Rockefeller Bronze: Gamelan and Carillon in world premiere performance

Gamelan and carillon will unite in an unprecedented concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, on the east lawn of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., on the University of Chicago campus. (Raindate Oct. 14.) Carillonneur James Fackenthal, Friends of the Gamelan, and the Javenense Gamelan Ensemble will introduce the listener to the Chapel’s bronze instruments.

Both carillon and gamelan are comprised of many small and large instruments; both are made of many bronze components, and both are housed in Rockefeller Chapel. Because of the unique tuning of each instrument, they will not be played at the same time. However, music will be selected to demonstrate the traditional musicality of the instruments, with new pieces written by University of Chicago ethnomusicologist and gamelan player David Charles Hunter.

In 1932 in remembrance of his mother, John D. Rockefeller Jr. presented the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Carillon to the University of Chicago. Housed in the chapel tower, it is the second-largest carillon in the world, with 72 bells ranging in weight from 10.5 pounds to 18.5 tons. The great bourdon, or bass, bell boasts a diameter of nearly 10 feet. Cast over a period of two years in Croydon, England, the bells of this carillon are considered to be the masterpiece of the Gillett and Johnston foundry.

The art of carillon-playing originated nearly 500 years ago in the area of Europe that now comprises the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France. Unlike many other bells, carillon bells remain fixed while they are played. The clappers move instead, connected by wires and a tracker system to a playing console that controls both rhythm and dynamics. The console consists of a double row of oak keys and a pedal board played by the fists and feet of the carillonneur.

The word gamelan means "to hammer," but the term refers to the large percussion orchestras of Java and Bali. The primary instruments are gongs, metallophones, and hand drums, with cymbals, vocals, bamboo flutes, and spiked fiddles used as well. In Bali, gamelan is the primary source of all religious and concert music. The Balinese are ardent practitioners of a unique form of Hinduism, and gamelan is necessary for all ritual events, as well as to mark any large social occasion. There are dozens of different types of gamelans in Bali, ranging from large metal orchestras to bamboo ensembles, vocal groups, and groups dedicated to the imitation of frog sounds. All the music is marked by the use of one of two non-tempered pentatonic scales - pelog or slendro - and by rhythmically precise interlocking parts known as kotekan.

Friends of the Gamelan, Inc.,’s instrument is a bronze gamelan, Sri Sedånå. Gamelan Sri Sedånå was made in Wonogiri, Central Java, and purchased by Widiyanto for Friends of the Gamelan in 2000. The instrument was named for Dewi Sri — goddess of agriculture and rice and symbol of fertility — and her brother, Sedånå.