A carillon (/ˈkærɨlÉ'n/, /ˈkærɨljspan>É'n/, or /kəˈrɪljÉ™n/; French: [kaÊijÉ"̃]) is a musical instrument that is typically housed in the bell tower (belfry) of a church or municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A traditional manual carillon is played by striking a keyboard â€" the stick-like keys of which are called batons â€" with the fists, and by pressing the keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer on the bells, or carillonneur/carillonist to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key.
The carillon is the heaviest of all extant musical instruments.
In German, a carillon is also called a Glockenspiel; while the percussion instrument called a "glockenspiel" by English speakers is often called a carillon in French.
History
In medieval times, swinging bells were first used as a way of notifying people of fires, storms, wars, and other events. A ringing of bells from the lowest note to the highest note indicated that an attack had taken place. The use of bells in a musical fashion originated in the 16th century in the Low Countries. The first carillon was in Flanders, where a "fool" performed music on the bells of Oudenaarde Town Hall in 1510 by making use of a baton keyboard. The word "carillon" is from the French quadrillon, meaning four bells. Bell towers were often used to alert the city of the time of day, and just before the strike of the hour bell a few higher tones were struck to gain the attention of the city-folk.
Musical characteristics
Since each separate note is produced by an individual bell, a carillon's musical range is determined by the number of bells it has. Different names are assigned to instruments based on the number of bells they comprise:
- Carillons with between 23 and 27 bells are referred to as two-octave carillons. Players of these instruments often use music arranged specifically for their limited range of notes.
- A concert carillon has a range of at least four octaves (47 bells). This is sometimes referred to as the "standard-sized" carillon.
The Riverside Carillon in New York City has the largest tuned carillon bell in the world, which sounds the C two octaves below middle C on the piano.
Travelling or mobile carillons are not placed in a tower, but can be transported. Some of them can even be played indoorsâ€"in a concert hall or churchâ€"like the mobile carillon of Frank Steijns.
The World Carillon Federation defines a carillon as "A musical instrument composed of tuned bronze bells which are played from a baton keyboard. Only those carillons having at least 23 bells may be taken into consideration."
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) defines a carillon as "a musical instrument consisting of at least two octaves of carillon bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard permitting control of expression through variation of touch. A carillon bell is a cast bronze cup-shaped bell whose partial tones are in such harmonious relationship to each other as to permit many such bells to be sounded together in varied chords with harmonious and concordant effect." The GCNA defines a "traditional carillon" as one played from a carillon mechanical (not electrified) baton keyboard, and a "non-traditional carillon" as a musical instrument with bells, but played by automated mechanical or electro-mechanical means, or from an electrical or electronic keyboard.
The carillonneur or carillonist is the title of the musician who plays the carillon. The carillonneur/carillonist usually sits in a cabin beneath the bells and presses down, with a loosely closed fist, on a series of baton-like keys arranged in the same pattern as a piano keyboard. The batons are almost never played with the fingers as one does a piano, though this is sometimes used as a special carillon playing technique. The keys activate levers and wires that connect directly to the bells' clappers; thus, as with a piano, the carillonneur can vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key. In addition to the manual keys, the heavier bells are also played with a pedal keyboard. These notes can either be played with the hands or the feet.
Poorly tuned bells often give an "out of tune" impression and also can be out of tune with themselves. This is due to the unusual harmonic characteristics of foundry bells, which have strong overtones above and below the fundamental frequency.
There is no standard pitch range for the carillon. In general, a concert carillon will have a minimum of 48 bells. The range of any given instrument usually depends on funds available for the fabrication and installation of the instrument: more money allows more bells to be cast, especially the larger, more costly ones. Older carillons can be transposing instruments, generally transposing upward. Most modern instruments sound at concert pitch. A carillon clavier has both a manual and a pedal keyboard.
Carillon music is typically written on two staves. Notes written in the bass clef are generally played by the feet. Notes written in the treble clef are played with the hands. Pedals range from the lowest note (the bourdon) and may continue up to two and half octaves. In the North American Standard keyboard, all notes can be played on the manual.
Because of the acoustic peculiarities of a carillon bell (the prominence of the minor third, and the lack of damping of sound), music written for other instruments needs to be arranged specifically for the carillon.
The combination of carillon and other instruments, while possible, is generally not a happy marriage. The carillon is generally far too loud to perform with most other concert instruments. The great exceptions to this are some late twentieth- and early twenty-first century compositions involving electronic media and carillon. In these compositions, sound amplification is able to match the extreme dynamic range of the carillon and, in the case of sensitive composers, even the most delicate effects are possible. Brass music is often heard together with a (traveling) carillon.
