefor the honest truth : that as an Ornament to the city aswell as for the Benefit of the citizens we have deemedit proper and useful to have a carillon made for theWinehouse tower , standing on the market square , forwh ich purpose presented themselves the Worthy andSkilful Master Founders Frans and Pieter H emouy ,brothers, 9“ to whom we let the contract for thesame ; the largest bell , wh ich is used for striking the hour ,weighing more than four thousand pounds , and the otherbells , to the number of 26 , in proportion . Which hourand playing bells by impartial Masters , invited theretoby us , have been declared to be not only good , but surpassing in tone and resonance all other carillons in thevicinity, so that we are well pleased therewith and herewith thank the aforesaid Masters for their work in castingand furnish ing the said bells .”


The reputation of the H emonys sp read rap

idly and many towns bought cari llons of them .

In 1654 Frans removed to Amsterdam where

he was received with great consideration .

The regents knowing his honesty and talent

ass igned to him without co st a building s i te

fo r a foundry on the Keizergracht. At the

same time they intrusted h im with the making

of cari l lons fo r five towers .

After h i s b rother’s death,P i eter H emony,

who had moved to Amsterdam in 1664, con

ducted the foundry alone . Of this b ro ther we

know much from his correspondence with his

friend de Loose,p rio r of the B enedictine Ab

bey of Eename near Aals t in B elgium . We

find H emony-

Writing to the abbot,with ref

erence to making a cari llon for Camb rai,that

he is not well enough to fol low longer his vo

cation ; he has , however, three caril lons made

in advance,of which one i s l ike that he has

furnished Eename but with a hal f- tone extra

that i s to say,one more bell ; i t has 28 bells ;

the p rice i s 1400 ducatons. He adds : “The

92 CARILLONS OF

other two are greater ; one has 3 2 bells , weighs

6 150 pounds , p rice 2000 ducatons ; the other

also 3 2 bells , but weighs 83 50 pounds ; price

2520 ducatons. To reach me it sufli ces to

place upon the letter : To P ieter H emony,

ci ty founder of bells and of cannons . One of

these caril lons was subsequently sold to Mech

l in . The following years he wri tes

1677.

“After the bells now making have been tunedand shipped , I am resolved to dismiss my workmen andl ive in repose having worked 44 years at founding with my own hands .”

1678.

“I do not hope to regain my health , but thatgives me no sorrow for I am resigned to the goodness ofGod . I know that one must die sooner or later . I desireno other thing now but to pass the rest of my days intranquill ity and in being able to render service to myfriends , among whom Your Reverence holds the firstplace.

”

The contrasts in the character of P ieter

H emony are reflected in the nature of his

work . He was p rofoundly religious , having

a chapel in his house,where he heard mass

every day ; and , as is shown by his booklet on

the uselessness of C sharp and D sharp in the

94 TOWER MUSIC IN

have been made by the H emonys are omitted ,the l is t indicates that the figures mentioned

by van der Straeten must include the value

not only of the bells but of the drums and

the rest of the mechanism connected with the

bel ls .

A large majority of the bel ls of Holland

are of the manufacture of the H emonys ; in

Belgium,most of the p resent bells

‘

ofM echlin

and of Antwerp are by them ; while outs ide

the N etherlands they suppl ied cari l lons to

S tockholm,Hamburg

,M ainz

,and Darm

stadt .

Another name greatly honoured in cari llon

making is that of van den Gheyn . At the

middle of the s ixteenth century,Wi l lem

,born

in Holland,conducted a foundry at Mechlin

,

and al ready for a hundred years van den

Gheyns had been bel l makers . Later we find

the names of J an,Pi eter

,another Pieter

,and

another Jan,and sti l l l ate r

,Andreas . The

family has success ively carried on work at

Mechl in ( 1566 S t . Trond and Tirle

96 CAR ILLONS OF

was Hendrik (or Henri ) who in 1462, was a

bell founder,probab ly at Mechlin . His sons

,

Simon,P ie rre

,and Georges ; succeeded him .

In the next generation,Jacques

,Medard

,and

Jean were founders,and in the next genera

tion was another Médard . N0 l arge set of

thei r making now exists but s ingle bell s by

them are found at Mechl in,Tournai and sev

eral other towns . D r . van Doorslaer’s “Les

Waghevens” i s a classi c inbel l l i terature .

Yet another ski l led caril lon founder is Mel

chior de Haze . An admirer described him

in verse as “ski l led in all arts,but especial ly

to be honoured for having known how to make

Bornl i fe a joy by means of his cari l lons . ’

about 1630 at Antwerp , he became a pupi l of

the H emonys and was one of thei r successors ,surviving the younger b rother by a score of

years . His best bell s are at the Hague .

J . Peti t with his son Alexis,carried on a

bel l making estab l i shment,which had al ready

existed for a century,at Someren in the latter

part of the eighteenth century . The foundry


was moved to Aarle -Rixtel by h i s grandson ,

Hendrik Peti t,and he had as his successor

his nephew,Hendrik Fritsen . The firm now

bears the name of Peti t and Fritsen

Many other names are associated with cari l

lon making,among them that of M ammes (or

Mammertus) Fremy of Amsterdam ,a nephew

and pupi l of the H emonys, who i n 1687 made

the bells at Leeuwarden . Of him P iete r

Hemouy wrote to his friend the p rior in 1677,“He is now ab le to found such bells as Your

Reverence desi res ; I hope in time he wi ll

learn also to tune well ; as for me , I can now

only di rect the work and do tuning . Others

are G. Witlockx of Antwerp,who in 17 15

made a noted cari llon for Ath,consumed in

1817 ; Noorden and de G rave,makers of the

bells of M iddleburg and Louvain (S . Peter )and J . N . Derk of Hoorn

,who in 1757 made

a cari llon fo r S . Petersburg . The best-known

caril lon founders of the present day are Felix

van Aerschodt of Louvain,of whom mention

has al ready been made,and John Taylor and

98 TOWER MUSIC IN

Company of Loughborough,England

,whose

cari l lons in the towers at Appingedam,Flush

ing,and E indhoven have gained the highest

commendation .

The reci tal s in contracts with founders of

the early days indicate that the purchase of a

cari l lon was an affai r of great moment . One

o ld contract referred to in the accounts of Am

sterdam fo r 1643 , that fo r the first cari l lon of

theWester Kerk,was made with J . A . Leegh

water,the famous engineer who fi rs t p roposed

the drainage of the H aarlemmer Meer and

wrote on the subj ect a book wh ich passed

through several editions . The following

s to ry,told by Schaepkens with reference to

M aastricht,shows the usual p rocedure fol

lowed in obtaining a new set of bells

In May 1668 the council , considering that the arsenal of the town contained a quantity of bronze resolvedto have founded a carillon which should serve the clockin the tower then building. The burgomaster Conincxmade report in July of a conference he had had at Amsterdam with Frans H emony and communicated the conditions of the proposed contract, wh ich were read and

100 CAR ILLON S OF

to the best in Amsterdam . When the bells

were delivered , certain experts held that they

did not conform to the contract and Quiryn

van B lankenburgh, who figured in the con

troversy about the bass bell s at Gouda , made

a report commenting separately upon nearly

every one of the bells . His cri ticism ex

hausted the vocabulary of deficiency. The

bel ls of the firs t octave were disagreeab le in

sound and were in discord with each other

the next few bells were wavy but might do ,the C next above was false and dull ; the C

sharp was shri l l and dead ; the D and D sharp

were dull ; the E was sharp ; and beyond this

came a bel l “no more musical than a drug

gi st’s mortar ;” the bells of the next octave

were fai r in comparison with the others . H e

s ays of the following A :“Dull . In travell ing

through Leiden,I noticed that the dock-mas

ter’s bell at the boat l anding at the Hague

gate was very clear and of the same tone as

th i s A and therefore,might well be exchanged

for i t .” To only one of the smallest bells does


he give p raise,describ ing i t as een zeer mooi

en helder klokje.

” But in sp ite of al l this

cri ticism, the bel ls were accepted and are

heard today at the Hague .

When B russels decided to get a new cari l

lon in 171 1, the magistrates asked de Haze to

furnish i t . G. Witlockx p rotested , saying in

h i s peti tion to the counci l,that he had

—

had

great experience and was ab le to make bells

of which Europe did not possess the l ike ; that

Holland even had bought of him ; that he

was employing 25 workmen and the country

should be interested in p rotecting the arts

p racticed therein ; and he appealed to the king

that a fOre—

ign maste r should not be p referred

to him . But his p lea fo r p rotection to home

industries was of no avai l and the contract

was made with de Haze .

Witlockx was,however

,more successful in

an encounter with Ath . This town had had a

cari l lon since 1520, and the counci l , desi ring

to give i t “un cachet plus musical encore,

determined in 17 15 to purchase a new one .

102 TOWER MUSIC IN

When Witlockx del ivered the bells,a contro

ve t sy arose as to whether they formed the“concert i rrép rochab le” he had promised . A

committee o f experts from L iege,Lille

,Cam

b rai,Mons

,Hal

,and Aalst was called in and

gave its decision against the town . Appar

ently the counci l was sti l l obdurate,for on

January 8,17 18, the sovereign counci l of the

Empire commanded i t to pay Witlockx the

p rice fixed by the contract .

Of the M iddleburg clock and cari l lon,the

latter bought in 1714, we have a very ful l ac

count in the pamphlet of F . A . Hoefer . The

costs are calculated to have been :

Rebuilding the tower florins

The bellsThe clockworkThe playing mechanism

Total

Danzig was no t sati sfied with the bel ls i t

had bought of Derk in 1737 and sent 18 of

them back to Hoorn . The cari llonneur who

accompanied them had pitch pipes giving the


notes of the bells left at home . By fi l ing, cut

ting,and recasting

,the 18 were made satis

facto ry in tone,and after s igning a certificate

to that effect,he took back the bell s to Dan

zig . This cari l lon was considered the finest

in Germany until i ts des truction by fire in

19 1 1 .

Perhaps the most interesting contract be

cause of i ts exacting specifications was one

from which the following is quoted

Th is day, the 19th June 175 1, have met togetherthe burgomasters and knights of Oudenaarde of the first

part , and Jean Baptiste Joseph Barbieux, son of Fran

cois, and Francois Bernard Joseph Flincon , son of Simon ,master bell founders l iving in the town of Tournai ofthe second part

“And this Witnesseth : That the said master foundersengage to found a new carillon of wh ich all the bellsshall be altogether and each in i tself sonorous , barmonious , melodious , true , sol id , good , beautiful , and wellfinished , and respectively in relation the one to the other ,well proportioned , and of a proper and agreeable accordas determined by the best taste and rules of music .”

The contract called for 3 5 bells fitted and

adjusted to the clockwork ; also for a drum

104: CAR ILLON S OF

and 2000 new pins ; also for a new keyboard .

The largest of the bells was to weigh 1500

pounds and the enti re cari l lon about 6000

pounds . But the bells did not conform to the

rigorous condi tions,and the cari llon was re

jected .

The cost of bel l -metal today is about the

same as i t was in England and in the Nether

lahds in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen

turies . In the time of the H emonys, a tuned

bel l sold for from 30 to 40 cents a pound ,the metal i tsel f costing from 15 to 20 cents a

pound . Notwithstanding Longfellow’s “heart

o f i ron” and Poe’s “golden molten bells and

the “s i lver bell s” of many poets,the only

metals used in founding bells of the most per

fect timb re are copper and tin . The addition

of gold,s i lver

,antimony

,b i smuth

,or any

other metal impai rs the quali ty of tone . The

proportion of tin used i s from 21% to

A recent chemical analysi s by D r . Euwes of

some of the Hemouy bell s in the Zuider Kerk

at Amsterdam shows that the alloy used con

106 TOWER MUSIC IN

They also inform me that the cost of a cari l

lon similar to that at Appingedam ( two 0c

taves chromatic and weighing pounds ) ,complete as above

,would be £908.

Felix van Aerschodt,for a cari l lon of 42

bells,weighing pounds

,but with the

bass bell of the same weight as above,and

including keyboard and automatic playing

mechanism,gives a p rice of francs .

He adds :

My prices are based on the current price of the bellmetals . At present I estimate 3 francs per kilogram forbells of from 200 to kilograms . For bells of lessthan 200 kilograms in weight, the price increases up to5 francs per kilogram for the smallest bells .”

In the United States,well -known founders

,

such as the Meneely B el l Company of Troy,N . Y.

,and M eneely and Company of Water

vliet,N . Y.

,have not yet made caril lons

,

which requi re small bells,though thei r chimes

are found in many American cities .

The H emonys, the van den Gheyns and the

Dumerys were the great founders of former

108 CAR ILLON S OF

such diameter,jus t as lengthening or shorten

ing a viol in string,the stress being the same

,

lowers or raises i ts p itch . Change of diameter

can be made,but of course within very mod

c rate l imits,by fil ing or turning offthe ins ide

at the bottom swell thus lengthening the in

s ide diameter,or by cutting off a sl ight por

tion of the rim,thus shortening the diameter .

In answer to my inqui ry about tuning,M r .

van Aerschodt tel ls me

The pitch can be heightened to the extent of 8 vibrations by cutting off at the rim and can be lowered to theextent of 12 vibrations by cutting the metal away fromthe interior at its sound bow without impairing itssonority . I cast a dozen small bells for a particular pitchI desire and choose the best one . The larger bells Imake by exact formulae based upon the records of myancestors , the van den Gheyns .

In thi s connection,a thesis entitled “Ex

perimenteel onderzoek van klokken van F.

H emony,” which gained for M r. A . Vas

Nunes the degree of doctor at the Univers ity

of Amsterdam,deserves cons ideration . In his

investigation,he li stened to the bells o f the

AMSTE RDAMView from the Palace bell - level toward the South Church

PH OTOGRAPH BY W . G. R ICE . JR .

110 TOWER MUSIC

sonance of its component tones ; (b ) on the relative intensities of the various tones , which in their turn are dependent upon the minute accuracy of sharply-defined

height, width , and thickness proportions . These againmust be so adj usted as to admit of the several tones beingperfectly tuned without upsetting the ratio between theth ickness proportions and other dimensions of the bell .

At Loughborough there is a cari llon of 40

small bells made by John Taylor and Com

pany,which hangs in thei r foundry tower .

These bel ls have been tuned according to the

foregoing p rincip les and are p robab ly the

most accurate set of bells in the world . The

resul t i s especially noteworthy because small

bel ls are admittedly very difficul t to tune .

As we consider the science of tuning we are

i nevi tab ly led to agree with van der Straeten

that : “A good hel l i s not made by chance but

i s the result of a wise comb ination of qual i

ties and thought,and a fine caril lon i s as p re

c ious as a viol in by Stradivarius .”

CHAPTER VI I

”D ie wahre M usih ist allein filr

’

s Ohr .

