In some older literature the ‘invention’ of the carillon is dedicated to “a fool of Aelst”… It will have probably happened in a different way, but how the carillon – in Flanders in fact – came into existence remains unclear. A few quotations in the archives can help us with a  reconstruction.

At the end of the 15^th century the musical use of bells to indicate the time was  generally widespread. A drum operated a series of small bells which could play a tune before the stroke of the hour or half hour. The “beieren” of the bells was also a widespread phenomenon. By the end of the century there were a few carillonneurs who had drawn attention. In “The excellent chronicle of Flanders” (1531) Anthonis de Roovere wrote about Jan Van Bevere, the carillonneur of Duinkerke (F) in 1478: “ …” Whether Van Beveren ….

In  1478  Anthonis de Roovere wrote about Jan Van Bevere, carillonneur in Duinkerke (F) that “… hij op syne clocken speilde alle maniere van ghestelde liedekins, ende alle hymnen, ende sequencien, Kyrieleyson, ende alle kerckelicke sanghen . Twelcke men daer te voren noeyt ghehoort en hadden, ende was een grote nyeuwicheyt, ter eeren van Gode.” Whether Van Bevere developed a virtuosity chiming the bells or already made use of a keyboard is not clear. Sometime later a certain Eliseus plays all kinds of songs and chorals on the bells in Antwerp (1481) and a year later one started to play with “clocken aldaer doende die seel met stocken”. Did Eliseus use a keyboard to play the bells? This is very difficult to trace.

In Oudenaarde Jan Van Spierre worked at the carillon since the turn of the century. He extended the amount of bells and made an automatic drum. That played  the “Salve Regina” every hour and “Peccatores” every half hour. In 1510 he established a keyboard in the tower to chime. This is the oldest existing clear reference to a keyboard of a carillon.

According to a document the city of Ath installed a keyboard in 1520.

Between 1546 and 1549 the City of Kortrijk paid “den clocludere van twee reysen te commen prouvene de clocken, ende voor de clavieren, de pedalen ende ketenen te leverene”

About the middle of the 16^th century the keyboard of the carillon- with manual part and pedal- was completed. The basic principles of the carillon haven’t changed a lot since then. Jef Denyn (Mechelen, 1862-1941) realized a first important standardization of the keyboard. It took thus more than 400 years before some uniform standard was reached in the distance between the keys, the length of the keys and the connection to the pedal. This was an awfully important realization which improved the exchange of carillonneurs and the organization of concerts very much. The standard keyboard of “Mechelen” was succeeded in 1983 by the North- European standard keyboard that got an antipole with the American standard keyboard. Only last year a proposition for a global standard was approved of by the World Carillon Federation.

Frank Deleu

1478: about Jan van Bevere, bell ringer in Duinkerke: “dey welcke op syne clocken speilde alle maniere van ghestelde liedekins, ende alle hymnen, ende sequencien, Kyrieleyson, ende alle kerckelicke sanghen . Twelcke men daer te voren noeyt ghehoort en hadden, ende was een grote nyeuwicheyt, ter eeren van Gode …” (Anthonis de Roovere in “Die excellente Cronike van Vlaenderen” (1531)      it was not yet clear if van Bevere played the bells automatically by means of a keyboard

1481: Eliseus plays all kinds of songs and chorals in the Saint Michael’s abbey in Antwerp. A year later they began to play with ropes and keys on bells. But here it’s not clear if the bells were played by means of a keyboard…

1510: Jan Van Spierre increases the amount of bells, designs a drum that plays the tune on “Salve Regina” at the hour and “Peccatores” at the half hour. He places a keyboard on a tower to play the bells: earliest clear mentioning of the existence of a keyboard of a carillon.

1520: Keyboard in Ath / 1528: Haarlem / 1530: Hasselt

1546: …. Earliest clear reference of the existence of a pedal

1550: Zierikzee: oldest still existing carillon of Pieter Hemony

Ca 1930: standard keyboard of Jef Dendeyn in Mechelen

1983: North- European standard keyboard

2008: World standard keyboard (proposal Gdansk 2006) accepted in Groningen as alternative to the North-European and American standard keyboard.