Vanden Gheyn
Music from carillons with at least 23 preserved bells from the bell founders family Vanden Gheyn.
Carillons of
- uncle Peter VI (1698-1770)
- brothers Matthias (1721-1785) and Andreas Jozef (1727-1790)
All performances by Koen Van Assche.
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Matthias Vanden Gheyn
(statue of the city hall of Leuven, B)
Same composition, played on 8 different carillons, the only carillons with at least 23 preserved bells from the Vanden Gheyn family. For most of these carillons some bass bells are from a different founder. The bass bells from C to G (keyboard notes) are listed for each carillon.
All bells are retuned during restaurations.
Prelude in G minor (originally for organ), Matthias Vanden Gheyn
Arranged for carillon (in D minor) by Koen Van Assche
In order of founder, and period:
Sint-Truiden (B)
City Hall
Andreas Jozef
Liège (B)
Cathedral Sint-Paulus
Andreas Jozef
Turnhout (B)
Church Sint-Pieters
Andreas Jozef
(for which bronze from a cannon was used),
Liège (B)
Saint-Barthélemy
Matthias
EXTRA - historic bells that are no longer used as a carillon, and have never been retuned.
Schiedam (NL)
Church Sint-Jan
Andreas Jozef
The industry of the port of Rotterdam has undoubtedly affected these bells, so we cannot know how it used to sound
RECONSTRUCTION of the melody by Richard de Waardt, based on a recording of each individual bell, adding digitally the missing notes (lowest octave), and played on an electronic keyboard.
Music of Matthias Vanden Gheyn, played on the carillon of Turnhout, the best preserved carillon of his brother Andreas Jozef.
Publication: "Matthias Vanden Gheyn, Keyboard Music"
Published in 2020 by Campanae Lovanienses.
Arrangements for carillon: Luc Rombouts.
"Besides 11 preludes for carillon, Matthias Vanden Gheyn wrote works for organ and keyboard, as well as 12 short sonatas for violin and basso continuo. This collection mainly contains arrangements of keyboard music. Not only is it the most widely represented genre in Vanden Gheyn's oeuvre; it also approaches the idiom of the carillon more closely than most of his organ works."
Music from the carillon of Saint-Barthélemy, Liège (B).
In the 18th century, the Abbey of the Cistercians of Val Saint Lambert decides that there should be a carillon of 40 bells. It is ordered from Matthias Vanden Gheyn, and the contract is signed as: “Matthias Vanden Gheyn, organiste et carillonneur dans la ville de Louvain” (see image on the right).
The carillon dates from 1774, 15 years before the French Revolution. Like so many monasteries and abbeys, Val Saint Lambert is targeted by revolutionaries. The church is being destroyed and the other buildings are sold publicly. The bells are also sold, and their journey ends in Liège in 1804 as they were installed in the church Saint-Barthélemy.
In addition to being the city carillonist of Antwerp (Hemony, 1655), Lier (Julien, 1704/19) and Herentals (Fritsen, 1961), Koen Van Assche (°1967) also has the pleasure to play a carillon of Andreas Jozef Vanden Gheyn (1775) as city carillonist of Turnhout. Furthermore he has been the city carillonist of Leuven for 20 years, the same position that Matthias Vanden Gheyn held for 40 years (on another carillon).