GOETH E

PECULIAR charm o f cari l lon music

i s due to the invis ib i l i ty of the p layer .

The element of myste ry is__in the notes

that float down from the tower and while we

know that there i s a performer, h i s movements

do not distract us from completely giving our

selves up to the enjoyment of the sounds . To

Stevenson,we have seen

,perception of the

charm came as he floated on an inland river ;to another voyager it was as he sai led at even

ing on theNorth Sea : “It was when cruis ing

in a fishing boat off the coast that I firs t

heard the keyboard cari l lon and guessed that

a l iving artis t and not a mere mechanical con

trivance was making musrc (which indeed

seemed the moonl ight,made audib le ) in his

far-off unseen tower beyond the darkling sea

levels and the white glimmering fog-dri fts .”

111

112 CAR ILLONS OF

Cari llons have a peculi ar association with

the water,fo r not only do many of them con

stantly sound over i t , but the Dutch and the

Flemish are by nature oversea traders . The

cari l lonneur,too

,cl imb ing his tower in fai r

weather and foul,affected by neither rain

,

sun,no r wind

,i s not unl ike the captain on his

bridge . And again,the Vi ew from the tower

over the flat Netherl andi sh countryside has

much to remind one of ocean reaches . Not a

few travellers must have fel t this s imilarity,

fo r the Dutch landscape has the same glis ten

ing reposeful beauty as has the sea in calm

sunny weather . De Amicis describes such a

scene :

From the top of the tower ( S . Lawrence’s ) , the

whole of Rotterdam can be seen at a glance , with all itslittle sharp red roofs, i ts broad canals , i ts ships scatteredamong houses , and all about the city a vast green plain ,intersected by canals bordered by trees , sprinkled withwindmills and villages hidden in masses of verdure , showing only the tops of their steeples . When I was there,the sky was clear , and I could see the waters of the Meusesh ining from the neighbourhood of Bois-le-Duc , nearly toits mouth ; the steeples of Dordrecht, Leiden , Delf t, the

114, TOWER MUSIC IN

also had its effect in moulding that character,

so open al ike to the solemnity and to the hap

p iness of l i fe . A graduate of Delft , now in a

foreign land,writes of h is many memories

of enchanting music heard unexpectedly in

the sti l lness of a winter night . M any a night,

”

he says,

“my fr i end and I on our walks through

the quiet snow- covered ci ty have stood sti ll

and l is tened and had our whole trend of

thought changed and l i fted by this wonderful

music .”

What i s th i s music,wh ich

,even when

played by mechanism,so inspi res the l istener ?

The tunes fo r the most part are national melo

dies,operatic ai rs

,hymns

,and folk songs . In

some instances o riginal composi tions espe

cially written for bells are played . Wi th few

exceptions the selections are of real worth,

and as the compass of the cari l lon is rarely less

than three octaves,chromatic except at the

extreme bass,there i s no muti lation of the

music .

The hour is divided into four or eight parts


( fo r the quarters are sometimes subdivided ) .

This eighth hour p lay,when i t occurs

,con

si sts of a flourish of no t over two bars . The

quarter tunes before and after the hour are

comparatively short and of equal length

about four times as long as those at the

eighths . The hal f- hour play is at leas t four

times as long as that at the quarters and is

followed by the s triking of the next hour by

a bel l of higher p itch than that used at the

hour i tsel f . The play before the hour is at

leas t twice as long as that before the hal f- hour .

At Schiedam in 19 13 the hour tune was the

overture of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” and the

hal f- hour. tune Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song .

”

In Flanders “Ons Vaderland and “Arte

velde” are favouri tes . At B ruges in 19 14 there

were p layed at the four quarters,three tunes

by~ B enoit

,the B elgian composer

,and “Het

Liedje van den Smid” by Andelhof. There

is p layed at Oudenaarde at the time of the

annual archery contest of the Society of St .

George “The M arch of the Oath of the Arch

116 CAR ILLON S OF

ers and “The Song of the Oath of the Bow

men of S t. George .” Once as the train paused

in Rotterdam,I heard “The Taking of B riel

,

and while we stopped at Gouda,the dis tant

notes of “Wi lhelmus van N assouwe” reached

us . When I was las t in M i ddleburg,

“Lange

Jan” enchanted us each hour with M endels

sohn’s “Wedding M arch .

”

These examples are i llustrative of the music

commonly heard today. Of ancient tunes we

have records too . T . H . de Sany,cari l lonneur

of B russels,pub l i shed in 1648 a l is t of the

tunes that he set fo r periodic p lay on his cari l

lon and that others also used . This l is t i s in

dicative of the popular taste and of the im

portance given the automatic play in those

days . For the season of Advent there was

a special tune fo r the hour and another for

the hal f-hour . Fo r Christmas there were five

special tunes,fo r Mardi Gras three

,fo r Lent

four,fo r the Assumption (a great feas t in B el

gium even to - day) s ix , fo r the month of May

three,fo r S . M ichael ’s Day two

,for S . John’s

118 TOWER MUSIC IN

varying the volume of the tones,nature con

sp i res wi th man to make the effect of auto

matic play pleasing .

The music with which the b reezes are in

th i s p artnersh ip,i s in two

,three

,or more

parts . Just as in clavier playing,i t i s the

smaller bel ls which are chiefly used,and so

the disturb ing volume of sound characteri stic

of mos t chimes,i f heard nearby

,i s avo ided .

The melody is f requently pl ayed in octaves,

the bass being strong in i ts p rogression and

suggestive of the harmony . Chords are in ex

tended posi tions ; minor chords and chords of

the diminished seventh are particularly effec

tive .

The drum,which in revolving makes the

hammers s trike,at M echl in is o f gun -metal

,

five feet th ree inches in diameter,and was

made in 173 3-

34. I t must be wound twice

dai ly and about notes are played by i t

every twenty- four hours,the barrel contain

ing 180 longi tudinal rows of holes , corre

sponding to bars or measures of music . In


these holes are placed the screw pins by the

arrangement of which different tunes are set .

Tunes are set several times a year in most

towns ( for E aster and for S . B avon ’s Day in

October at M echl in,where i t takes about four

days to make the change ) . A part of the

equipment of the automatic playwork is a

note-gauge or rule which fits on the barrel .

Each div i s i on on this rule comes opposi te an

enc i rcl ing row of holes,and each divis ion i s

marked with the bel l -note wh ich a p in o r stud

set in this row wil l cause to sound . By the

use of the rule the cari l lonneur knows exactly

where to insert pins to p roduce a particular

tune . There'

are a dozen or more different

forms of p ins,the difference being in the off

set,and the use of these varieties makes i t pos

sib le to have a hammer strike i ts bel l at any

one or even two of eight points in a measure .

An English firm has recently invented a

machine which keeps the hammers normally

raised and ready to strike,and leaves fo r the

p ins only the very slight duty of releas ing

120 CAR ILLON S OF

them,which i s accompl ished by a trigger de

vice . This makes the wo rk of the drum not

only light but always vi rtually the same

whether the stroke be on a large bel l o r small

and whether the notes in a measure be many

or few. Constancy of speed in the revolution

of the drum,long aimed at by various govern

ing mechanisms,i s now possible . The deli

cate trigger release permits the use of small

and accurate interchangeable cyl inders,and by

sl ipping into place a duplicate cylinder, upon

wh ich new tunes are al ready set,a change can

be made in a few minutes . Changes of cari l

lon tunes may take place not once o r twice a

year but as frequently as may be des i red . In

deed,there could be many of these cyl inders

ready,thei r use resemb l ing that of cylinders

in a phonograph . This trigger device is not

applicab le to clavier p lay,for i t

,l ike the un

successful pneumatic and electrical appl i

ances,would dep rive the caril lonneur o f the

opportunity of putting any exp ression into hi s

playing . The B elgian cari l lons,many of


which are now so perfect in the matter of

mechanism for clavie r p lay,have none of

them yet been equipped with this English

improvement for drum play.

The 180 longitudinal rows of holes at

Mechl in correspond to the 180 measures

played by clockwork each hour,while the 134

enci rcl ing rows correspond to the‘

134 ham

mers which are arranged to s trike the 45 bell s ,some of these being equipped with as many as

five hammers ap iece . The 180 bars are pl ayed

as follows

B efore the hourBefo re the half - hourAt the two other quarters , 8bars each

At the four othe r eighths,2 bars

each

Total

Quite as indefatigible as S . Rombold’s bells

at Mechlin are those of many other towers .

Yet what more graceful tribute is there than

this which Lucas pays to one of the busiest :

122 TOWER MUSIC IN

One cannot say more fo r pers i stent ch imes

than this— at M iddleburg it i s no misfortune

to wake in the night "”

That i t i s not a del ight to al l,however

,i s

shown by the op inion of one old French

wri ter,who describes this ringing of bells

every seven and one-hal f minutes as “a kind

of torture that Dante,i f he had placed musi

cians in his inferno , would have certainly

But would not even soimagined for them .

’

disgruntled a cri tic as he have li stened with

happier ears had he heard caril lon playing

by a bell -master ? One must bel ieve so,for

under the touch of such a one,this instrument

gives intense pleasure in a musical form that

appeal s to the artis tic sense of the thousands

who are so fortunate as to hear i t . The qual i

fications of a cari l lonneur are much the same

as those for an organist,indeed many of the

best players and composers fo r the caril lon

have been organis ts . Fischer,writing in 1738,

says to play well requi res “a musici an with a

good knowledge of music,good hands and

124 CAR ILLON S OF

preludes by Josef Denyn ; and finally there is a sonatafor the carillon by Gustaaf van Hoey

,director of the

School of Music at Mechlin , who was an amateur carillonneur at the time Adolf Denyn lavished his treasuresof music upon the few who listened in his day . One findshere and there compositions ‘for the carillon

,

’ but theseusual ly show a complete ignorance of all the peculiaritiesof the instrument . Even B enoit’s ‘Beiaardlied’ (

‘

CarillonSong’ ) is not really written to show to advantage a setof bells .”

M r . Starmer mentions also as composers fo r

the cari l lon,Pothoff ofAmsterdam in the

eighteenth century and J . A . H . Wagenaar,

senio r,of Utrecht in the nineteenth century

,

who l ike van den Gheyn were both o rgan

ists and cari l lonneurs .

Every musical instrument possesses a char

acter of i ts own . To one who has heard i t,this individual ity i s apparent in the cari llon

no less than in other instruments . To others,

comparison may be o f aid,but after all that

can give only a faint idea of the cari l lon ’s

characte r and charm . Perhaps the best con

ception will be obtained by thinking of i t as

resembl ing an organ in majesty and a p iano


fo rte in del icacy,but with harmonies aerial

and unbounded . Like every other instrument

i t must be judged when wel l - attuned and me

chanical ly perfect . Awakened by the hand o f

a master then,this tower music seems to come

from the heavens,the s i lvery del icacy of the

higher notes being carried far upon the tide

of the sonorous bass tones .

To find a good place to l isten to th i s music

i s always of importance to the traveller . Such

a place should be at a distance of at leas t 500

feet from the bells and should comb ine quiet

and an unobs tructed view of the louver win

dows o r the lantern of the tower . At Ant

werp such places are the courtyard of the

Plantyn Museum (not accessib le in the evening ) and the square in front of the Stadhu is

(noisy in the daytime ) at Ghent one should

stand in S . Baafsstraat near the entrance to

the curious miniature chapel at the north side

of the cathedral,and at Yp res

,at the farther

end of the Vandenpeereboomplaats . At

B ruges,there are several excel lent places

,the

126 TOWER MUSIC IN

bel fry so dominates the city . Among these are

Zi lverstraat near the corner of Giststraat, and

the Dyver. During evening concerts al l traf

fic on this quay, as well as in the Groote

M arkt and the Burgp laats, i s s topped . At

Mechlin too , traffic is s topped in the Groote

Markt . Th is square,the Straatje zonder

E inde and the Melaan are the best places to

l i sten there . Quiet places at M iddleburg are

the abbey inclosure and the garden o f the

Grand Hotel on the Lange Delft . At the

Hague,the only secluded place is in the post

ofli ce courtyard . At Haarlem,I suggest

,the

Vaarmersstraat ; at Delft, the canal bridges

behind the N ieuwe Kerk ; and at Utrecht, the

garden behind the police offices near the Stad

huis . For one cross ing the river at N imeguen

on the old - time current ferry,there is a rare

view of S . Stephen ’s,crowning the h i l l on

wh ich the city is built,and there

,on the water

,

i s p reéminently the place from which to hear

the bells .

In not a few of these towers the caril lon has


been played for a hundred years o r more on

the same day and at the same hour . There

is a popular rhyme about the playing at

Mechlin , which comes on three success ive

days . It runs l ike this“Saturday for the country folk,And Monday for the city ,Sunday for girls who charm the menAnd make themselves so pretty. ”

Sunday concerts,whether intended as an aid

to courting or not,are nearly universal in Bel

gium . Monday playing was specified in the

rules governing the caril lonneur of Mechlin

as early as 16 17, that being then the day of

the town counci l meeting . The counci l now

meets on'

another day, but tradition keeps the

play on Monday noon except in the months

when reci tals are given Monday evening . As

on Saturday at M echl in,so in nearly every

other town,a morning concert i s given on the

day of the market,wh ich usually i s held in

the square upon wh ich the tower looks down .

Thus at Alkmaar the bell s a re played for the

128 CAR ILLONS OF

cheese market,at Amersfoort fo r the general

market,at Amsterdam for the horse market

,

at Arnhem for the general market,and so on .

And in most other towns the cari llon i s p layed

by the cari l lonneur at a fixed hour on the

market day .

Besides the times of the ho rse markets,the

cheese markets,the butter markets

,the egg

markets,the grain markets

,the cattle markets

,

the fish markets,and the miscellaneous mar

kets,when the carillon is played

,there are

the national holidays and the b i rthdays of the

royal family when the bells join in the re

joicing. Also in al l parts of Flanders and

Holland special local days are celebrated,as

at B riel,Alkmaar

,and Leiden . The week of

the kermis in a town of the Low Countries

usual ly calls for special cari l lon playing . At

Antwerp,Ypres

,and other Belgian cities

,ex

tra concerts are given during the week of the

Feast of the Assumption and for other relig

ious festivals . In Holland,in a way corre

spond ing with this festive playing, i s the an


nual month - long welcome of sp ring when“Meideuntjes

”

(“M ay Songs”) are given , as

at M iddleburg, Gouda , and U trech t . And

most enjoyable of all are concerts in sum

mer evenings at Mechl in,Antwerp , Bruges ,

Utrecht,and several other towns .

The claviers are arranged on the same p rin

ciple as the manuals and pedals o f the organ .

