Prague has new unique indoor carillon
Maria, Jan, Martin, Jindrich, Josef, Frantisek, Dominik, Vaclav and Petr. These might sound like ordinary Czech first names to you but their bearers are rather extraordinary. They were all born in 2003 and you can find them under the roof of a Renaissance tower in the centre of Prague.
Now, Maria, Jan, Martin, Jindrich and the rest of the tower-dwellers I spoke of at the beginning are not bats, as you might have thought, but bells. Ten bells, all tuned to different tones, the biggest of them weighing fifty-nine kilograms and the smallest only seven, have been hung right under the roof of the recently renovated Jindrisska Tower in the centre of Prague. Together they compose an indoor carillon - the only of its kind in the Czech Republic and an international rarity as well. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with the term, a carillon is a set of fixed chromatically tuned bells which can play melodies. This unusual indoor carillon was cast this year by bell-founder Petr Rudolf Manousek, a descendant of an old family of Czech bell-founders.
"Carillons are usually used for outside listening but this is a small concert hall. The small carillon will by controlled by a keyboard or by computer memory. The computer will be programmed to play more than 1000 melodies. For the visitors of the tower it means that they will never hear the same melody twice in one year. On some evenings we will play the carillon together with other musical instruments or live singing, we will see."
RP: Where did you get the idea from - to cast an indoor carillon?
"At first it was the idea of the owner of the tower to use this nice space, this small concert hall for live concerts. That's why we cast small bells for indoor listening."
RP: And how many bells are there?
"There are ten bells altogether and their total weight is a little over 200 kilograms."
RP: This is the only indoor carillon in the Czech Republic, but do you know of any others abroad?
"I have a great deal of information about many carillons, but none of those are used for indoor listening. Sometimes small carillons are used [indoors] for one concert only but they are not fixed and installed in the concert hall. I am sure we have something special."
RP: Were you afraid? Did you believe it would work inside?
"No, no. We have great knowledge of this space. I think it is a perfect place for it because everything here is made of wood. No steel, no iron, and wood is perfect for this kind of music."
Bell-founder Petr Rudolf Manousek on his carillon, which, unlike other carillons that are designed to be heard on long distances, was devised as a chamber musical instrument. Regular concerts featuring the unique carillon will start next Tuesday at the Jindrisska Tower.
If you are a composer and would like to try and write a short piece for the ten-bell carillon and eventually hear it played for the public, you can contact the management of the Jindrisska Tower at [email protected].
