Carillons, musical instruments of bells in the percussion family, are found throughout Belgium. Several institutions maintain registries on the location and statistics of carillons. Some registries specialize in counting specific types of carillons. For example, the War Memorial and Peace Carillons registry counts instruments which serve as war memorials or were built in the name of promoting world peace (and tracks five in Belgium);[1] the World Carillon Federation counts carillons throughout the country, along with the rest of the world.
Two Belgian carillon associations – the Flemish Carillon Association and the Walloon Carillon Association – count carillons in their respective regions. According to their registries, there are 94 carillons in Belgium: 70 in the Flemish Region, 22 in the Walloon Region, and 2 in the Brussels Capital Region. They are distributed across 77 different cities; several are located within the same city, and two are even within the same building – at St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen. The population has a wide range in total weights, with bourdons spanning between 30 and 8,180 kilograms (66 and 18,034 lb). They also span a wide range of notes, from 21 (which the Flemish association considers a carillon despite failing its definition that requires at least 23[2]) up to 64. Many carillons were constructed over several centuries by several bellfounders; a minority are constructed entirely by a single bellfounder. The majority of carillons are transposing instruments, and often transpose such that the lowest note on the keyboard is B♭ or C.
According to the World Carillon Federation, the carillons in Belgium account for 14 percent of the world's total[3] and is consequently considered one of the "great carillon countries" along with the Netherlands and the United States.[4]
- ^ "World map of peace carillons". War Memorial and Peace Carillons. Archived from the original on 19 December 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Flemish carillon definitionwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Carillons". World Carillon Federation. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ Rombouts, Luc (2014). Singing Bronze: A History of Carillon Music. Translated by Communicationwise. Leuven University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-90-5867-956-7.
... and the three 'great' carillon countries – the Netherlands, the United States and Belgium – are responsible for almost 70% of all carillons worldwide.
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