The measurements given in the following de

scription are those of the instrument at Mech

l in . The manual keys are commonly of oak,

round,and in diameter

,those in the upper

row representing the bl ack notes of the organ

keyboard and projecting Those of the

lower row_correspond to the white notes and

p roject The vertical movement of the

keys when struck is Pedal keys are

from one to one and a half octaves in compass

and are so connected that these lower bell s can

be p layed either by hand or by foo t . The

upper row of pedals p rojects 4” and the lower

The pedal board is needed because

large bell s requi re more force to b ring out

13 0 TOWER MUSIC

thei r tones . By inverting the bass of tunes

which as written,call for such bass bell s as

are often omitted in order to save expense,

thei r lack i s scarcely felt . In early days s imi

lar bass notes were left out of great church

o rgans and H emony s app roval of thei r omis

s ion in cari l lons has al ready been mentioned .

132 CAR ILLON S OF

cari llonneur at the Hague about 1670, and an

admirer celeb rated his elevation in a verse

enti tled “A High Offi ce”

N0 place is there h igher on land or on water ;N0 station is higher of council or town ;N0 higher position ’s the gift of the crown ;Than that which is held now by H eer Pieter Pater .Next his , e ’en those of his H ighness seem small .God bless thee , O B ell-Prince of our ancient tower "For thousands feel daily the spell of thy power ;Next to H eaven thou art ; in the H ague above all .

Of various kinds were the employment con

tracts,and quite curious i s one which was re

corded in the Registry (kept s ince 1303 ) of

Oudenaarde . It reads in this wise :

I , the undersigned P ieter Chi telet, excellent beiaardier

,promise the guild of S. Jacob to play on the beiaard

on S . Jacob ’s Day as long as I l ive, unless I am sick orout of town , for my burial costs .

Done the 26 July 1681.

By me P. Chatelet , 1681.

D i rck Scholl,who

,as we saw in an earl ier

chapter,was a verse -maker himsel f

,had verses

written in honour of his musical gi fts by Poot

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND 13 3

while he l ived ; and when he died , upon his

tomb in the N ew Church at Del ft was in

scribed : “Here l ies Dirck Scholl,who for

more than two and sixty years made the cari l

lon in the N ieuwe Kerk to l ive ,” and‘ follow

ing this there is mention of his work as an or

ganist.

When Charles Burney came to'A msterdam

in 1772, he found there a cari l lonneur of great

fame whose playing he describes“At noon I attended M . Pothoff, who is not young andtotally bl ind , to the tower of the Stad-buys or town house( now the Palace ) , of which he is carillonneur ; he hashad this employment many years , having been elected toit at the age of thirteen . H e had very much astonishedme on the_organ - after all I had heard in the rest of Europe ; but in play ing these bells his amazing dexterityraised my wonder much higher , for he executed with histwo hands passages that would be very difli cult to playwith ten fingers ; shakes , beats , swift divisions , triplets ,and even arpeggios he has contrived to vanquish .H e began with a Psalm tune , with which their high

M ightinesses are chiefly del ighted , and which they re

quire at his hands whenever he performs , which is onTuesdays and Fridays ; he next played variations uponthe Psalm tune with great fancy and even taste ; when hehad performed th is task , he was so obl iging as to play a

13 4 TOWER MUSIC IN

quarter of an hour extempore in such a manner as hethought would be more agreeable to me than psalmody ;and in this he succeeded so well that I sometimes forgotboth the difliculty and the defects of the instrument ; henever played in less than three parts , making the bass andthe measures constantly with the pedals . I never hearda greater variety of passages in so short a time ; he produced effects by the pianos and fortes and the crescendoin the shake , both as to loudness and velocity , which Idid not think possible upon an instrument that seemedto require little other merit than force , in the performer .

An even mo re famous cari l lonneur of the

same period,whose composi tions both fo r the

cari l lon and for the organ are sti l l in use,was

M atthias van den Gheyn , son of Andreas van

den Gheyn,the most distinguished founder

of that name . In 1741 , M atthias at the age

o f 20 became organist of S . Peter’s,Louvain ,

and in 1745 the posi tion of caril lonneur be

came vacant In the competition for the

place that the magistrates o rdered,he won a

notab le victo ry . Not only did he compose

fo r the cari l lon,but “Every Sunday

,

” Feti s

tel l s us,

“he improvised for hal f an hour,and

hi s charm was such that long before he com


menced,the Place St . P ierre and the adj a

cent s treets were ‘encombrées p ar la popula

tion .

’

The caril lon of S . Rombold’s at Mechlin

,

generally admitted to be the finest that exists,

was saved from destruction in 1792 by the

diplomacy of Gérard Gommai re H averals,

the caril lonneur at the time . The revolu

tionary counci l had decreed thatm

the'

Mechl in

bells should be melted and made into cannon,

when H averals by his eloquence and clever

ness persuaded the French authorities that one

cari l lon should be p reserved . O therwise,he

asked,how properly could be celeb rated “l a

gloi re de l a répub l ique ?” A few years later

the reaction came,and he was given a sharp

rep rimand by the town counci l because of

the republican‘

songs he had played . His be

loved bells though were safe,and so again he

changed his tunes to suit changed times and

endured patiently the municipal castigation .

Happily his devotion and ski l l were so com

pell ing that even pol itical pass ions were sub

13 6 CAR ILLONS OF

dued and he continued as cari l lonneur unti l

he‘ died in 1841, being on the verge of four

score years,and having played the bells in S .

Rombold ’s tower continuously s ince he was

seventeen . Feti s,in his “B iograph ie univer

sel le des musiciens,

” s ays of him :

“Haverals was a distinguished artist of h is kind . A

good harmonist, he executed on his bells very d ifficultcompositions in three parts , sonatas , fantasies , and fugues.He also had a remarkable gift for improvising var iationsupon popular melod ies .

”

Town records commonly mention the pay

of cari l lonneurs,but thei r duties were very

different,and as they are not exactly specified

therein,the amount of pay i s not of much

value fo r comparison . Sometimes the caril

lonneur was also organis t. Sometimes he did

al l the work of winding and oil ing the clock

and drum mechanism,and again

,he was paid

extra for setting tunes . In early years,

“two

pai rs of shoes” as at Tongres,

“house rent” as

at Amsterdam,or even eggs often formed a

part o f the wages .


At Utrecht in 1588 the cari llonneur had 12

Dutch pounds,10 shil l ings (75 florins ) each

hal f year for which he was to p lay twice a

week “for the recreation of the ci ty” and to

take care of the clock . He was further re

qui red to teach each year one or two pupils

to play,fo r which purpose the ci ty p rovided

h im with a l ittle p racticing cari l lon . In

other towns the cari l lonneur was requi red to

instruct orphans in hi s art,as at N ivelles.

Emile Fourdin describes the conditions there

in 1587 :“At thi s epoch , the service of the carillon was already

perfectly organised at N ivelles . This service was confided to a musician who had charge of striking and sounding the bells and of taking care of the clock of the belfryand that of the chateau ; he was also required , as muchas possible , to sing in the choir with the other singers .

“He received each year, for his services , the sum of

200 French pounds and six measures of wheat , besidesthe emoluments coming from dedications , marriages ,burial services , anniversaries , and votive masses . H e

was forb idden to play immoral songs or improper airs ; hewas required to play hymns or eccles iastical chants , properto a divine service .

“One other cond ition was imposed upon the carillon

13 8 TOWER MUSIC IN

neur , that was to initiate in h is art some child from the

orphan house , designated by the magistrate . The aldermen exhib ited still more their love of the art : they establ ished at this same house a carillon composed of seventeenl ittle and greater bells , intended to provide for the

musical instruction of the children , the future carillonneurs .

At Alkmaar in 1684 the pay was 500

gui lders a year,very high fo r that time

,but

th i s cari l lonneur was evidently persuasive for

he asked for and got a new cari llon of 3 5 bells .

Many thousands,the records say

,were p resent

at the first concert in 1688. At M iddleburg

the pub l i shed records cover the period from

1592 to 1879 and the cari llonneur’s p ay ranges

from 12 Dutch pounds (72 florins) in the first

year mentioned to 3 50 florins in the last, with

varying duties .

I am informed that the compensation of

the cari llonneur at Antwerp today is 1800

francs,while at M echlin

,i t i s 2500 francs ,

and for special play at marriages,the Mechlin

cari l lonneur has 50 francs . His duties are

solely to play the cari llon at specified times

140 CAR ILLON S OF

and several others . The family tradition has

made such men particularly p roud of thei r

art . Had it not been fo r the interes t and

courtesy of these and many other cari llonneurs

throughout the greater N etherlands,this book

would never have been written .

Who does not recall with delight some week

among charming Chateaux of the Loi re or

th ink often of a tour when the radiance of the

stained glass of centuries past revealed i tsel f ?

Who forgets his fi rst wanderings among the

Gothic cathedrals of France or fails to re

member the fortnight when medieval times

l ived for him again in Ital i an hil l towns ?

Above the noise of a crowded street at the

Hague one summer noon I heard the cari l

lon o f the Great Church tower . B ruges and

M iddleburg and Veere had just been visi ted .

They differed much yet some common note

seemed to unite all th ree and the Hague .

How was i t to be defined ? In this reflective

mood,again my ear caught the sound of the

bells . They answered the question . It was


the tower melodies which united these p laces ,individual as they were in o ther respects .

Then came the thought : Why should one not

see the many cari l lons of the Low Countries,

each in its own historic p lace,and write them

down for foreign wanderers ? Why not a new

kind of tour,which

,by motor o r on foot

,by

b icycle or by boat,by road or canal o r rail

way,would show charms heretofore unknown

to old lovers of these lands and tell new trav

ellers things no t catalogued in any book ?

When we firs t became interested in Low

Country bel l music,we applied to the Cen

traal Bureau voor Vreemdel ingenverkeer”

at the Hague . Under the shelter o f that im

posing name is found an admi rab le o rganisa

tion maintained by the rai lways of the N ether

lands . Gratu i tously i t solves difficulties fo r

the traveller,arranges his journeys

,and an

swers his inqui ries . Info rmation about cari l

lons,however

,had never before been sought

and l i ttle was forthcoming . Thereupon we

set forth to find the cari l lonneur at the

142 TOWER MUSIC IN

Hague ; courteously he gave us suggestions

and advised us to consult the bel l -master at

Gouda . So we betook ourselves to Gouda and

sought out the enthusiastic M r. van Zuylen .

A friend of his,he told us

,had been studying

about town clocks at the publ i c l ibrary and

the week before had come upon considerable

information about caril lons in some old vol

umes . By the best Ofgood fortune i t turned

out that we were at Gouda on one of the two

days of each week when the l ib rary was open .

Outs ide i t was a deluge of rain,with a

b lack sky . Wi thin the lib rary we were dry,

i t i s true,but there were no l ights . Just at

closing time the book of most importance to

us was d iscovered . We made good use of the

minutes left and with a fai r l i s t of cari llon

towns safely recorded in our exploration note

book,we went back to the Hague . That very

night the most convenient of messengers,the

postcard with paid reply,entered actively into

our service and was dispatched to “Den Heer

Klokkenist” of the principal Dutch and Flem

144 CAR ILLON S OF

play fo r us . He and his daughter were wait

ing to welcome us when our boat arrived .

To hear the cari l lon at an unwonted hour so

startled the inhab i tants that the local news

paper the following day gave an account of

our vis i t . Both going to and returning from

thi s historic town,we passed through Vlaar

dingen,which happened that day to be cele

brating the centenary of the departure of the

French (as did al l the towns in the Kingdom

at different times during 19 13 and and

the harbour was crowded to capaci ty by the

great fleet come home fo r the occasion . From

the masts flew pennants and flags ; everywhere

the Dutch colours and the royal orange were

in evidence .

Not content with hearing one cari l lon,we

went also to Schiedam and Delft that day .

At Schiedam,M r. Textor

,whose father and

grandfather have p receded him as town bell

masters,received us with great consideration .

We went with him to the Old Church and up

the stone stai rway with whitewashed walls

146 TOWER MUSIC IN

which the p rincipal cari l lons may be heard,

though in the Low Countries al l the towns are

so near one another,that l i ttle foreplanning is

needed . The cari l lon region,indeed

,has an

area only about twice that of Wales or of the

S tate of New Jersey . I t i s in form almost a

right tri angle with Malmédy , southeast of

Liége, at i ts right angle , and with its hypoth

enuse,running from B oulogne to the mouth

of the Ems,northeast of Groningen

,along

the N orth Sea coast- l ine of B elgium and Hol

land .

Tours might be as follows

BELGIUM

I . Landing at Antwerp ; thence to S . N ik

Iass,Ghent

,B ruges

,Ypres

,Courtrai

,Oude

naarde, Aals t, Louvain , and Mechl in .

HOLLAND

I I . Landing at Rotterdam ; thence to Schie

dam,Del ft

,the Hague

,Leiden , Haarlem ,

Alkmaar,Amsterdam

,Utrecht

,and Gouda .

Another short tour could begin at Flushing


and include M iddleburg and Veere ; and in a

tou r in the eastern part of the country one

should go to Arnhem,Zutfen

,Kampen

,Gro

ningen,and Appingedam . In B elgium

,Tour

nai and Mons can easi ly be reached in a s ide

excurs ion from Courtrai . The above towns

contain the cari llons given in the li sts of the

best in Chapter III and some others,and in

elude examples of bel ls by all’

the great

founders . I t i s not supposed that i t wi ll

agree with the plans of al l travellers to vis i t

these towns in the sequence here given . Ar

rangement must depend upon particular

needs . A convenient p rogramme can readily

be made by consulting Appendices A and B

for the days and hours of p lay in each place .

However the tours are arranged,none i s com

plete without including M echlin on some

Monday evening in June,August

,or Sep

tember,when Josef Denyn gives his concerts .

CHAPTER IX

les maitres lancent cl travers l’

espace leur

tendres on plaintives, ardentes on triomphales .

”

N . VERSCHAVE

ECHLIN’S has always been num

bered among the finest caril lons .

The name “beyaert” was applied to

the bells of S . Rombold’s tower for the first

time in 1556, and in 1557 a cari l lonneur was

appointed at a sal ary of 36 florims a year . In

1563 we know there were 18 bells , of Wh ich10 were by Waghevens, 2 came from Ant

werp , and the remaining 6 had been part of

the voorslag. This cari llon was al ready fa

mous in 1575 , fo r commiss ioners from Ypres

came then to examine it . In 1583 some van

den Gheyn bells were added and soon after

that the pedal keys . During the next century

bell s were gradually added unti l there were

29 . In 1679 the cari l lon was largely renewed ,I 1 of the old bel ls being retained and 3 2 new

148


ones purchased o f P ieter H emony, and this i s

essenti al ly the cari llon of today,detai ls of

which are given in Appendix D .

