Giedrius Kuprevicius
Rokiskio 12-1
Kaunas 233005
T: Kaunas 22 55 19
E: giedrius.kuprevicius@ktu.lt
Giedrius.Kuprevicius@gmail.com
- and -
Raimundos Eimontas
- and -
Julius Vilnonis
T: 7/220484
E: vilnonis@hotmail.com
*Past carillonist:
Victoras Kuprevicius (1900-1992)
*Contact:
Vytauto Didziojo karo juziejus
K.Donelaicio g. 64
Kaunas 44248
T: (8 37)32 07 65
E: vdkaromuziejus/@/kam[.]lt
*Schedule:
Automatic play at noon daily.
*Remarks:
Cast 1935; installed 1937, replacing
the earlier chime. Expansion added two
basses and 12 trebles.
Also in tower: Lithuanian Liberty Bell,
cast in 1919 by The Henry Stuckstede
Bell Foundry Company, St.Louis, MO, and
rung by rope & lever; and a 3-ton
Russian bell, 184 cm diameter, 1901,
formerly in Garrison Church of Kaunas.
One of these serves as the hour strike.
Former keyboard remains in tower.
*Technical data:
Traditional carillon of 49 bells
Pitch of heaviest bell is F# in the middle octave
Transposition is up 6 semitone(s)
Keyboard range: C D / C --
There are two missing bass semitones
The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
The instrument was enlarged in 2005
with bells made by Eijsbouts
Prior history:
In 1935, the instrument was begun with 36 bells
by Michiels
Pitch of heaviest bell was G# in the middle octave
Transposition was up 15 semitone(s)
Keyboard range was: F F / F G
There was one missing bass semitone
In 1922, a complete instrument of 8 bells was installed
by an unknown maker
(0 bells remain from that work.)
Pitch of heaviest bell was unknown
No auxiliary mechanisms known
Tower details not available
Year of latest technical information source is 2022
*Links:
The Website of Giedrius Kuprevicius,
Lithuanian composer and carillonneur, is in Lithuanian and English.
It has his resume, and a page on the Kaunas carillon,
with a photo of the tower and the history of the bells.
Stock
photo (B/W) shows Kaunas composer Viktoras Kuprevicius in the clock tower of the
Lithuanian Historical Museum at his original musical instrument on which he plays
classical pieces; shows a large ornately decorated bell, several small bells
with interior clappers and external hammers, and roller bar transmission.
The English Wikipedia article
about the museum gives the history of the carillon.
The corresponding Lithuanian article is much longer, and includes two photos of the tower,
but does not mention the renovation and expansion of 2005-6.
A YouTube video (9:08) of the
Kaunas International Carillon Music Festival 2022 opens with the hour strike at noon
on the G bell; video shows tower and audience.
related videos show the tower, surroundings, and a large screen with video relay
from the keyboard room (plus lots of extraneous stuff).
A YouTube video (4:47) of the carillon
from 2015 shows the manual keyboard and the bells, played by Raimundas Eimontas.
A YouTube video (4:17) is composed of
a series of still photos in the tower, showing the keyboard, bells (carillon and two others),
clock and drum, old keyboard, access stairs; the sound track (in Lithuanian) is irrelevant.
Historic video
of the tower and carillon; can be viewed as stills
The initial phase of this work being possibly unknowable, there is no index link for it.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Michiels bellfoundry,
in this region
and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Eijsbouts bellfoundry,
in this region
and in the world.