The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-10
CariIIOus.

some carillons used( unused for the most part!)
in different parts of England, there are a
good many people who do not know precisely
what is meant by q carillon--a friend of ours
suggested the other day "a sort of a carriage"
But in Belgium, ''the classic land of bells"
the carlton is a national institution. A CARL
Ion consists of an octave or more of bells,
capable Of playing tunes with variations of all
sorts, either by machinery alone, or by pro-
fessional man called q CGr5JJ0Neur, who plays
upon keyboard connected by wires with the
bells. Every town in Belgium has its carlton
and carilloneur.
On feast days the townspeople always OK
pect special performance on the bells, and
the carilloneur is often listened to by an audi
ence of many thousands reaching over seve-
raj miles, the greater number of whom are at
least as critical about the quality of the enter
tainment as our enlightened countrymen who
flock to hear the ballad concerts of the period.
Up in little dark room in the tower sits the
player Sometimes it is the tower of a noble
cathedral, as at Antwerp and lIechlin; some-
times it is an old civic belfry as at Bruges
and Tournay. The keyboard is not made of
ivory, but consists of two rows of perhaps
forty or fifty pegs, corresponding to forty or
fifty bells, tuned in perfect scales. Besides
the pegs there is a row of pedals, generally
connected with the biggest bells. These
are struck with the feet, and correspond to
the pedal-pipes of an organ. The bells
themselves hang high overhead in the
tower. They are of all sizes, and frequently
of all ages. The biggest will often be large
enough for two or three people to stand up
right inside them, whilst the smallest can
almost be lifted by the hand. The oldest
may have been manufactured when Edward
the Third was reigning in England, whilst the
last, with its FURNISHED surface and sharply
cut devices, may have been turned out by
Da1x. hall 1nr rim
Aerschodt but yesterday. In carillon-playing
the bell is not struck by clapper, but always
by q heavy hammer upon the outside. The
hammer is worked by the wire from the key
board, and drops upon the bell just as the
hammer of piano-forte falls upon the wire.
Thus a cathedral tower is changed into a vast
case containing a musical instrument capable
of making music for whole city.
At the appointed time the carilloneur, very
lightly clothed, with his fists carefully pro-
tected with thick leathern gloves and the
sleeves turned up to the elbows, takes his
seat at the keyboard. After smiting few of
the pegs, by way of prelude, he begins the
performance. His fists and feet soon deal
with the colossal instrument after wonder
full fashion. He begins by simple air with
a simple accompaniment, putting down a
deep pedal bell here and there, which re-
sounds through several bars, whilst an air is
being played on the smaller treble bells. At
tentive listeners all over the town are eagerly
waiting for the first variation; and as the
variations succeed each other, the skill of the
performer is more and more severely tried.
No one who has not seen and heard carlton
music would believe the complicated passages
that can be performed on this unwieldy in
strument. The talent and the taste for caril-
Ions is little dying out, even in Belgium; but
in the last century, when music was less easily
obtained by the people, this essentially popular
form this music for the Million was carried to an
extraordinary degree of perfection. The
music of Van den Gheyn is still extant in
manuscript at Louvain. few exquisite
fragments have been printed and published
by the Chevalier van Elewyck, and can be
played upon the piano-forte or organ with
considerable effect. There are, however,
few carilloneurs now living capable of play
ing this music upon the bells. The effect
must indeed have been exceedingly grand;
for, in every sense of the word, this bell
music is good music. 1t resembles the finest
inspirations of Bach and Handel, and is writ
ten in the style of their occasional preludes
for the organ, and suites for the harpsichord.
But Van den Gheyn never loses sight of the
bells, and everything is written with pc
euliar insight into the sound-producing
qualities of the carlton. The extreme re-
sonance of bells is always considered. The
passages are SO constructed as never to run
into discord, whilst the great bells are intro
duced with the same grand and massive effect
which Bach SO often displays in his pedal
passages.
At the close of the performance the caril-
loneur emerges like an engine stoker, covered
with perspiration, and very considerably
exhausted. Indeed, it requires a strong man
to attempt this impressive and violent musi-
cal exercise.
The same bells can be worked very much
more easily by mechanism similar to that of
musical box. This mechanism consists of
q huge tambour, or barrel covered with
spikes, exactly the same in principle as the
barrel of a musical box. This barrel is
wound up, and, in its revolution, is made to
work the wires connected with the bell-ham-
mers, which at other times are worked by a
performer at the keyboard. Such barrel is
affixed to all the more important carillons in
Belgium. The Antwerp and Mechlin caril-
Ions are the best, and upon these the half
quarters, the quarters, the half-hours, and
the hours are played in tunes and variations
of different lengths. When Victor Hugo was
at Mechlip, he could not sleep all through
one summer night, for the incessant playing
of the bells. Had he not been a poet, he
might have been annoyed at this. But in
stead of being angry he chose the better part,
by rising from his couch, and inscribing a
few beautiful lines with diamond ring upon
the window-pane, by the light of the moon.
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