When a vacancy occurred in the position

of carillonneur for so famous a set of bells,

a competi tion was often held in o rder to select

the most capable person to fil l i t . The earl ies t

contes t of this character was in 1599 , when

two appl icants came from Mons and one from

D ixmude . But the most important one took

place in 1788 when there were s ix entrants

from various parts of B elgium and when

H averals,of whom we have al ready spoken

,

was success ful . Other towns wh i ch held the

art in h igh esteem frequently held s imilar con

tests . We have this somewhat embell i shed

account by H aweis of the one at Louvain to

which allusion was made in the p reced ing

chapter :“On the l st of July, 1745 , the town of Louvain wasastir at an early hour : the worthy Citizens might be seenchatting eagerly at their shop doors , and the crowd ofvisitors who had been pouring into the town the day before were gathering in busy groups in the great square of

150 TOWER MUSIC IN

Louvain , wh ich is bounded on one side by the town hall ,and on the other by the Church of S . Peter . Among thecrowd might be observed not only many of the most eminent musicians in B elgium , but nobles , connoisseurs , andmusical amateurs , who had assembled from all parts ofthe country to hear the great competition for the important post of carillonneur to the town of Louvain .

“All the principal organists of the place were to compete : and among them a young man aged twenty- four , theorganist of S . Peter ’s , who was descended from the greatfamily of bell- founders in Belgium , and whose name wasalready well known throughout the country , Matthias vanden Gheyn .

“The nob il ity, the Clergy, the magistrates , the burgomasters— in short , the powers civil and ecclesiastical , hadassembled in force to give weight to the proceedings . Asthe hour approached , not only the great square , but all thestreets leading to it , became densely thronged , and nodoubt the demand for windows at Louvain , over againstS. Peter ’s tower , was as great as the demand for balconiesin the City of London on Lord M ayor

’s Day .

“Each competitor was to play at sight the airs which

were to be given to him at the time , and the same pieceswere to be given to each in turn . To prevent all possible collusion between the j ury and the players , no preludes whatever were to be permitted before the performance of the pieces , nor were the judges to know who wasplaying at any given moment . Lots were to be cast inthe strictest secrecy , and the players were to take theirseats as the lots fell upon them . The names of the trial

15 2 CARILLON S OF

post tolerably lucrative , without being by any means asinecure . ”

When caril lons were inaugurated,experts

frequently met to pass upon the work . Gre

goir mentions one o f these assembl ies at

B ruges in 1743 when the bell s of Dumery ,

s ti l l famous today,were judged “the most ar

tistic and bes t attuned in Europe .” Again at

B ruges,in 19 12, there was a competi tion for

p rizes fo r playing,wh ich cari l lonneurs from

many parts of B elgium entered . The mani

festation at that time of the mechanical de

feets of this instrument led to i ts rearrange

ment and improvement two years later,so that

i t i s now in excellent shape.

Mechlin,too

,has recently been the scene of

p rize competi tions,one on June 27, 1897, of

minor importance,and one on August 21 and

22,19 10, which , according to the M us ical

S tandard (London ) , was attended by

people . No other event in cari l lon history

b rought together so large a l i s t of competi

tors . From B elgium came eight p rofessionals


and two amateurs and from Holland five

p rofess ionals and one amateur . O f the five

judges,one was from England . The address

of the President,M r . Denyn , and the greater

part of the report of the judges i s p rinted in

Appendix E . Th i s report,written by M r.

Denyn , i s not only a careful estimate of the

meri ts and defects of each competi to r,but em

bodies also what is vi rtual ly a treatise on the

capab i l i ties o f the cari l lon and the rules which

should govern the choice of music for playing .

I t i s a centu ry and a hal f after van den

Gheyn’s playing insp i red the crowds at Lou

vain that we see again a master of the art

( and wi th h im many competing cari l lon

neurs) del ighting gathered masses o f the peo

ple . Of this E . B . Osborn,in a special article

on Cari l lon Music,

” gives an account,an ac

count not based on tradi tion,but of what he

h imsel f s aw and heard

It was not until I heard the ch ief bell-masters of Belgium and H olland playing on the great carillon at Mechlin in August 1910 that the range and power of the key

15 4 TOWER MUSIC IN

board carillon were fully revealed to me . I t was a festival of carillon players . The King of the B elgians hadoffered prizes for the best executants , and throughout thetWO

'

days of competition the great square of the GrooteMarkt was thronged with eager and attentive l isteners .Mr . Denyn

’

s recital ( following the competition ) wasthe most memorable concert I have ever heard , and wasa revelation not only of his amazing virtuosity but alsoof the possib ilities, explored and unexplored , of the artof bell music . The first piece was a stately and sonorousPrelude , which might have been written by B ach , andwas Mr. Denyn

’

s own composition , a long-meditatedtribute to the occasion . Peter B enoit’s “Myn Moederspraak

” was rendered with bewitching del icacy . But perhaps the most interesting and instructive of Mr . Denyn

’

s

selections was a set Of ancient French ditties made forcarillons at various dates . This was really a br ief anddelightful h istory of the evolution of bell music .

In general M r . Denyn begins a concert

wi th some bri ll i ant piece , which immediately

takes his audience captive and compels i ts at

tention,something perhaps by Verdi or B ach .

Toward the middle of the p rogramme come

pieces which requi re the utmost ski ll,such as

a sonata by N i colai o r a work of some ancient

composer,l ike Pleyel or Kraft

,which he has

adapted to the caril lon in a marvellous fash

15 6 CARILLONS OF

besides some forty evening concerts he gives

each summer,in various places

,he has at

other seasons rearranged the keyboards and

connections in many towers,among them Ant

werp , Louvain , Mons , and B ruges , and is

often called in consul tation where improve

ments are contemplated .

At any time M ech l in is an interesting place,

but on Monday,July 1

,19 12, i t was particu

larly so . The ci ty was decked with flags ; the

great bells were ringing ; the cari llon was

played by the finest players of B elgium and

Holland,and for the lovers of bell music

,i t

was a day of rejoicing . The celeb ration was

in honour of Josef Denyn , for twenty-five

years ci ty cari l lonneur. Al l the festivi ties

were of a national character,in which people

of every rank— from the King and Queen to

the humb les t ci tizen— took part. During the

day many gifts came to the i l lustrious caril

lonneur from his admirers and friends . The

most touching of them all was a simple bou

quet of flowers p resented by a bl ind woman

B ELGIUM AND HOLLAND 15 7

on behalf of the colony of laceworkers who

said they wished to show thei r app reciation of

his p laying which for many years had been a

solace and joy to them during thei r hours of

labour.

First of the day’s p roceed ings was the ar

rival ofthe new bel l f rom the foundry of van

Aerschodt. Thi s was set up in the G rand’

P lace and exhib i ted throughout the day. I t

had been subscribed for by the pub l ic and p re

sented to M r . Denyn to be p laced in the

famous cari llon to replace a defective bell in

the upper part o f the instrument . On i t i s a

medall ion portrai t of Josef Denyn with th i s

inscription in Flemish : “To the great cari l

lonneur,Jef Denyn, from an admiring pub

l ic .”

In the afternoon a cari l lon recital was given

in honour of the occasion by the best p layers

of“

B elgium and Holland . Cari l lonneurs Re

douté of Mons,Igodt of Yp res , van Zuylen of

Gouda , Nauwelaerts, then of L ie r, now of

B ruges,and many others took part. This re

15 8 TOWER MUSIC IN

cital made evident the very great advance

made in playing during the p revious ten years

and showed that at the p resent time such play

ing is o f greate r artistic excellence than ever

before

In the evening just before eight o’clock as

M r . Denyn app roached the tower door of S .

Rombold’s,he must have been thril led and

insp i red by the immense audience numbering,

so theM us ical Times (London ) says , between

and people,who assemb led to

do him honour and to testi fy thei r good will

and show thei r app reciation of his genius . As

the hour finished s triking,the cari llon sounded

and the great cari l lonneur held his immense

audience Spellbound with a performance of

van den Gheyn’s difficult thi rd Prelude . Al l

through the concert he played with great ex

press ion and power and nothing more beauti

ful can be imagined than the exquisi te treat

ment of the eighteenth century melody,

“Je

n ’i rai plus au bois” or the real l i fe imparted to

the s ixteenth century dance,

“La Romanesca .”

160 CAR ILLONS OF

times the sentiment that i t was Josef Denyn

that had made his countrymen turn thei r at

tention again to the bell music o f thei r fathers,

and with this were bound colour sketches and

b rief musrcal compositions,the whole being

a unique tribute from over a hundred well

known pub l ic men,musicians

,poets

,and

artis ts .

When the p resentation had been finished,

M r. W . W. S tarmer said,on behalf of ad

mirers of bell music in fo reign lands

The great H andel is credited with the statement thatthe hell is the English national instrument, and centuriesago England was called the ringing isle . We love the

music of the bells , but our Change ringing—Clever as it is—possesses none of the artistic merits of carillon playing,of which you are a consummate master . You know tothe greatest nicety the capabil ities of your instrument ;your artistic perception unfail ingly directs you as to thebest music for it ; your executive Skill , in which you haveno equal , and other qual ifications give you the h ighestposition as an artist. Long may you l ive to maintainand excel in the best trad itions of your art .”

This speech was received with great en

thusiasm,and M r . Denyn , much affected by


the honours and tributes that had come to him ,

b riefly repl ied . So passed a day wh ich will

ever be memorable .

The fear has often been exp ressed that a

time might come when the art which recently

has b lossomed so richly would again fade and

i ts perfection in our own day remain only a

memory. But happ ily a movement is under

way which will p reserve the attainments al

ready made and educate Skil led players fo r

the future . This movement has as i ts aim the

estab l ishment of a cari l lon school under the

di rection of Josef Denyn at Mechlin . P rop

erly equipped with means fo r p ractice and

affo rding competent instruction,such a school

should have a constant quota of s tudents fromall the cari llon region and could soon furnish

many wel l qual ified players . B elgium pos

sesses five great cari l lons,those at Antwerp

,

B ruges,Ghent

,Louvain (S . Peter’s ) , and

Mechlin,all with large range

,perfected cla

vier,and adjustments of the most modern so rt .

Fol lowing them come ten others of the firs t

162 TOWER MUSIC IN

order,ins truments of smaller compass and less

perfect mechanism,but capab le of being made

as good as any without great expense . Be

s ides these,B elgium has some thi rty or fo rty

other caril lons whose pleasure -giving ab i l i ty,

to say the leas t,can be greatly increased . In

Holland,too

,though i t now contains no in

struments equal to B elgium’s first five,we find

great poss ib i l i ties for development . Each o f

these cari l lons ough t to be made an artistic

force in i ts community,an element in the

higher education of the race to whom th i s

fo rm of music is peculi ar . There are al ready

a score of men capable of giving excellent

concerts . Most,i f not all

,of those now qual i

fied have gained thei r technical skil l by con

tact with or teaching by Denyn himsel f .

Fully one hundred are needed to supply al l‘

the cari llons now equipped with keyboards .

The municipali ty of Mechlin has offered

the necessary housing for the school with heat,

l ight,and care

,wh i le the national government

has decided to grant an annual subvention

164 CAR ILLON S

tices . The fi rst Struggles wi th the keys now

are known to all and are disagreeab le both

subj ectively and obj ectively.

One young B elgium gi rl got her firs t prac

tice,so she told me

,while the automatic hour

play was taking place . So She came to know

the feeling of the keys in action,and listeners

,

mystified perhaps,l aid to a disordered auto

matic mechanism the confusion of sounds that

resulted . This gave her but about four min

utes p ractice at most each hour,but i t was an

experience she could get in no other way with

out attracting the attention ofthe enti re town .

916 916 916 9K

Earnestly may we hope that the dreadful

destruction which is an element of war may

not so impoverish B elgium in either men

or resources that the estab l i shment of this

school and the steady development of cari llon

playing shall long be h indered .

CHAPTER X

"

En die van M echelen spant zeker lyk de kroon .

ANONYMOUS

N Antwerp friend to whom we had

described the charm of the Dutch

cari llons and of those we had heard

in B elgium ,and the excellent playi ng of the

different cari l lonneurs in many places,would

l is ten wi th courteous interes t and then,when

we had fin i shed,would look up with a smile

and say,But you have not yet heard M r .

Denyn . Wait "

We fel t that he spoke with judgment and

knowledge,fo r he had been at the great con

tes t in 19 10 at Mechlin , where caril lonneurs

of the two countries had assemb led,to play

in turn in a two - days’ contes t on the bell s of

S . Rombold’s tower,after which the King’ s

p rize had been awarded to the most accurate

and most finished competito r . That outdoor

scene o f which he told us,the Grand ’ Pl ace

165

166 TOWER MUSIC IN

fil led with thousands of eager l is teners,some

how suggests a sp lendid finale of an opera .

I t was with unusual interest then,that we set

forth for Mech l in to hear the master cari l lon

neur give one of h i s famous Monday evening

concerts .

Mechl in l ies midway between Antwerp and

Brussels and i s reached by train from either

ci ty in hal f an hour. I t was once the centre

of great pol itical and ecclesi astic activity,and

i s sti l l the seat of the Primate of B elgium .

Much of i ts charm remains and there i s de

l ightful repose in the old streets where many

picturesque gab les of the sixteenth and seven

teenth century houses so characteristic of the

Flemish Netherlands,look down upon the

traveller . In the street of the Twelve Apos

tles there i s a smal l Béguinage,and near i t a

lace making school where the sisters teach

chi ldren to make the famous Mechlin lace .

The River Dyle winds in and out through the

city in a charming manner,past quaint houses

and ancient quays,where verdure takes root


in the joints of the stones and is reflected in

the peaceful water . An ai r of great tranqui l

l iry dwells in the enti re ci ty,and as i f to em

phasise this— and to app rove it— high above

the red roofs and fine trees,rises the sp lendid

square tower of S . Rombold’s Cathed ral,a

serene and noble landmark .

In a Continental European town,the con

trast between the day’s occupations and the

gayety of evening is marked . Animated

group s of men and women,many of them

bareheaded,s trol l up and down the Streets o r

stop to talk with other groups,giving a joyous

tone to the enti re scene . On reaching Mechlin

we found unusual festivi ty because of the cele

b ration of the Feast of the Assumption . Gay

crowds fi l led the streets and many of the peo

ple were walking toward the Groote M arkt

or Grand’ Place where the l i fe of smalle r

Flemish ci ties centres .

As there was yet a full hour before the con

cert,we drove to M r. Denyn

’s house— fo r the

Denyns’ were al ready our good friends— and

168 CAR ILLONS OF

taking the three youngest chi ldren in the car

riage with us , s tarted for a short tour about

the town . The children were del ighted and

talked incessantly . At one point they made

us notice that people were bringing out chai rs

and placing them in rows in a park near the

cathedral tower,and they explained that this

was always done on the nights when “papa”

played . Then one of them confided to us i t

was “la fete de mamman” ; so we drove to a

flower shop to buy a few roses . Al l three chil

dren eagerly jumped out of the carri age and

went in with us to help choose the flowers,and

the shop -keeper and her husband and three

f riends who had stopped fo r an evening chat

all aided and applauded our choice .