Varia
Composers for carillon
- John Cage
- John Courter
- George Crumb
- Margriet Ehlen
- Wim Franken
- Mathias van den Gheyn
- Hans Kockelmans
- Giedrius KupreviÄius
- Lowell Liebermann
- Vincent Persichetti
- Frank Percival Price
- Olesya Rostovskaya
- David Sargent
- Roman Turovsky-Savchuk
- Merlijn Twaalfhoven
- Charles Wuorinen
Notable musicians
- Frank DellaPenna â€" United States
- Jef Denyn (1862â€"1941) â€" Belgium
- Jacob van Eyck (1590â€"1657) â€" Netherlands
- Wim Franken (1922â€"2012) â€" Netherlands
- Margo Halsted â€" University of California, Santa Barbara, United States
- Hans Uwe Hielscher (born 1945) â€" Germany
- Geert D'hollander - Born in Belgium, currently in United States at Bok Tower
- Dr. Steve Knight â€" Samford University, United States
- Gerald Martindale - Metropolitan United Church Carillonneur, Toronto, Ontario
- Dr. Andrea McCrady - Dominion Carillonneur of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Tin-Shi Tam â€" Iowa State University, United States
- Olesya Rostovskaya â€" Russia
- Cyrus Rua - United States
- Wendell Westcott (1911â€"2010) â€" Michigan State University, United States
- Trevor Workman - Carillonneur of the Bournville carillon, Birmingham, United Kingdom, since 1965
Instruments by country
Number carillons by selected countries and regions (data September 2006):
Schools
World's first international Carillon school, the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" is in Mechelen, Belgium, where the study of campanology originated. Students from all over the world come to study campanology here. Other carillon schools include the Netherlands Carillon School in Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
In North America, one can study the carillon at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (which is home to two of only twenty-three grand carillons in the world), the University of Florida, the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, Missouri State University, and Berea College in Kentucky, all of which offer complete courses of study. One can also take private lessons at many carillon locations, and there are universities that offer limited credit for carillon performance, such as Clemson University, the University of Kansas, Iowa State University, and Marquette University.
The George Cadbury Carillon School was opened in 2006 and is the only carillon school in the United Kingdom.
Another international carillon school, the Scandinavian Carillon School in Løgumkloster, Denmark, was established in 1979. It serves mainly Scandinavians, but cooperates with other carillon schools at the university level with student exchange.
A number of universities and undergraduate institutions make use of carillons as part of their tradition. Princeton University houses a carillon of 67 bells which can be heard every Sunday afternoon and most Wednesday evenings with performances from Robin Austin, his students, and guest artists. Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, completed its carillon of 48 bells in 2009, ninety years after the first bells were hung in 1919. Middlebury College in Vermont has a 48-bell carillon located in the steeple of the college's Mead Memorial Chapel.
Good illustrations of the tradition includes Sather Tower at UC Berkeley, and the Rockefeller Carillon at the University of Chicago â€" the latter of which is the largest single musical instrument in the world.
See also
- Chime (bell instrument)
- Kirk in the Hills, world's largest carillon, 77 bells
- List of carillons
- Mission Inn: Carrie Jacobs-Bond, "A Perfect Day"
References
Further reading
- Willis, Stephen Charles. Bells through the Ages: from the Percival Price Collection = Les Cloches à travers les siècles: provenant du fonds Percival Price. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1986. 34 p., ill. with b&w photos. N.B.: Prepared on the occasion of an exhibition of the same title, based on the collection of bell and carillon related material and documentation, of former Dominion Carilloneur (of Canadian Parliament, Ottawa), Percival Price, held at the National Library of Canada (as then named), 12 May to 14 Sept. 1986; some copies come with the guide to the taped dubbings of the recordings played as background music to the displays, as technically prepared by Gilles Saint-Laurent and listed by Stephen Charles Willis, both of the library's Music Division; English and French texts respectively divided into upper and lower portions of each page. ISBN 0-662-54295-9
External links
- World Carillon Federation
- British Carillon Society
- Guild of Carillonneurs in North America
- Mobile/traveling Carillon
- Flemish Carillon Guild
- Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn", Mechelen, Belgium
- University of California at Berkeley
- Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs
- University of Kansas World War II Memorial Campanile and Carillon
- Carillon Music Audio Recordings Discography of all recordings known to have existed, by the Carillon Society of Australia
- Peace Tower Carillon, Ottawa, Canada
- The Carillon. A history of the carillon with particular attention to the carillon and carillon music in the times of Johannes Vermeer.
- Images of the Carillon Tower Niagara Falls from the Niagara Historic Digital Collections
- America's only traveling carillon
- Utrechtse Klokkenspel Vereniging (Utrecht Carillon Society)
- Netherlands Carillon School
- Dutch Carillon Society, the Netherlands
- Jo Haazen about the art of carillon
- Rose Marie Seuntiens, NLÂ
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