Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 24 minutes ago
Irving Berlin’s Birthday, May 11, 1984
Choirmaster-Organist John Fenstermaker invited me to play the enormous carillon in the bell tower of Grace Cathedral.
I chose Irving Berlin’s birthday in 1984.
One of the many cultural treasures that Grace Cathedral boasts is its carillon, a mighty assemblage of 44 bronze bells that can be operated like a sort of clangorous organ. Donated by Nathaniel Coulson, a San Francisco dentist, the carillon began life in 1939 on Treasure Island before moving to the cathedral’s North Tower the following year.
The Grace Cathedral carillon is non-traditional, rung electronically rather than mechanically or by hand. It is the oldest and largest non-traditional carillon in the western United States, and one of only two in America made by Gillet and Johnston. The hour ring and tune are rung electronically, but the bells can also be played from a small piano-like console in the nave gallery. Forty three of the bells are “hung dead” while the clappers move inside each bell. The largest bell, the bourdon bell, is rung by an external disk-shaped hammer. It is the only bell that can also be tolled, or swung, on a huge wheel and yoke, so that its internal clapper strikes the inner surface. The bourdon bell rings the hour and when the last strike is heard, the bell will continue to vibrate for over a minute. At 6 tons, and about 6 feet tall, it is the largest carillon bell in the west. The bells range in weight from 11 ¾ pounds to 6 tons and cover 3 ½ octaves. Silver coins were added to the bell metal during casting, in the now-discredited legend that silver improves a bell’s tone. Maintenance of the bells and frame is a long term project. During the latest renovations in 2010-2011, new clappers and a new keyboard from the Royal Eijsbouts Foundry in the Netherlands were installed.
Irving Berlin’s Birthday, May 11, 1984
Choirmaster-Organist John Fenstermaker invited me to play the enormous carillon in the bell tower of Grace Cathedral.
I chose Irving Berlin’s birthday in 1984.
One of the many cultural treasures that Grace Cathedral boasts is its carillon, a mighty assemblage of 44 bronze bells that can be operated like a sort of clangorous organ. Donated by Nathaniel Coulson, a San Francisco dentist, the carillon began life in 1939 on Treasure Island before moving to the cathedral’s North Tower the following year.
The Grace Cathedral carillon is non-traditional, rung electronically rather than mechanically or by hand. It is the oldest and largest non-traditional carillon in the western United States, and one of only two in America made by Gillet and Johnston. The hour ring and tune are rung electronically, but the bells can also be played from a small piano-like console in the nave gallery. Forty three of the bells are “hung dead” while the clappers move inside each bell. The largest bell, the bourdon bell, is rung by an external disk-shaped hammer. It is the only bell that can also be tolled, or swung, on a huge wheel and yoke, so that its internal clapper strikes the inner surface. The bourdon bell rings the hour and when the last strike is heard, the bell will continue to vibrate for over a minute. At 6 tons, and about 6 feet tall, it is the largest carillon bell in the west. The bells range in weight from 11 ¾ pounds to 6 tons and cover 3 ½ octaves. Silver coins were added to the bell metal during casting, in the now-discredited legend that silver improves a bell’s tone. Maintenance of the bells and frame is a long term project. During the latest renovations in 2010-2011, new clappers and a new keyboard from the Royal Eijsbouts Foundry in the Netherlands were installed.