Finally the coachman called in to us with

much excitement that i t was nearing eight

o’clock,and we must at once go back

,fo r his

carri age would not be allowed to cross the

Grand ’ Place after the eight o’clock bell in

S . Rombold’s tower ceased to toll . We there

fore started hasti ly for the Denyn house,

170 TOWER MUSIC IN

wh ipped his ti red horse again into a gallop

and dashed off into the dusk .

In answer to our ring,a panel of the great

door was opened by a woman who held in

her left hand a large old - fash ioned lantern

l ighted by a candle . Bon soi r,M adame et

Mess ieurs,

” she said smil ingly . Then in a

hurried whisper She added ,“11 faut vous

dépécher” and

,leading the way

,quickly con

ducted us through a long paved yard into the

pleasant school garden . Just as we reachedi t,the las t s troke of eight o ’clock sounded .

In these northern countries the day is long

even in late August,and it was s ti l l twilight .

Against the southern Sky, f ramed in by two

dark trees in the foreground,rose the b road

,

rugged tower of S . Rombold’s. High up

,

near the top of the tower,from a narrow open

ing shone out a faint,dul l l ight .

After the bel l ceased striking,and the vi

b ration o f i ts deep and solemn tone had died

away,there was s i lence . So long a si lence i t

seemed,so absolute

,that we wondered i f i t


ever was to be broken . Then pianiss imo , from

the h ighest,l ightest bel ls

,as i f not to startle

us,and from far

,far above the tower

,i t

seemed— indeed as i f very gently shaken from

the sky itsel f— came tri lls and runs that were

angelic " Rapidly they grew in volume and

majes ty as they descended the scale unti l the

enti re heaven seemed full of music . Seated

in the garden we watched thé’

l it’

tle l ight in

the tower,where we knew the unseen carillon

neur sat at h i s clavier and drew the music

f rom his keys,and yet as we watched and l is

tened,we somehow fel t that the music came

from somewhere far beyond the tower,far

higher than that dim light,and was p roduced

by superhuman hands . Sometimes in winter

after icicles have formed,there comes a thaw

,

and one by one they tinkle down gently and

timidly at first ; then bolder in a mass they

come ti ll,l ike an avalanche

,they crash down

with a mighty roar . All of th is the music sug

gested . It was low,i t was loud ; i t was from

one bell,i t was from chords of many bells ; i t

172 CAR ILLONS OF

was majestic,i t was s imp le . And every note

seemed to fall from above,from such heights

that the whole l and heard its beauty . I t was

as i f a great master had said : “I amno longercontent to s i t at my cathedral organ and give

pleasure to a few hundreds only ; I must give

joy to thousands .” So he mounts the cathedral

tower,and plays h i s sonata

,or h i s p relude

,or

his songs upon the great clavier,so that all the

world may hear. Wi th thi s feel ing,we lis

tened that evening to van den Gheyn’s“Pré

lude” and to the Andante and Al legro from

Ross ini ’s “Barb ie r de Sevi lle” and to old Bel

gian and French folk songs . Here was no

petty cleverness,but a splendid master- hand

bringing out from h i s mighty instrument not

alone grand,sub l ime effects

,but also the ten

derest Shades of feel ing that awaken both

memory and asp i ration . Indeed,the tower

seemed a l iving being,opening its l ips in the

mysterious night to pour out a great and noble

message of song to al l mankind .

AS the hour passed , dayl ight died , but the

174 TOWER MUSIC IN

watchman who spends the whole night in the

tower to keep guard over the sleep ing ci ty ,he joined us

,giving us the friendl iest of greet

ings in French . As he dons for h i s work,

which is far more strenuous than is the play

ing of any other musical instrument,a special

costume kept in the tower room,he came out

looking neat and cool and ready to enjoy with

his friends the remainder of the evening . In

vited by him ,we went to the Cheval d’Or

,a

l i ttle café nearby . Here we came upon a

scene of much gayety,one which was in

marked contrast to the quietness of the sur

roundings in which we had Spent the las t hour .

As we entered,many rose in honour of M r .

Denyn , and coming forward grasped his hand

and exp ressed in Flemish thei r delight in his

playing . He invited us to s i t down with h im,

and to have coffee o r beer . As we sat to

gether,after the greetings of the crowd were

over,he Spoke at length and with enthusiasm

of the powerful influence music had in p ro

moting a nation’s happiness . And he said that


in giving these concerts which thousands en

joy,he fel t he was contributing something to

the education of the people . But the time for

our return to Antwerp drew near and so,with

mysteriously moving thoughts of the past,

awakened by his music,and with feel ings of

asp i ration,we parted from this large - hearted

,

s imple man,the master bel l -master .

APPENDIX A

LIST OF CARILLONS IN HOLLAND

N th i s l i s t,wh ich is intended to include al l

the caril lons existing ( together with sev

eral that have been destroyed)“

in the

Koninkryk der N ederlanden,the towns are

arranged in alphabetic o rder,according to

thei r Netherlandish (and therefore true )names . Following the name of the town is

the p rovince in wh ich i t i s s i tuated,l ikewise

in Dutch . Next comes the build ing in the

tower of wh ich the bells hang . Churches

have usually two names,as Groote Kerk or

Sint Laurenskerk (at Alkmaar and at Rot

terdam) , but I have used only the more famil

i ar .i

Then i s given the number of bell s com

posing the cari l lon (usually excluding bel ls

not playab le from the clavier ) with the name

o f thei r founder and the date of thei r casting.

179

180 APPENDICES

Finally come the name of the bell -master

and the time when he plays . In this connec

tion,i t may be remarked that the cari l lonneur

is nearly always gl ad to play at other times,

but in most towns the permission of the burgo

master o r the town counci l i s requi red ; so ar

rangement must be made beforehand . Be~

s ides the weekly playings noted,there are

concerts on some or all of the royal b i rthdays—Apri l 19 (Prince Henry ) , Ap ri l 30 (Prin

cess Jul iana ) , August 2 (Queen Emma ) , and

August 3 1 (Queen Wi lhelmina ) -and in dis

tricts p redominantly Roman Catholic (Lim

burg and Noord B rabant ) on certain festivals ,such as Shrove Tuesday and M id-Lent . Also

I would cal l attention to the special music in

many towns during the month of May. Not

only is there addi tional concert play at this

season,but the tunes selected are chiefly mei

deuntjes or May ditties , exp ressing the pop

ural rejoicing that winter has departed and

that sp ring has come .

The phrase among the best indicates that the

182 APPENDICES

trays , who dress in whi te except for the colored ribbonsof their straw hats ( a different color for each of the fiveporters’ guilds ) , seem to trot along with their heavyburdens in step with the music . The tower may beClimbed ( tickets H. obtainable only at the Stadhuis ) ,and from the balcony is a fine view from North Sea toSouth Sea (Zuider Zee ) , wh ile within the tower, thecarillonneur will play for you your Choice of his repertory . Th is instrument is rather crude , but the bell-master is very obliging.There was formerly a carillon of 32 bells by Sonneman , 1692, in the tower of the Groote Kerk .Amersfoort, Utrecht ; Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk ; 33bells weighing over pounds by F. Hemony , 1658

Friday, 10- 11, and Wednesday evening, 8-9 . The towerin wh ich the bells hang is called by Baedecker “

the fines tGothic pyramid in the country .Ams terdam , N . H olland , has five Hemony carillons .That in the Pal eis is among the best. In all five towersthe bells are hung in circles and may be seen from the

Street.The carillon in the royal palace consists of 37 bellsby F . and P . Hemony , 1664, arranged in two tiers , theupper consisting of the largest bell ( of pounds )encircled by the eight next in size and the lower consisting of the remainder . The keyboard is only about twelvefeet below the bells . This arrangement and the good condition of the mechanism enables the carillonneur , J . Vincent

,to produce effects almost as fine as those of good

Belgian players . Concerts are on Monday, 12-1, and on

AMERSFOORT : THE TOWE R OF OUR LADYAfl ectionately called TheMother and Chi ld

”because

ofthe small spi re carried by the toweras if in i ts arms

184 APPENDICES

for Arnhem has recently consulted Denya with the ideaof improving the keyboard and playing mechanism .

B ergen s op -Zoom, N . B rabant. H ere was°

formerly

a carillon of 19 bells by J . ter Stege , but it was destroyedin war .B reda, N . B rabant ; 40 bells founded in 1723 ; Tuesday and Friday , 10- 11.

B r iel , Z . H olland ; S. Catherinaskerk ; 22 bells byF. and P . H emony , 1661, and 1 inferior one of 1883 .

The instrument is far from perfect ; concerts are giventhe first Monday of each month by W . Borstlap . Thebells are played also on April 1, the anniversary of thetaking of the town by the

“Water B eggars” in 15 72,the first act of the Dutch war for independence fromSpain , and on December 1, the anniversary of the departure of the only other foreign master the City everhad , for Napoleonic domination ended on December 1,1813 . The carillon tower has long been a watch towerand is equipped with a telephone connecting it with thenearby coast defenses .Culemborg (Kuilenburg) , Gelderland .Delft, Z . Holland ; N ieuwe Kerk , tower 375 feethigh

, 40 bells by F . Hemony , 1663 ; J . A . de Zwaan

( also bell-master at the H ague ) Tuesday , 6-7 P.M . insummer , 12- 1 in winter ; Thursday and Saturday , 12-1

among the best. Pleasant places in which to hear thebells are the N ieuwe Langendyk, the garden of the vanMeerten house (now a del ightful museum ) , and the courtof the Prinsenhof, the building in which W ill iam theSilent was murdered . Ver Meer’s famous “View of

APPENDICES 185

Delft in the Mauritshu is at the H ague shows the belltower of the New Church in bright sunl ight in the middle distance .Deventer , Overyssel ; Groote Kerk ; 34 bells , 25 byF. and P . H emony in 1646 , and 9 of 1694; F . Harbrink ;

Tuesday and Thursday ,Doesburg, Gelderland ; church ; 23 bells , l igh tand pleasing, by F . and P . H emouy .Edam , N . H olland ; Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk . Thiscarillon by P. van den Gheyn , 1561, is being renovated .I t was formerly played and probably againin use , on Saturday from 11 to 12.

Eindhoven , N . B rabant ; Stadhuis ; 25 bells by Taylor, 1914.

Enkhuizen , N . H olland ; Zu idertoren ; light bells byP. H emouy , 1677 Wednesday, 11- 12, April to October .Also Drommedaristoren ; carillon by F. and P . He

mony, now under repair.Flushing— see Vl issingen .Goes , Zeeland ; Groote Kerk ; 40 bells ; H . Vissersplays on Tuesday , 12- 1. These bells are attributed variously to A . J . van den Gheyn , Jansz , and J . Peti t .Gor inchem , Z . H olland ; Groote Kerk ; 25 bells by

de H aze, 1682; Monday, 12- 1.

Gouda, Z . Holland ; Groote Kerk ( in which is thefinest stained glass in the country ) ; 37 bells, 32 by P .

H emouy, 1677 G. van Zuylen Thursday and Saturday,-11;

"

among the best. Mr. van Zuylen is mostcourteous and is an enthusiastic carillonneur . On the up

186 APPENDICES

rights near the keyboard are painted the names and datesof service of preceding bell-masters . The bells here arearranged in the usual Dutch fashion , in circles and exposed to the weather . The lower tier consists of twoconcentric rings , the 18 smallest bells surrounded by the8 largest ; while above are the other 11, also hung in acircle . “Wilhelmus van Nassauwe

” is always the hourtune . During May the carillonneur gives additional concerts Sunday , Tuesday , Thursday, and Saturday from6 to 7 in the evening

:’s Gravenhage ( den H aag ) , Z . H olland ; GrooteKerk ; 37 bells by de H aze , 1686 ; J . A . de Zwaan , theorganist of the church and a master musician ; Mondayand Friday , 12- 1 among the best. In this Great Churchin the H ague , Queen Wilhelmina was married while thecarillon rang j oyfully above her . The best view of thetower of this church is from across the Vyver , which , saysE . V. Lucas , “is a j ewel set in the midst ( of the H ague ) ,beautiful by day and beautiful by night, with fascinatingreflections in it at both times , and a Special gif t for thetransmission of ( the sound of ) bells in a country wherebells are really honoured . There is a detailed accountof this carillon , entitled H et Klokkenspel van denHaagschen Sint-Jacobs toren ,

”by W . P. H . Jansen .

Gron ingen , Groningen ; Martinikerk ; 37 bells , 3 1 byF . H emouy , 1662; 5 by P. H emouy , 1671, and 1 by A .

van den Gheyn , 1788 ; H . P . Steenhuis ; Tuesday ,11 and Friday , 1 among the best. There are also3 bells antedating the carillon , but able to be connectedwith i t ; these were cast by H . von Trier in 1578. ThiS '

APPENDICES 187

car illon is silent during H oly Week. The tower in whichit hangs is the station of a watch-man , who every quarterhour during the night blows trumpet notes to the fourpoints of the compass to indicate that he is on duty. I fhe descries a fire , he telephones the fire department .C. P . L. Rutgers has written a pamphlet about thiscarillon .A carillon in the Aakerk was destroyed by lightning

in 1671.

Haar lem , N . H olland ; Groote Kerk, 3 5 bells weighing pounds by F . H emony , 1660-4; H . W . Hof

meester ; Monday and Friday , 12 among the best.

This church contains a famous old organ , which is usual ly played on Tuesday from 1 to 2 and on Thursdaybetween 2 and 3 .

The Hague— see

’

S Gravenhage.

Has s elt Overyssel ; F . H emouy , 1662-4

Hattem , Overyssel 22 bells .Helmond , N . B rabant ; Stadhu is ; automatic play only .Th is carillon , hidden in 1795 to save it from the French,

was originally in Postel Abbey in Limburg, B elgium .

’8 Hertogenbos ch (Bois—le-Duc ) , N . B rabant ; S .

Janskerk ; 40 bells ; van Aerschodt, 1874; Wednesday ,11- 12.

Also Stadhu is ; 23 bells ; F. and P. H emouy ; Wednes

day, 9- 10.

H eus den , N . B rabant ; Stadhu is ; small carillon playedTuesday , 11- 12.

Hoorn , N . Holland . The Groote Kerk once con

188 APPENDICES

tained 32 bells by P. H emony , 1670, which were destroyed by fire .Huls t, Zeeland . A carillon of 28 bells by P . Hemony ,

1669 formerly was played Monday (market day ) ,M aar , hélas , in het j aar 1876 is de toren en ook hetklokkenspel vernietigd,

”the

“horloge

'

n aker” of the city

writes me .Kampen , Overyssel Bovenkerk ; 35 bells ; F . Hemony ,

1662; H . J . D icter ; Monday , 11- 12, and Friday , 6-7.

