If you’ve spent much time on the University of Chicago campus, you’ve heard the chiming bells of the Rockefeller Chapel carillon carrying across the grounds. I’d been hearing them for years before I learned how impressive the instrument actually is—the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon, installed in 1932 following a two-year casting process, includes 72 bells totaling 100 tons of bronze, controlled by an array of keys and pedals. Its low C bell is the third largest tuned bell in the world. Carillons seem suited to traditional and liturgical music, not least because they’re often installed in church towers, but over their 500-year history they’ve also been used for very different sorts of sounds.
Today’s playlist:
