Joey Brink (jbrink@uchicago.edu)

The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon in The University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and its sister instrument at Riverside Church in New York City, both dating from the early 1930s, were the masterworks of the Gillett & Johnston bell foundry of Croydon, England. Carillons of this size had never before been made, and have not been made again since that time.

The Chicago instrument, comprising 72 bells and 100 tons of bronze, is the single largest musical instrument ever built. Its bells were cast over a three-year period and include a massive 18.5-ton bourdon sounding a low C#. The instrument is played regularly by University Carillonneur Alex Johnson and members of the University of Chicago Guild of Carillonists.