Leeuwarden , Friesland ; Stadhu is ; 3 3 bells by Fremy,1687-9 . The carillon hung in the New Tower till 1884when , the tower becoming dangerous , i t was taken down .I t will soon be put up again in the tower of the TownH all .Leiden , Z . H olland ; Stadhu is ; 39 bells , 29 by P .

H emony , and 10 by Fremy in 1680; R . H . T . vanLeeuwen Wednesday and Saturday , -11, and Monday evening, Also on October 3 , when theinhab itants eat a Special dish made of Chopped carrotsand meats to celebrate the rel ief of Leiden , besieged bythe Spaniards for a year ending October 3 , 1574. Aftermounting the fine perron of th is Town H al l and soreaching the floor on which are the rooms adorned withmagnificent Old tapestries , i t is a Short cl imb up an electrically l ighted stairway to the bell-master

’s room . Theceil ing of this room is supported by mortised beams tadiating from the centre and decorated with white Starson a blue ground . An attractive spot in which to hear thebells is by the l ittle dolphin fountain behind the TownH all . Unfortunately the playing of the fountain (Sat

190 APPENDICES

185 1, says the bells were played Wednesday between 11and 12 and Sunday before service. This is the only instance I have found of Sunday play with in the Kingdomof the Netherlands , while in B elgium it is nearly universal .Monn ikendam , N . H olland ; 3 3 bells by P. vanden Gheyn .Ny kerk , Gelderland ; Oude Kerk ; 28 bells byvan den Gheyn ; Monday, 9- 10. In this Church are

tombs of van Rensselaers and van Curlers , f amil ies fromwhich came early colonists of New York.

Nymegen (N imwegen ) , Gelderland ; Groote Kerk ;40bells by van den Gheyn , 1597 ; W. de Vries ; Mondayand Thursday , - 12; among the best. From theriver , the branch of the Rhine called the Waal , the carillon tower appears as the apex of this city , buil t on a hill .The ideal place in which to hear the bells is on the river.Oudewater , Utrecht ; Friday , 10- 11.

Purmerend , N . H olland . Formerly there was a carillon of 3 1 bells by F . and P . H emony .

Rhenen , Utrecht . The very graceful tower of S .Cunera, in which was the carillon , was struck by l ightningin September , 1897, and completely destroyed . The newtower is an exact copy of the old , but contains no bells .Rotterdam , Z . H olland ; Groote Kerk ; 39 bells ,weighing pounds ; F. H emony , 1660; W. C. deLange ; Tuesday and Saturday , 11- 12.

Al so Beurs (Exchange ) F. H emony , 1660; playedonly by Clockwork . This set of bells was made for theStadhu is and hung there till 1829 .

S chiedam , Z . H olland ; Oude Kerk ; 41 bells , of

APPENDICES 191

which 28 are used , by A . J . van den Gheyn , 1786 ; H . J .

P . Textor ; Friday , 11- 12, and occasionally summer evenings , 9-10. The 3 heaviest bells , used respectively asa church bell , an hour bell , and a half-hour bell are notconnected with the keyboard , nor are the 10 lightest bellsbecause of their unsatisfactory timbre . There are fourweights here to be wound up daily : one for the hour bell ;one for the hal f-hour bell , which— as everywhere in theNetherlands—is h igher in tone than the hour bell andstr ikes the hour next to come ( instead of a single Stroke )a th ird for the cyl inder which plays the bells each quarter hour ; and the last for the clock itself . The cylinderhas 112 rows of holes in which pins may be inserted . Ofthese , 72

“measures” play before the hour , 32 before thehalf-hour , and 4 at each of the intervening quarters .The bell -master is an interesting man and interested inhis car illon , for both his father and his father ’s fatherwere city carillonneurs of Schiedam . These three Textors have held the position successively since 1791 andthe present one takes proud care of his laboratory . The

stairway up the tower , a Short climb , is spick with wh itewashed walls and suppl ied with a tant rope hand-grip

,

wh ile the tower room is a model of Dutch order andlustrous cleanness . The cy l inder, and indeed al l the machinery , is pol ished l ike the engines of an ocean l iner andthe cyl inder pins , accurately sorted , glisten in their allotted compartments , while H eer Textor himsel f is a veryhearty and obl iging host . Altogether th is is one of themost satisfactory towers to Climb , though the bells cannotbe given as high a rank as those in many other places .

192 APPENDICES

S choonhoven , Z . H olland ; a small carillon , verypretty and light , made from cannon by 0 . van Noort ;

van Rossum , carillonneur .S ittard , L imburg. F . A. H oeffer has written apamphlet on these bells .S neek , Friesland ; S . Maartenstoren ; 26 bells by

Borchard and Eckhof , 1771; J . Lindema ; Tuesday andFriday , 12-12z30.

Tholen , Zeeland ; Stadhuis ; automatic play only.Ti lburg N . B rabant.Utrecht, Utrecht ; Dom ; 42 bells weighingpounds, ch iefly by F . and P . Hemony , 1663 ; J . A . H .

Wagenaar ; Saturday, 11- 12, and in May, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 7-7 :30A .M . ; among the best.

The clavier of this instrument is connected with morebells than any other in the country and the carillonneuris very Skil ful in using them . The tower , 3 38 feet high ,stands apart from the Cathedral , since the collapse ofthe nave in 1674. Stairs of 458 steps lead to the bellmaster’s cab in and from this height a Splendid viewof the surrounding country is obtained . The best placein which to l isten to the bells is the garden behind theStadhu is .

There is a carillon of 23 bells by F. and P . Hemony

in the Claaskerk (Church of S . N icholas or Santa Claus ) .

This plays only by machinery, but has excellent bells .There once was and still may be another carillon by thebrothers H emony in the Jacobskerk.

Veere , Zeeland ; Stadhuis ; 36 bells chiefly by P . and

A . van den Gheyn , 1736.

APPENDICES 193

In the Groote Kerk was once another carillon wh ichbelonged to the church .

Vl is s ingen , Zeeland ; Groote Kerk ; 3 3 bells by Tay

lor, 1914; among the best; one of the three new carillonsof the same Engl ish make , the others being at App ingedam and Eindhoven . This car illon was played for the firsttime on April 30, 1914, Princess Juliana

’s fifth b ir thday ,as a surprise to the people of Flushing. —The mechanismis wound by electricity and the face of the clock is

‘

thuslighted at night . The old tower of the Great Church ,burned September 5 , 1911, contained 3 5 bells by P . vanden Gheyn, 1770.

Weesp , N . H olland ; 29 bells by P . Hemony , 1676 ;

J. W. Bovenkerk plays on royal b irthdays , 8-9 A .M .

Ys s elmonde , Z . H olland ; R . G . Crevecoeur , carillonneur ; Wednesday , 11- 12.

Zalt Bommel , Gelderland ; S . Maartenskerk ; 33 (bells by F . H emony , 1663 Tuesday , 11- 12.

Zier ikzee , Zeeland ; Stadhuis ; 14 bells by P . van denGheyn , 1550- 5 S . Klimmerboorn ; Thursday , 12- 1. Thisis the oldest and smallest carillon still played by a carillonneur.

Zutfen , Gelderland Wynhuis ; 32 bells , 26 by F. andP . Hemony , 1645 Thursday , - l0z45 . Zutfen , l ikeits neighbours , Arnheim and Nimeguen , has recently consulted Mr . Denyn about improving the mechanism of itscarillon . These are the earliest bells of the H emonys .

Zwol le , Overyssel . F . A . H oefer has written apamphlet on the bells of Zwolle .

APPENDIX B

LIST OF CARILLONS IN BELGIUM

OST of the remarks at the head of

the p receding lis t apply quite as

much to the fol lowing . Out of re

gard to the fact that cari l lons are a Nether

landish insti tution,an exp ress ion of art pecul

i ar to the Low Country b ranch of the Teutonic

race,I have arranged these B elgian towns

alphabetical ly according to thei r names in the

Flemish rather than the French language .

S ince the latte r,however

,i s frequently more

famili ar to the foreigner,and is the ofli cial

l anguage of B elgium,and in some form the

popular l anguage of nearly hal f the people,

the French name also i s given whenever i t i s

different . These two names in each case seem

a suffi cient identification without any mention

of the p rovince . Otherwise the arrangement

of information is the same as in the p reced

ing l is t .

19 6 APPENDICES

wh ich strikingly differentiates the Kingdom

of B elgium from the Kingdom of the Nether

lands . But i t must be remembered that the

cari llons,whether in Protestant or Roman

Cathol ic churches,are always municipal

,not

ecclesi astic,p roperty .

Aalst , Alost ; belfry ; 38 bells , some by Joris Dumery

and some by F. van Aerschodt ; K . de Mette , carillonneur.

Antoing, small carillon ; automatic play only .

Antwerpen , Anvers cathedral , 47 bells , 36 by F.

and P . H emouy, 1655 -8, 3 by Joris Dumery , 1767, the

7 smallest by F. van Aerschodt, 1904, and one , the “bourdon ,” or heaviest bell, bearing a rhymed inscription showing it was founded by Jan and Willem Hoerken in 1459Gustaaf B rees ; Friday, -12z30, and during the

summer , Monday and Thursday evenings , 9-10; amongthe best, ranking almost as h igh as Bruges and Mechlin .Of these evening concerts about half are given by Mr.B rees and the remainder by bell-masters of other Belgian towns . An attractive illustrated booklet , giving theprogrammes for the whole series, is publ ished each springby the City Information Bureau , Meir 60.

The cathedral tower , wh ich Napoleon likened to Mechl in lace , contains also 26 bells ordered by ecclesiasticalauthorities from the H emonys in 1654. These bells ,however, are not now used . Another carillon was destroyed when the tower of the S . Andrieskerk fell in

ANTWE RP : THE CATHEDRAL SP IREVi ew at Sunri se, looking over the P lace Verte

PHOTOGRAPH BY H . L. P . RICE

198 APPENDICES

grammes of these are publ ished in a pamphlet , Ind icateur- B ruges ,

” while those of the regular concerts appear inlocal newspapers . During the evening concerts the circulation of vehicles in the Groote Markt and in neighbouring streets is forbidden . The mechanism has justbeen put in perfect order and the bells are very fine .Further details are given in Chapter IV of th is book andin Gaillard , “Le carillon de B ruges . ”

B rus s el , B ruxelles . In 1541 there were 9 carillons,but none of these has survived to the present, and B russels now has no carillon .Chimay ; small carillon ; automatic play only.Courtrai—s ee Kortryk.

Dendermonde, Termonde ; Stadhuis ; 40 bells by A.

van den Gheyn and others ; E . Loret ; Sunday 9Monday, - 12. "Reported destroyed ,Dies t ; S . Sulp ICIuskerk ; 37 bells , chiefly by P . H emony,

1671; F . de Roy ; Wednesday, 11- 12.

Diksmu ide or D ixmude ; S . N iklaaskerk ; 32 bells inpoor condition ; E . Vermeersch ; Sunday and Monday,

- 12.

Dinant ; small carillon ; automatic play only.Doorny k , Tournai ; belfry ; 42 bells by Waghevens

and others ; Roger ; played only par ordre de l ’hOtel deville” ; among the best.

Also S . B rice ; 27 bells ; never played . There were atone time 11 carillons in this town . See Desmonts’ “LesCloches de Tournai .”

Ed ingen or Einghen ,Enghien ; 3 1 bells by J . van den

Gheyn and G . Dumery ; automatic play only .

APPENDICES 199

Gent , Gand ; B elfort or belf ry ; 52 bells , 38 by P .

Hemony , most of the rest recent— 9 by O . M ichauxand the 6 or 7 highest quite useless—details in Appendix D ; Gustaaf B rees of Antwerp ; Friday, 12- 1, and

Sunday , also from June to September inelusive, Saturday evening, 8-9 ; among the best. Themechanism has been recently restored by Désiré Somersof Mechlin , and the carillon is now in excellent repairA booklet containing programmes of the evening concertsis usually publ ished . Further information

-

about Ghentappears in Chapter I I I of this book .There is another extant car illon of 27 bells by P .

H emony , 1664 in the tower of the Universi ty L ibrary ( formerly Baudeloo Abbey ) .

Hal , H alle ; Notre Dame ; 28 bells in disrepair .Har lebeke ; old tower of S . Salvatorkerk ; 32 bellsnow being put in order .Has s elt ; S . Quintynkerk ; 42 bells by A . B ernard andvan den Gheyn ; A . H amoir ; Tuesday and Friday, 11

Herenthals ; Stadhuis ; 3 5 bells by A . L . J . van Aerschodt.

Hoei , Huy ; Notre Dame ; 38 bells by A . van denGheyn and others ; keyboard play only ( and rarely ) .

Also HOtel de ville ; 3 8 bells by A . van den Gheyn ;automatic play only .

Is eghem ; St . H ilon ; 34 bells by van den Gheyn , vanAerschodt , and others .Kortry k , Courtrai ; S. Maartenskerk ; 47 bells by S .

van Aerschodt ; A . Vermeulen ; Sunday and Monday,

200 APPENDICES

- 12z30, and Monday evening if fair ; among the

best.

Léau —see Zout-Leeuw.

Leuven , Louvain ; S. Geertruikerk ; 46 bells , 38 byA . van den Gheyn and 8 by van Aerschodt ; J . van dePlas ; played only on holidays ; among the best, beingremarkable for justness of tone and accord .Also S . Pieterskerk ; 40 bells by J . A . de Grave andN . Noorden ; van de Plas , senior ; Sunday , 12- 12z30.

among the best. These bells hung until 1810 in thenearby Park Abbey, which was suppressed during theFrench Revolution , but has S ince ( 1836 ) been revived .Besides i ts bells, this town has the distinction of beinga place where carillons are founded ; the van Aerschodtfoundry

,where bells for many B elgian and some foreign

towns have been cast, and the foundry of Omer M ichauxare both here ."These carillons were destroyed by the Germans onAugust 26 ,Liege—see Luik .Lier , Lierre ; S . Gommaruskerk ; 40 bells , 36 by A .

Julien , 1725 and 4by A . van den Gheyn , 1755Lu ik , Liege ; cathedral ; 40 bells .Also Palais des Princes Evéques ; about to be refitted .Meche len , Mal ines ; S . Romboutstoren ( cathedral )

45 bells weighing 36 tons— details in Appendix D ; JosefDenyn Saturday, 11 Sunday , 11- 12, and Monday,

- 12, except in June , August, and September . Inthese three months , the Monday concerts are from 8 to 9in the evening and during them all traffic is stopped in

202 APPENDICES

S teenockerzeel ; church ; 41 bells by J . Tordeur andA . van den Gheyn not in use .Termonde—see Dendermonde .Thielt ; Stadhuis ; Jacob Dumery ; J . de Lodder ; Sunday and Thursday , - 12; recently refitted by Denyn .

