Evening star., 1920-03-07
MEcHL|N CONTAINS
FINEST CARLTON
Josef Denyn Will Give Re-
citals on Bells This Sum-
mer in Belgium.
70 the Editor Of The Star:

70 the Editor Of The Star:
Your recent news article referring
70 the carillons of Belgium and their
noble music leads me to believe that
accurate information about carillon
conditions will be welcome to many OF
your readers. The appropriateness of
the carlton as a peace memorial ap-
peals strongly to some of these. and
in the minds of others is the hope OF
travel in Belgium this year.
The finest carillon in the world is
at Mechlin. in st. Rombolds Tower.
This carillon was substantially un-
harmed in the war and is now in per
feet order. Even last summer Josef
Denyn gave several carillon recitals
there. Bruges, Antwerp and Client
have fine carillons and all were unin-
jured.
The carillon in the tower of the
cloth hall. at Ypres. and that in the
spire of st. Peters. at Louvain. both
of which were fine, are broken and
buried under fallen walls. There re-
mains. however. good carillon in st.
mur's bells and those of Alost, Dinant.
Dixmude and Termonde. and those of
Arras. in French Flanders. are also
destroyed.
WIN Give Recitals.
This summer, as in former times.
Josef Denyn will give at Mechlin on
Monday evenings. from to 3 o'clock.
during June. August and September
his wonderful recitals. when thou
sands listen in the twilight, sitting in
the great square. / urge every one
who is interested in carillon music
surely to hear one of these recitals.
Mechlin is but forty minutes by train
from Antwerp or Brussels and trains
are frequent. Havelock Ellis. in I'm
pressions and Comments" writes of
the unforgettable evening when De-
nyn played on the carillon at Mechlin.
and from the canal side 1 looked up at
the little red easement; high in the
huge cathedral tower. where the great
player seemed to be breathing out his
soul. In solitude, among the stars"
During July Denyn always plays at
Cattistock and elsewhere in England.
Hollands carillons. OF course. did not
playing condition than ever before.
Washington. New York. Albany and
other cities in the United States are
definitely considering carlton peace
memorial projects. Some English cities
have already taken action in this direc-
ton. The London Times of January
80. 1929, says:
The town Of Loushboroueh, in Lei
cestershire. has decided. by a plebiscite
vote. to erect AZ. a var memorial a cam
panile to contain q carlton with cla-
vier) Of fofty-nine bells The tower,
OF gothic design. viii be over 120 feet
high. and the largest bell win weigh
three tons, the cost OF tower and bells
being between G10.000 and s12.ooo."
The London Post also editorially com.
0ends this decision.
CarflIsa q FeFty.Tws Bells.
incidentally. IL Is to be noted that st.
Colman's Cathedral at Queenstown re-
cently installed q most perfectly attuned
carlton Of forty-two bells. though not
a. = war memorial. The largest Of these
bells weighs 6. TOO pounds and the small
esf thirteen pounds. The inaugural re-
cttal at Queenstown was given by An
tome Nauwelaerts. city carillonneur of
Bruges.
Frequent inaccuracies have crept into
print about carlton matters, but your
readers may feel that the information
j have given above is Trustworthy. It
comes to M from Josef Denyn him.
sef and from correspondents whom I
came to know Welf during my Systematic
study-the first extended study ever
made-of this fascinating music, in the
several summers just before the great
var. WILLIAM GORHAM RICE.
Albany. N. T.. March 3, 1920.