Carillon Repertory: Early carillon music
Little is known about the music that was manually performed on the carillon prior to the 18th century. We know that it was normally the job of the carillonneur to insert the pins into the large revolving drums which played the carillon bells automatically. This voorslag music was changed several times a year, and the carillonneur often kept a book of music which he had marked with numbers in order to facilitate resetting the pins. This was known as a versteekboek, or "pinning book." It is reasonably safe to assume that the music found in versteek books bears a considerable similarity to the style of live performance, and may have been used for this task as well. The earliest extant example is a collection of hymns and folksongs arranged for the carillon of Brussels by municipal carillonneur Théodore de Sany in 1648. The collection is primarily composed of pieces, such as hymns, sequences and psalms, inspired by Catholic church melodies and organized by the liturgical calendar.
The next extant pinning book is the collection made by Phillip Wyckaert during the period from 1661 to 1693, entitled Den Boeck van den Voorslach van Ghendt Toebehoorrende myn Edele Heeren Schepenen vander Keure (The Book of the Voorslag of Ghent belonging to my Noble Aldermen of the Electorate). It consists of 112 pieces in various styles. Dance pieces include allemandes, courantes, gavottes, pavanes, galliardes, and rigaudons. There are opera excerpts and song variations as well as religious music.
In 1644, Jacob van Eyck published Der Fluyten Lust-hof, Vol Psalmen, Paduanen, Allemanden, Couranten, Balletten, Airs, &c. . . . Dienstigh voor alle Konst-lievers tot de Fluit, Blaes- en allerley Speel- tuigh. (The Flute's Pleasure Garden, Full of Psalms, Pavannes, Allemandes, Courantes, Ballets, Airs, etc. . . . Of use to all art lovers for the flute, woodwinds and all types of musical instruments.) He played these melodies on his carillons as well as on his flute.
Several volumes of music have survived to document the 18th-century carillon playing traditions. Beÿaert 1728 is the earliest extant collection of music arranged specifically for manual performance on a carillon. It consists of 49 songs, often very short, for the season from Christmas through Epiphany, many of which are extracted from Joanne Berckelaers' 1679 collection Cantiones Natalitiæ. The manuscript is preserved in the Antwerp City Archive and was most likely written by Theodorus Everaerts who was the city carillonneur from 1720 until his death in 1739.
A much more significant collection belonged to Everaert's successor, the organist, carillonneur, and violinist Joannes de Gruytters (1709-72). His carillon book consists of 194 pieces, most of which are arrangements of existing works of a secular nature, and nearly half are minuets. Composers represented include Baustetter, Colfs, Corelli, Couperin, De Croes, De Fesch, Fiocco, Handel, Lully, Raÿck, Schepers, Vivaldi, and De Gruytters.
The Leuvens beiaardhandschrift, or Louvain Carillon Manuscript dates from 1755-60. It is comparable with the De Gruytters carillon book in many ways, and some pieces are found in both collections. In addition to much dance music, there are transcriptions of harpsichord works such as François Couperin's Les Bergeries, variations on popular tunes of the period such as Les Folies d'Espagne and Ik zag Cecilia komen, and pieces for special occasions such as festive processions and various guild celebrations.
In contrast to the other carillon collections from this period, the carillon repertory of André Jean Baptiste Bonaventure Dupont includes numerous transcriptions of vocal pieces, such as fashionable French operatic arias. Composers represented include Couperin, Duni, Grétry, Martine, Monsigny, Veras, and Dupont himself. Minuets are also plentiful, as are transcriptions of French harpsichord pieces such as Couperin's Réveil-matin, Les Vendangeuses, and Les bergeries. The pieces were clearly collected for Dupont's own performance, as a basis for improvisation.
The carillon repertory of Johan and Frederik Berghuys of Delft remains, for the most part, in 14 notebooks in that city's archives. Johan was city carillonneur from 1741-1801, and his son Frederik succeeded him, playing through 1835. The music consists of melodies with letters beneath the staff indicating pedal notes or harmony--a sort of musical shorthand.
The most significant 18th-century contributions to the carillon repertory are the eleven preludes composed specifically for the carillon by the Louvain City Carillonneur, Matthias van den Gheyn (1721-85). These carillon preludes represent a milestone in the carillon repertory. Until this time, music composed for the carillon merely mimicked the style of keyboard music, which was the customary source of the transcriptions that had been the staple of the carillon repertory. Van den Gheyn was the first to use the tonal properties of the carillon to their best advantage, incorporating elements of the current musical style.
Little music remains to account for the 19th-century norms of carillon repertory. The most significant contribution is the 1841 collection of twelve Préludes Mélodiques by Joannes Franciscus Volckerick (1815-1897) who was carillonneur of Antwerp from 1834 to 1864. Written in an improvisational character, cadenzas and changes of texture, tempo and meter fill the preludes. Volckerick calls for the full dynamic range from pianissimo to fortissimo.
Of all the bell music written prior to the 20th century, only the preludes of Matthias van den Gheyn and a selected number of pieces from the De Gruytters carillon book have gained a permanent place in the modern carillon repertory. This phenomenon is the result of the combination of two factors: this music represents the highest quality of all the 18th-century carillon repertory as well as the most idiomatic, effective approach to carillon playing. It is only due to the recentness of their discovery that portions of the Louvain manuscript have not yet achieved this distinction.