Thienen , Tirlemont S . Germain ; 3 5 bells by N . Wi tlockx, 1723 recently restored .Thorhout , Thourout ; church ; J . Dumery ; Sundayand Wednesday, - 12z30; keyboard play only.Tir lemont—see Thienen .Tongeren , Tongres ; Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk ; beingrestored .Tournai—s ee Doornyk .Turnhout ; S . Pieterskerk ; 3 5 bells by A . van den

Gheyn E . C. Verrees ; Sunday and Saturday, - 12.

Verviers ; Notre Dame aux Récollets ; 30 bells by F.

van Aerschodt.Wy ngene ( near Thielt ) ; 33 bells by S . van Aer

schodt.

Yperen or Ieperen, Ypres ; Halletoren or belfry44 bells by F . van Aerschodt, founded under thesupervision of Denyn Noel Igodt ; Sunday, 11-11:30, andSaturday, -12, and occasional evening concerts ;among the best. The bells in the lantern that are seenfrom the street are of an old set no longer used .Zout Leeuw , Le

'au ; S . Leonardskerk ; 30 bells , someby S. van Aerschodt.

M any B elgian caril lons,including all those

belonging to abbeys,were melted into cannon

APPENDICES 203

during the French Revolutionary period . Fol

lowing is a partial l ist of those that disap

peared then and at other times

Afflighem ( abbey ) , Antwerpen ( S . M ichael, S . Jacob ,S . Andries ) , Ath ( S . Juliaan ) , Aulne ( abbey ) , Averbode ( abbey ) , B ergen (Val des Ecol iers , St . Germain ,Ste . El isabeth , St . N icolas en H avre) , Brugge ( seminary ) , Brussel ( S . N iklaas , B roodhuis , St. Jaques surCaudenberg ) , Cambron ( abbey ) , Doornyk ( cathedral ,Atheneum , St. Jacques , St . Jean Baptiste, Ste . MarieMadeleine , Ste . M arguerite , St . Martin , St. N icaiseSt. P iat , St. Quentin ( seminary ) , Eename ( abbey ) ,Geeraardsbergen ( or Grammont ) , Gent ( S . Baaf, S .Jacob , S . M ichael, Carthusian convent ) , Grimberghe

( abbey ) , Kortryk (S. Maarten ) , Lier , Luik , Mechelen

(Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk) , Meenen ( or Menin ) , Namen (Porte Horegoule, St . Jacques , belfry ) , N inove( abbey ) , Nyvel ( or N ivelles ) , Oostende , Oudenburg,Poperinghe , Postel ( abbey ) , Veurne (or Furnes ) , Watou ,Zinik ( or Soignies ) .

APPENDIX C

LIST OF CARILLONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

HE reader,being well aware that

cari llons are peculi ar to the Low

Countries,must now be introduced

to those in other parts of’

the world . There

are about 40 in France , 20 in Germany, and

20 in o ther countries . Yet these figures only

confirm the assertion that cari l lons are Neth

erlandish. In France,most of them are in the

departments of Nord and Pas de Calais,next

to Flemish Belgium and sometimes called “l a

Flandre frangaise,” for in this district the

population is Netherlandish in race and even

in language . In Germany,too

,many of the

cari l lons are near the Dutch and B elgian

border and are due to N etherlandish influ

ence . And in more distant parts o f the world,

we can frequently detect i t.

The Spanish cari llons came from the Span204

206 APPENDICE S

Annoeul lin (Nord ) . Armenti eres , Armentiers

(Nord ) . Arras , Atrecht (Pas de Calais ) . As cq(Nord ) . Aves nes (Nord ) . B ai l leu l (Nord ) , 3 1bells . B ergues , Sint-Winoks-Bergen (Nord ) . Bou

chain (Nord ) ; 36 bells . B ourbourg (Nord ) ; 37bells . B ug los e (Landes ) . Calais , Kales (Pas deCalais ) . Cambrai , Kameryk (Nord ) . Cas s e l (Nord ) .Le Cateau (Nord ) . Chalons -s ur =Marne (Marne ) .

Douai (Nord ) ; belfry ; 39 bells . Dunkerque , Duinkerken (Nord ) ; belfry ; 38 bells by van den Gheyn .Es quelbecq , Ekelsbeke (Nord ) . Es taires (Nord ) .

Falais e (Calvados ) . Gondecourt (Nord ) . Hes d in

(Pas de Calais ) M . Waghevens . Li l le , Ryssel (Nord )S . Etienne ; 19 bells , 1565 . Merv i l le , Merghem (Nord ) .Par is ( Seine ) ; S . Germain l

’

Auxerrois . Perp ignan

(Pyrenees orientales ) . Roubaix , Roodebeke or Robaais(Nord ) . S aint Amand (Nord ) ; 3 8 bells . S aint

Omer , Sint Omaars (Pas de Calais ) . Saint Quentin

(Aisne ) . S ecl in (Nord ) . Valenc iennes ( i’

) (Nord ) .

GERMANY

Aachen , Rheinland , Preussen ; Munster . B remen ,

Bremen . B er-l in , B randenburg, Preussen ; Parochialkirche ; 3 7 bells . Danz ig, Westpreussen , Preussen ;Rathaus . A carillon of 37 bells by J . N . Derk of H oorn ,H olland , 1738, which hung in the Katharinenkirche wasdestroyed by fire in 1911. Darms tadt , H esse-Darmstadt ; Schlosz ; 37 bells by P. H emony , 1671.

Dii ren , Rheinland , Preussen ; Annakirche. Freiburg ,B aden ; Rathaus . Gen shagen , Brandenburg , Preussen,

APPENDICES 207

J . A. de Grave , 1717. Hamburg, H amburg ; N ikolaikirche . Al so Petrikirche . One of these consists of 32bell s by van Aerschodt, while the other is by F . H emony ,

1662-4. KOIn , Rheinland , Preussen ; Rathaus ; 3 8 ( l’)bells

,recently installed .

'

The carillonneur, Schéifer , playsdaily, 12- 12z30. Liibeck , Liibeck. Main z , H esseDarmstadt ; small ; F . H emony , 1662 Malmedy ,

Rheinl and , Preussen ; 3 5 bells by J . Legros , 1786 . Thiscarillon ( in a Walloon distr ict only a few miles from the

Belgian border ) was restored in 1914 by Denyn .

M ii nchen , Oberbayern , B ayern ; Rathaus ; modern andpoor ; automatic play daily at 11; no keyboard . Pots

dam, Brandenburg, Preussen ; Garnisonskirche .

GREAT BRITAIN

Aberdeen , Aberdeenshire , Scotland ; S . N icholas ;36 bells by van Aerschodt, 1890. The heaviest weighs

pounds .Bos ton , Lincolnsh ire , England . The 36 bells of th iscarillon were sold in order to increase the ring .B ournvi lle , Worcestershire , England ; 22 bells ; re

cently erected under the supervision of Mr . W . W.

Starmer . Bournville is the model village founded byGeorge Cadbury , j ust outside of B irmingham .

Cattis tock , Dorsetsh ire , England ; S . Peter and S .Paul ; 3 5 bells by van Aerschodt , 1882-99 . The heaviestweighs pounds . Mr . Denyn plays th is carillon thelast Thursday of each July . Automatic play is every hourfrom 8 A .M . to 9 RM .

Eaton Hal l , Cheshire , England ; 28 bells by van

208 APPENDICES

Aerschodt. The heavies t weighs pounds . This isthe seat of the Duke of Westminster.Loughborough, Leicestershire , England ; tower ofJohn Taylor and Company

’s bell-foundry ; 40 bells byTaylor . These are rather small bells of very perfectpitch . I t is the only carillon in the world tuned toequal temperament and the very accurate tuning of thesmall bells is a veritable triumph ,” says the M us ical

Times .

ITALY

Roma; S . Paul ’s (American Episcopal Church ) ; 23bells by van Aerschodt ; pitch of bells poor and mechanism in disrepair ; no clockwork.

LUXEMBURG

Luxemburg ; Liebfrauenkirche .

PORTUGAL

Mafra ; convent , formerly palace Chapel two carillonsof 48 bells each by N . La Vache of Antwerp , 1730.

RUS S IA

Riga; 28 bells by C . Fremy , 1694. S t. Petersburg ;

38 bells by J . N . Derk, 175 7.

S PAIN

Aran juez . El Es cor ial ; 3 1 bells by M . de H aze,1676 . Also 59 bells , “of which 32 formed a harmonyl ike that of an organ and could be played by means ofa clavier,

” were destroyed by fire in 1821. About 1692

APPENDIX D

THE 45 BELLS OF THE MECHLIN CARILLON

(As given by Dr. G . van Doorslaer , 1896 )

FIRST OCTAVEPITCH NAME WT. IN KG.

B12 Salvator 8884

C Charles 6000

D Rombaut 423 5

E 3000

F Madeleine 2000

F 11 Libert 1749

G 15 5 5

G 1? (out oftune) 1201

SECOND

6 55

THIRD OCTAVEA to G complete 12bells P. Hemouy

FOURTH OCTAVEA to A complete 13 bells P. Hemony

Total estimated weight (45 bells ) kilograms .

210

FOUNDERL . and S . van A erschodt

M . de Haze

S . van A erschodt

S . Waghevens

M . de HazeA . van den GheynA . van den GheynA . L . J. van A erschodt

OCTAVEJ. Dumery

A . Stey laert

J. Waghevens

P. H emony

H . Waghevens

P. Hemony

A . van den GheynP. Hemouy

P. Hemony

P. Hemony

A . van den GheynP. H emouy

APPENDICES 211

The above l is t does not exactly agree with

the l as t two sentences of this description in

the Mechlin Concert Pamphlet fo r 19 14:

The b iggest bell , ‘Salvator , ’ weigh ing nearly 9 tons ,is the largest bass bell in any caril lon . The bells castby Simon , Joris , and H endrik Waghevens are our mostancient ones . There are besides , 28 belIS

'

east by the greatbell- founders F . and P. H emony . The others were castby M . de H aze , A . van den Gheyn , Dumery , Steylaert,

M ichiels , and the family van Aerschodt . ”

The Denyn festival bel l by F . van Aer

schodt,19 12, was sub sti tuted for one o f the

higher bel ls which was unsati s facto ry .

THE 52 BELLS OF THE GHENT CARILLON .

(As given by “Gent XXe Eeuw

FIRST OCTAVEDIAM . IN DIAM . IN

212 APPENDICES

OCTAVE

PITCHD 14E

FF 11GG 14

FOURTH OCTAVE27 D It26 E

26 F25 F II25 G25 G

FIFTH OCTAVE9 24 B 8

9 24 C 8

Total weight ( 52bells) , kilograms .

LIST OF THE 11 BELLS IN THE EXETERCATHEDRAL PEAL

(As given by John Taylor and Company , Loughborough )

WEIGHT IN DIAMETER INLBS . FT. AND IN.

7252 6

4094 s 3

3 361 4 942804 4 6

1919 3 11

1804 3 8

113 3 3 4

1027 3 3

850 3

885 2 10

722 2 8

Total (11 bells)Note the G is an extra half-tone not used in ringing changes .

APPENDIX E

COMPETITION OF CARILLONNEURSMECHLIN

August 21 and 22, 1910.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT

AT THE AWARDING OF THE PRIZES

The Jury of the competition of carillonneurs has notedwith pleasure and deep satisfaction the general abil itydisplayed in th is competition ; many carillonneurs indeedhave shown that they possess all the qual ities of taste andskill that are needed to make them excellent carillonmeurs . At all events , the happy days of yesterday andtoday have proved that in the South and North Netherlands there exists a highly interesting form of musicalart , which is to be found nowhere else. Though thisart may not flourish everywhere in our lowlands to theextent we wish , yet we have the right to expect that thisvery competition will furnish the incentive that will leadto the perfection both of carillons and of carillonneurs ,for as the Jury concluded , the qual ities of the player andof his instrument mutually influence each other . Let ushope therefore that everywhere the publ ic authorities willbe moved by th is competition to take increasing care of

214

APPENDICES 215

their carillons , so eminently fitted to cultivate the populartaste . We feel certain that then within a short timethe talent of many carillonneurs will reach i ts full development and that an even larger number of artists willSpring up than we just had the pleasure of hearing.May the praise as well as the criticism Spur on all toprofit by the conscientious and carefully explained decisionsof the Jury.To the prize-winners , the Jury says that they havemore than merited their reward and it congratulatesthem heartily . To all i t expresses its sincere thanks andb ids them : Au revoir "

REPORT OF THE JURY

The Jury appointed to j udge the competing carillonneurs deem it useful to make known the principles onwh ich their verdict is based and to point out briefly theprincipal features noticed in the competition . They bel ieve that many carillonneurs will find in these statements helpful suggestions for future competitions and forperfecting themselves in their music and that the ruleslaid down may thus aid in raising our beloved carillonart to a higher level .

INSTRUMENT AND CHOICE OF MUSIC

While we cannot but admire the ingenious construction of a carillon , we real ise on the other hand all thedifli culties that must be overcome in order to produce agood instrument . Owing to these difliculties one caril

216 APPENDICES

lon is better than another and there is probably nonethat is absolutely correct and in perfect accord . I t is thetask of the carillonneur to make up for the shortcomingsand to hide the defects of his instrument, and therefore ,first of all , he must examine the carillon on which heW ishes to play and test the bells , in order to use , so faras may be , only those which will not disturb the chordsand harmonies . H e will use the purest bells by preference and play h is melodies in those keys which will Showhis instrument to the best advantage and which will produce the finest poss ible effect. H e must try to arrangehis entire manner of play ing in such a way that , so faras possible , the best parts of h is instrument shall dominate even in the modulating motives . In accordance withthis rule, compositions having an often changing key,such as portions of “Tannhéiuser byWagner , “Friihlingsl ied” by Mendelssohn , and many others l ike them , shouldbe rej ected as being wholly unsuitable for the carillon .The carillon is not a pianoforte , neither is it a band oran orchestra , and therefore pieces written for such playing will have to be in most cases altered and nearlyalways simpl ified .At the competition we heard a performance of theBeiaardlied

”

(“Car illon Song”) and the

“Souvenirs de

la Rubens-Cantate ,” by P. B enoit,in which use was

made of those constantly swelling basses which are , nodoubt, very effective in orchestral music , but which onthe carillon make the play ing heavy and leaden , smotherthe melody and destroy all beauty . How different wouldhave been the effect i f this exquisite “Beiaardlied” had

218 APPENDICES

been rendered S imply and with the required expression ,with a few notes for accompaniment . B ells primarilyask for melody and many carillonneurs did not bear thisin mind .Through misconception on the part of the players ofthe place which the carillon must hold as a musical instrument, the selection of the pieces was not always allthat could be desired . For instance , we found one carillonneur played the “M arche Solennelle” by Mailly. Thispiece was written for the organ and to do it full j usticeit requires a number of organ- stops which of course thecarillon has not . The bells have their own peculiar character and so the melody of the trio in this march , writtenwith organ bass accompaniment , was smothered whenplayed on a carillon .The compass of the keyboard , too , must be taken intoaccount . In the same march , for instance , i t is impossible to find room for the second motive on the keyboardof the carillon . This is a reason why this piece shouldnot be selected , for should one absolutely desire to playit,he has personally to make variations , which in a competition is not acceptable . In the competition we are reviewing th is p iece was played by one of the most skilledcompetitors and yet notwithstanding his skill , the piecewas badly maimed . Indeed it could not have been otherwise . But what is a j ury to do , when on the other handa piece is played of perhaps less general value but betteradapted to the bells , and played perfectly , with expressionand rhythm , and not requiring intricate tricks which trulyrob i t of its Character ?

