What is the history of carillons?
Carillons evolved in the lowlands of Holland, Belgium and northern France. The rich mercantile towns of the lowlands exhibited their status by installing fine carillons in their church towers, and arranging tunes to be played every quarter hour (or more often!) by an automatic mechanism. The town carillonneur played on market days and holidays. It was said that good bells and good schools were the sign of a well run city. The first tuned carillon was cast by the brothers Pieter and Francois Hemony, and installed in Zutphen, The Netherlands, in 1652. The Hemonys produced many fine instruments; their work set a standard to which modern carillons are still compared. By the time of the French Revolution, changing musical tastes and the wars sweeping across Europe put an end to the first “golden age” of the carillon. Although several Flemish and French founders continued to make large sets of bells, the tuning secrets of the Hemonys and their successors were lost. In addition, new “power” m
