The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-17

stallation of many more carillons, most of them of large compass and great weight. It is no secret now that New York City will possess within the next twelve months the very largest carillon in the world, consisting of fifty-three bells, the heaviest one exceeding nine tons in weight. This carillon is des~ tined for the Park Avenue Baptist church. Within the next two years three other large instruments will be installed in the middle Atlantic states.
 It may be well to emphasize the dis tinction between chime, or peal of bells, and a carillon. A peal, or chime, consists of from five to fifteen heavy bells, following the notes of the diatonlc scale (the ordinary scale of c on the pianoforte). Upon this peal melodies are played in single notes. A carillOn consists of from twenty.three to fifty three bells, covering from two to four complete chromatic Octaves. Upon this instrument not only the melody, but the most complete harmonic and contra puntaI accompaniment, is played from
  blance to an organ console.
 Levers Correspond To Keys
 The clavier possesses two rows of levers corresponding to the white and black notes of the organ manual and also pedal board for the playing of the lower twenty or twenty-four heavier bells with the feet.
 Travellers in the Low countries recol- lect with pleasure the amending music from the air. Holland alone possesses more than two hundred carillons, most of them being provided with barrel or mechanical drum which enables the ca rillonneur to set tune or tunes which are played by clOckwOrk in some cases as often as every seven and a half min utes. In Flanders the instruments are larger and consequently of greater im- portance, and there the art of the caril- lonneur has reached its highest develop ment.
 Ideal RenditiOns"
 Perhaps the most famous name in this connection is that of Joset Denyn of Malines, whose recitals from the great. tower of St. RombOld's attract Monday evenings in the summer crowds of the same dimensions as our world series baseball games, special trains being run from towns near and far, all traffic stopped in the nearby streets, so that from fifty thousand to sixty thousand people enjoy the music undisturbed and with every mark of respect for the oc- casion, emphasizing the devotion of the people to a great national art. The same conditions are found at Antwerp, where Anton Brees, the most famous pupil of Denyn and now himself the most dis tinguished Flemish player, is carillon- ncur.
 Anton Brees has just left the United States after giving a series of recitals on the various Taylor carillons. He ing, but the sensation his playing created was really due to his uusician- ship. Brees, tn lcarillonneur, is first and foremost an artist, using the carillon as a means of musical expression, just as conductor uses fine orchestra or virtuoso organist an organ. Some of his performances were so profoundly moving it would scarcely be an ex- aggeration to say that certain pieces were being heard ideally for the first time. t-.
 Persons who have hitherto associated the idea of bells with the simplest enunciation of a melody on ponderous and not always well-tuned bells are | quite unable to credit the complete and ! overwhelmingly rich musical product , of fine carillon in the hands of a com petent player. Anton Brees, the first great carillonneur to visit the United States, gave complete revelation of bis art and wherever he played he left behind him thousands of delighted peo- pie, besides establishing a standard of performances of the utmost value to the group, as yet small but very enthusias- tic, of American students.
 William Gorham Rice of Albany, through his books "Carillons of Belgium and Holland" and '"The Carillons of Literature" as we'll as by his lecture, entitled Tower Music of the Low Countries" has done more than any other individual to spread the renown of the carillon and it's music. His works not only possess the distinction of con taining the only complete and exact information on the subject accessible in the English language, but in addition ire charming pieces of literature.