One of the many things I didn’t realize about Norwood before
moving here is that we have the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon at Town
Hall. My undergraduate alma mater also has a carillon which I always
enjoyed hearing so I was excited the first time I heard bells here. I don’t remember the specifics but I suspect
I was stopped at the light on Nahatan and Washington and figured the tower was
at one of the churches on the Norwood Common since municipal carillons are not
very common in the United States. Eventually I discovered it’s in Town
Hall and try to listen for at least a few minutes whenever I hear the bells.
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| Town of Norwood Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon |
Our current Town Carillonneur, Lee Leach, is a frequent library
user and at some point the topic of Norwood’s carillon came up in conversation.
I told him how much I enjoy hearing the bells and that I am always
reminded of my college days. The
carillon world is fairly small; there are fewer than a dozen carillons in
Massachusetts so Leach knows the current carillonneur at my alma mater.
Not only does she usually participate in the summer concert series, she
also brings students to play at Norwood a few times a year. Earlier this winter I was lucky enough to go
up in the tower and see/hear some Wellesley College students practicing.
I confess that although I liked hearing the bells on campus I
never went up to see the carillon and knew nothing about how the instrument is
played. Based on the variety of musical styles I heard I knew they
weren’t ringing the bells by pulling ropes but beyond that I’m not sure I gave
it much thought. For me, seeing the
bells and learning how the instrument is played was more interesting than the
view. I’ve since done quite a bit of research on the Walter F. Tilton
Memorial Carillon and carillons in general.
A carillon is defined as a musical instrument with at least 23
bells and is usually in a tower or belfry, anything less than 23 is a chime.
Norwood’s carillon has 50 bells as part of the instrument and a 51st bell,
which is an old fire bell from Norwood.
The carillon is played using a keyboard, or clavier, and pedal board. There are batons rather than keys and the
player hits them with the side of his/her fist rather than the finger. Like an organ, there are many more pedals
than on a piano. The bells are hung from
a frame above the clavier and a series of wires with springs connect to the
bell clappers. Striking a baton or pedal
makes the wires move the clappers and sound is produced. The clavier can be
open to the bell tower or in an enclosed space. Pipe organs are the
instrument most similar to a carillon and organ pipes are the only instrument
heavier than the largest carillon bells.
The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon’s largest, or Bourdon, bell is 71
inches in diameter and weighs 7,840 lbs., it sounds B-flat. Its smallest bell is 6.5 inches in diameter
and weighs 11 lbs. Although there is
music written for the carillon, many players rework other music for the
carillon, including jazz and rock.
Tuned carillons became common during the 1600s in the Benelux
countries in Europe, primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands. They were
more often found in municipal buildings than in churches. In “Singing
bronze: a history of carillon music” Luc Rombouts examines why Belgium
and the Netherlands were centers of early carillon excellence. He argues
that the weaving superiority of the region made it easier for them to create
the wire components of the carillon. Reading that made me realize a
weaving loom was exactly what the network of wires I’d seen running between the
bells and keyboard reminded me of.
The skill of casting tuned bells came close to dying out but by
the turn of the twentieth-century the art had been revived. Before World
War I there were fewer than half a dozen carillons in the United States. After the war, many Americans soldiers who
heard them for the first time while fighting in Belgium and France felt that
carillons were a fitting component of war memorials. Two English
foundries John Taylor and Co., and Gillett & Johnston cornered the American
market.
The first municipal carillon in the United States was in Albany,
New York’s City Hall. It was cast and installed in 1927 by John Taylor
and Co. That company also cast the first
carillon in Massachusetts at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester in
1922. The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon is one of three carillons in
Massachusetts made by the other significant English foundry, Gillett &
Johnston. The Bancroft Memorial Carillon
at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset, dedicated in 1925, was Gillett
and Johnston’s third carillon. Norwood’s Carillon, dedicated November 11,
1928, was their eighteenth and Wellesley College’s Galen L. Stone Tower in 1931
was their 34th. More than 30 carillons
in less than 10 years made for a busy place, fourteen of those were installed
in the United States. “England’s
child: the carillon and the casting of big bells”, by Jill Johnston is
part biography of Cyril F. Johnston, part corporate history of Gillett &
Johnston, and part memoir. Johnston was the child of Cyril F. Johnston
and an American nurse who did not learn her father’s identity until after his
death.
The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon stopped being played in the
late 1970s due to a need for repairs. Once work was begun, it was
discovered the entire tower was seriously damaged by water leaks and repairing
the tower and fixing the leaks took precedence. By late 1982, work on the
tower itself was nearing completion and the bells could be rehung. In early 1983, the expert hired to evaluate
the needed work on the bells discovered that the second and eleventh bells were
missing. With all the work that had been in done the tower there was no
way to know when or how the bells disappeared. John Taylor, Ltd. of England was
the foundry hired to repair and remount the bells. They cast replacements for the two missing
bells.
Norwood’s first carillonneur was Kamiel LeFevere, a Belgian who
came to the United States to play carillons. He was the first to play at
St. Stephen’s in Cohasset and became the carillonneur at Riverside Church in
New York City. LeFevere travelled to Norwood to play until 1934. His inaugural performance at the dedication
of Norwood’s Town Hall and Carillon was broadcast on radio station WEEI.
Roger Walker was the second carillonneur, playing from 1934 until 1972. He lived in Hyde Park, MA so had a much
shorter commute for his performances. Martin
Gilman played after Walker. George
Mahoney, Jr. overlapped with Walker and Gilman. Sally Slade Warner was
the carillonneur at St. Stephen’s in Cohasset and also played in Norwood. She managed the summer concert series for
many years. Our current carillonneur,
Lee Leach heard the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon being played not long
after he moved to Norwood in the 1990s. He decided to learn how to play
the carillon and has been playing here since 1996. Before Leach, George Mahoney, Jr. was the
only Norwood resident to play the Norwood carillon. Leach and Assistant Town Manager Bernie
Cooper oversee the carillon. It is a
volunteer position for Leach who coordinates the summer concert series, holiday
performances and other special events, in addition to playing. There is
now another Norwood resident and a few other regular players who are all
volunteers.
The 2019 Summer Concert Series kicks off on Monday, June 24 at 7
pm and runs weekly until August 12. If Monday nights don’t work for you,
Leach often plays during the farmers’ market on Tuesday afternoons. There
will also be a concert on July 4th at 3 pm.
The tower is generally open for visitors during or after performances
for anyone who is curious to see the instrument. The library will be
hosting “Meet the Carillonneurs” on Thursday, June 27 at 6:30 pm with Lee Leach
and others who play the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon.
If you have third grader this year, s/he may go up in the carillon
on their field trip to Town Hall. For youngsters who haven’t been up to
the carillon, “Rosie meets the
carillon” by Kerri Lu is a story about a little girl whose grandmother
plays.
