Seminar Bells: Music and sound in public space
Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music
Pandhof Sint-Servaas Basilica Maastricht
3 September 2021, 14:00-17:00
The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga gives a wonderful description of the soundscape of medieval towns and villages in Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen (Autum of the Middle Ages). The sound of bells and carillons was omnipresent therein as a means of warning, celebration, and mourning. Although their function has changed, even today we are surrounded by the music of carillons and the sound of bells. Yet the presence of this resounding heritage in public space is no longer self-evident. Government funding for the maintenance of bells and carillons is under pressure and the chiming of bells is increasingly the subject of legal disputes.
Pandhof Sint-Servaas Basilica
The significance of bells as music and sound in public space was the central theme during a study day on 3 September, organised by the Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music of Maastricht University (www.mcicm.nl). The occasion for the study day was a concert by philharmonie zuidnederland on the same day which included the world premiere of the composition Rublev & Rembrandt written by the Russian composer Olga Victorova. In it, the carillon expresses the connection between the (sound) worlds of the Netherlands and Russia (www.philharmoniezuidnederland.nl).
The study day took place in the Pandhof
of the Basilica of St. Servatius in Maastricht.
The program consisted of short lectures by Karin Bijsterveld (Maastricht University), Peter Peters (Maastricht University), Luc Rombouts (city carillonneur Tienen and university carillonneur Leuven) and Dyon Scheijen (Adelante Hoensbroek). Carillonneur Frank Steijns and violinist Lin Jong also gave a short concert from the tower of St. Servaas Basilica.
The lectures of each speaker are below. Because all presentations took place in Dutch, the lectures are also in Dutch.
- 'The bell and the clapper: How do you investigate a soundscape?' by Karin Bijsterveld
- 'The new usefulness of old bells' by Luc Rombouts
- 'Sounding like a bell: bells in classical music' by Peter Peters
- 'Hearing is more than our ears: what our brain does with sound' by Dyon Scheijen