APPENDICES 219

In a carillon competition , perhaps more than in anyother

,the selection of the piece by the competitor is of

the greatest importance , for the reason that the purposeof such a competition is to promote the art, the rapidlygrowing art of carillon playing. Therefore , i t will notdo for the competitor to present only the pieces that provehis skill ; he should also choose such pieces as will helpto make the art of carillon play ing more -

a ppreciated .Manual skill i s certainly an important element , but theartistic interpretation is the greatest, the best, the mostnecessary feature .The selection of the pieces is of even greater importance as from another point of view the j ury has theright to suppose that the competitor will thereby indicate his natural talent , his power , and h is own concep

tion of the art . P ieces of h is own Choice therefore aremore advantageous to the competitor , and it is surprisingthat some made their selections with so l ittle d iscrimination . The Jury greatly regrets that so l ittl e use wasmade of our great stock of Flemish anthems , old andnew . These themes specially are much better suited forthe carillon than portions of the “

Cavalleria Rusticana ,”

“M ignon ,” “Tannhéiuser,

” etc .

OBLIGATORY PIECES

In a competition the p ieces designated by the j ury areof still greater importance than the pieces of the competitor

’

s selection . These latter indicate his taste andthe height at which he rates his own Skill . The obl igatory piece however allows a much more correct Opinion

220 APPENDICES

to be formed of the capacity of the carillonneur,of the

quality of his performance and of his technical skil l(virtuosity ) , for here he no longer can Show offhis own .

much practiced pieces , but has to conquer within a l imited time the same difliculties that h is fellow competitorshave to meet .The higher rank is therefore awarded to him who givesthe best performance of the obligatory pieces , and who atthe same time makes no unpardonable faults in the musicand performance of the pieces of his own selection .The first day “

H et Lied der Vlamingen”

(“The Song

of the Flemings by P . B enoit was the test number.The competitors received this song with piano accom

paniment only. I t was Specially stated in the competition rules that the accompaniment could be altered aslong as it did not change the pecul iar character of thepiece . This was a very precious hint , which however ,many did not follow. Most of the competitors have letthemselves be deceived by the accompaniment , and onlyone (Mr . Roll iers ) was able to exhib i t a personal interp retation of the accompaniment, which , independent ofthe melody , made the rhythm much more powerful .The “Andante Cantab ile ,” the test piece for the competition ofhonour , was well played by nearly all the competitors . H owever , according to the rules of the competition , this piece had to be played exactly as it was written and all indications for retarding and accelerating thetime had to be strictly followed Not all the performerskept this in view. Wi th the POCO animato the various competitors were allowed to Choose from three ac

222 APPENDICES

Nuits and Myn Vryer is een Kerelken My Loveris a Fellow”) were exquisitely played and with great sentiment. The choice of these pieces was certainly modest,but the performance of these Simple songs with exceedingbeauty, showed how wise a Choice was made .TH IRD AWARD : Mr . Fernand Redouté , municipal caril

lonneur of Mons , has a very firm stroke on the keyboard . The obligatory piece was well played ; but he didnot take notice of the rest after every organpoint. Tagl iafico

’

s“Romance” was not played in the proper time

and was given without the contrasts which make it melodious . The fantazia of “Tannhéiuser” ( a bad selectionas stated above ) was played with great skill . Generallyhis performance was marked by proper sentiment .FOURTH AWARD : Mr . K . de Mette , municipal caril

lonneur at Aalst FIFTH AWARD : Mr . A .

Schynkel , municipal carillonneur at Oudenaardeand SIXTH AWARD : Mr . Em. Verrees, carillonneur ofTurnhout

9k

COMPETITION OF HONOUR

PRIZE OF TH E KING : Mr . A . Rolliers , municipalcarillonneur of S . N iklaas . All the pieces played by th isgentleman bore the stamp of correctness , seriousness , andtrue sentiment The beautiful fantasia of “Les Clochesde Corneville , and “The Song of the Blacksmith” werefaultless and exquisite . In the “Andante Cantab ile” hesucceeded very well , and the “Poco animato” was excellently performed . He had the prudence to select the

APPENDICES 223

most s imple accompaniment and the only criticism thatwe can make is that the retard of the variation was playedsomewhat quickly . H is delicacy , his taste , h is correctness

, the beautiful and pure interpretation of all h ispieces

,gave him the King’s award by a unanimous vote .

PRIZ E OF TH E MECH LIN ATTRACTION s : Mr . J . Redouté

,municipal carillonneur of Mons , performed the

“Andante Cantab ile” somewhat slowly—a but with muchsentiment, though the retards were a l ittle premature.

“Les Pécheurs de Perles” by B izet , was perf ectly performed and with sincere sentiment . I t was a pity thathe missed an important note at the conclud ing cht omatic scale . “La Voix des Chénes” demands a morel ively performance and th is competitor Should have triedto put more contrasts in it , which would have improvedthe whole. Mr . Redouté Should specially practice classicexercises in order to develop more technical skill . I f hedoes th is, the Walloon country will have in h im a verycompetent carillonneur.

as 4:

COMPETITORS FROM HOLLAND

In th is report , we have purposely left the Dutchcompetitors until the last as we want to devote a separate d ivision to them .

These competitors have a quite d ifferent style of interpretation . The influence of the ever developing artof carillon playing in Flanders has had no effect onthem . In H olland the use of springs beh ind the clappers is unknown. This mechanical deficiency makes it

224 APPENDICES

imposs ible for a carillonneur to produce a satisfactorysustained tone . We hOpe that this lack will be remediedin the Dutch carillons in the near future . Messrs . vanZuylen of Gouda and de Lange of Rotterdam distinguished themselves particularly, and Messrs . de Vries ,Wagenaar , Mens , and D iedrich ( the latter

’s performance may be looked upon as very deserving, taking intoaccount his advanced age ) , fought their battle admirably, especially i f one considers the fact that they had veryl ittle practice on the Mechl in keyboard .One must particularly admire their Spiri t as , notwithstanding they were conscious that their fight was a forlorn hope , they held on and did their part to make thecompetition a success . Their experience here may give tothem and their principals an important suggestion forimprovement in the equipment of their carillons . Theway which they have to go , now l ies wide open for them .

We hope that they will take that way with all the courage they have shown at Mechlin for the greater glory ofcarillon playing, and in order that this may truly becomean art in the greater Netherlands .

JOS . DENYN , Municipal Carillonneur of Mechl in .W. W. STARMER, Member of the Royal Academyof Music, London .

G . VAN DOORSLAER, Carillon-historian of Mechl in .J . A . DE ZWAAN, Organ-professor at the Con

servatory at the H ague and Municipal Carillonneur of Delft .

CYR. VERELST, Manager of the Municipal MusicAcademy , Mechl in .

226 APPENDICES

towers , say perhaps in such as will not carry safely apeal in full swing, we could hear an extended carillonof bells to vie with those of the Netherlands

,as at Mech

lin , Bruges , Antwerp , and elsewhere . A scale rangingfrom a glorious F of 7 tons through three or four chromatic octaves up to bells of only a few pounds

,and

played upon by a skilled performer , would delight largenumbers of musical people .”

And M r . E . Denison Taylo r in a letter to

the London M orn ing P ost says“I feel sure that a large Engl ish audience ( as large as

are the Belgian audiences ) would be attracted regularlyto good bell concerts ; and a series of delightful programmes could be drawn up , embracing a wide range ofmusic , from the inventions , fugues , and airs of B ach , tothe best of our old Engl ish folk songs . Moreover , thereis no reason why our modern writers should not penfantas ias , rondos , and even sonatas , to catch the characterof the carillon .”

The following is condensed from Grove’s

D i ctionary of Music and Musicians“The word ‘change , ’ in Change Ringing, has referenceto a change from the ‘usual order , ’ viz . : the diatonicscale , struck from the h ighest to the lowest bell ; but ina sense , th is

‘usual order ’ is also included as one of thechanges . Change Ringing is the continual production of such Changes—without any repetition .

APPENDICES 227

I t is an interesting and engrossing art , wh ich many persons in England have practised as an amusement . f

From three bells six changes are derived ; from four bellstwenty- four changes ; from five bells 120 changes , andso on until from twelve bells ( the largest number everrung in a peal ) changes are pos sible.

”

M r . E . B . Osborn,in the London M orn ing

P os t, July 25 , 19 13 , writes

Change-ringing, of course , is a comparatively moderninvention . I t is true we hear of guilds of bell- ringersat Wes tminster Abbey and other collegiate churches inpre-Reformation days . But these men , who were oftenclerics in minor orders , did not ring changes in the modern fash ion . Indeed , the universal method of hangingbells in those far-offdays effectually prevented them frommaking the almost complete revolution , starting froman inverted position , which causes the clapper to strikethe rim twice at each stroke or pull of the rope , and isthe essential feature of modern change-ringing. Nor isthere a scrap of h istorical evidence to Show that the preReformation guilds had any knowledge of the variousmethods of ringing bells in succession but in a varyingorder wh ich are known to the ringers of to-day. f

Why Change-ringing should be the Englishman’s fa

vourite form of bell music is , I th ink , eas ily explained . I tinvolves much physical exertion , which tries , but need notovertax , as many muscles as are used in rowing, and isunquestionably one of the finest exercises known .

228 APPENDICES

Strictly speaking, change- ringing is not music at all ;though when the voices of the bells used are mellow and

melodious it decorates the passing time with simple,sub

tly-varied sound-patterns , and forms an acceptable obligato to the elemental emotions of an individual or thenation .”

In Great Bri tain and on the continent,out

side of the Low Countries , what bell ringing

Often comes to be is well exemplified by a peti

tion sent in October,19 13 , to the church war

dens ofSt. Matthias Church,Richmond Hill .

The peti tion reads :“We, the undersigned , medical men , professional andbusiness people , lodging-house proprietors , keepers ofnursing homes , and others , being much annoyed by thefrequent and unnecessary ringing of this bell on Sundays and H oly Days , earnestly request that your attention be drawn to the matter. As you are aware , thebell is rung seven times on Sundays and Saints’ days ,commencing as early as seven and eight o ’clock in themorning. As many hard workers reside within nearsound of th is bell their rest is much disturbed , and thefrequent ringing consti tute a serious nuisance . We therefore ask you , gentlemen , kindly to discontinue the tollingat 7 and 8 am. and to restrict at other times the number of strokes to 60, not exceed ing one minute in duration .”

230 APPENDICES

For rightly interpreting B ach ’s works something elseis needed , which is too frequently lost sight of . The impression of grandeur and subl imity must not be impairedby any externalities unpleasing to the eye . I t has becomethe fashion to set up organs in such a way that the playeris visible to the audience. Th is is an msthetic aberrationwithout parallel . Contrasted with the organ , the formof man is far too insignificant . And though the organistplay never so quietly , he nevertheless moves to and frobefore the hearers’ vision , in sorry contrast with themaj esty of the music . Anyth ing more unedify ing can

scarcely be imagined than to‘see’ a Bach fugue played .

“Why should an undisturbed enj oyment of the grandold Master ’s music be reserved for the blind alone ? Inolden times the organist was always hidden behind theRii ckpositiu . And in the modern organ , too , some arrangement should be made for keeping him invis ible .”

And Goethe inWi lhelm M eister (Carlyle’s

translation ) expresses his idea of true music

in these words :“As they were about to go , Natalia stopped and said

‘There is something still which merits your attention .Observe these half- round openings aloft on both sides .H ere the choir can stand concealed while singing ; theseiron ornaments below the cornice serve for fastening-onthe tapestry , wh ich , by order of my uncle , must be hunground at every burial . Music , particularly song, was apleasure he could not l ive without : and it was one of his

APPENDICES 23 1

peculiari ties that he wished the singer not to be in view .

‘In th is respect , ’ he would say,‘they spoil us at the

theatre ; the music there is , as i t were , subservient to theeye ; it accompanies movements , not emotions . In oratorios and concerts , the form of the musician constantlydisturbs us ; true music is intended for the ear alone .

’

a:

The quotations fol lowing are from letters

received from Belgium just as th is book is

completed

Antwerp , August 30, 1914. You can well guess thatcarillon concerts are stopped at Antwerp Since August 3d.

Mr . Denyn played until l ast Monday (August 17th ) atMechl in . There were crowds of our troops in that cityand everybody was glad to hear him playing ‘

B raban

gonne ,’ ‘Valeureux Liégeois , ’ ‘God Save the King, ’ ‘

The

Russian Hymn ,’ ‘The M arseillaise , ’ and ‘

De Vlaamsche

Leeuw’

(‘The Lion of But now we are in

a state of S iege and no kind of festivity is appropriate .”“Bl ankenberge , September 12, 1914. We were bom

barded ( at Mechl in ) first on Tuesday , August 25 th, atA.M . A Shell shattered the wall of our garden

and destroyed the rear of our house . H app ily we werein the cellar in the front . After forty minutes the bombardment ceased and then there was fighting for twohours near the city. On Wednesday afternoon we fledto Antwerp . The carillons of S . Peter’s andS. Gertrude’s at Louvain are gone . The carillon at

232 APPENDICES

M echlin is badly damaged , though S . Rombold’s towerhas withstood the shells wonderfully . The cathedralotherwise is almost destroyed .”

M r. J . Vincent,cari llonneur of Amster

dam,writing of the p robab le destruction o f

the M echl in cari l lon,says in the Hague “Het

Vaderland ,” September 4, 19 14:

Thereby one of the best products of the bell foundersPieter and Franc H emouy is lost . The carill on ofMechl in was one of the finest in B elgium .

f Widelyknown were the concerts which were given by the celebrated Josef Denyn . Only a Short time ago I had theprivilege of attending one of these concerts . Hundredsof earnest l isteners gathered along the quiet canals andstreets of M echl in . f The beautiful tower with i tspicturesque outline , the evening stillness , the square , thesilvery tones of heavenly music , all comb ined to make anindel ible impression upon the mind , and when , at the end ,Denyn played the funeral march by Chopin , I saw manya person wipe away a tear . Unforgetable moments these .And now" Poor people, poor Denyn .

”

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