[Bell Historians] G&J carillon (Regal/Odeon Marble Arch)

[Carl S Zimmerman]

At 17:00 +0100 2005/04/17, Colin Turner asked:
>... why was it replaced so soon after installation?

My theory: 1928, the year when the first set of bells for this 
theatre was cast, was in the midst of a period of intense competition 
between Taylor and G&J for what was seen as the rich new American 
market in carillons. For this reason, it was also a period of rapid 
development of technology for both foundries, in terms of both 
bellfounding and carillon construction. With the near-collapse of 
the American market after the stock market crash of 1929, G&J might 
have turned their attention back to the home market and decided that 
they could improve on what they had done in this theatre just two 
years earlier, especially because these bells would be heard in a 
musical context by a great many people. The fact that so many of the 
1928 bells were re-used elsewhere (as CJP has shown) indicates to me 
that they weren't bad bells - they just weren't as consistent in 
tuning or character as G&J was by then able to do. The fact that the 
1930 bells were heavier than the 1928 bells for the same pitch is 
indicative of what had happened in the development of treble bells 
for larger carillons.

For details, see:
http://www.gcna.org/data/MstonesNATR.html - NA milestones
http://www.gcna.org/data/IXfoundryGillettJohnston.html - G&J
http://www.gcna.org/data/IXfoundryTaylor.html - Taylor

Carl