{"id":2728,"date":"2021-06-15T14:03:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T14:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2024-05-22T16:23:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T16:23:47","slug":"preserving-altgeld-halls-music-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/2021\/06\/15\/preserving-altgeld-halls-music-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Altgeld Hall\u2019s Music Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Johnna Jones, Bridget Glass, Jason Lauridsen, Luca Zefran, Thomas DeMouy, Lauren Schissler, Andy Christensen, Altgeld Chime Concert with Marching Illini, October 30, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For anyone living within earshot of the Illinois campus after 1958, the sound of the Altgeld chimes will always be a fond memory.\u00a0 After the carillon\u2019s dedication on October 30, 1920, the chimes were played regularly until 1951 for major campus events like homecoming and graduation, but afterward only sporadically until the carillon was restored in 1958.\u00a0 That year the School of Music\u2019s director, Duane Branigan, invited Albert Marien, an accounting instructor and University auditor (1948-1970), to perform regular short concerts as the university\u2019s first chime master (1958-1995) while students passed between classes at noon.<\/p>\n

I never heard Marien\u2019s noontime concerts.\u00a0 However, the charming sounds of Sue Wood\u2019s performances, the second university chime master between 1995 and 2017, always brought a smile to my heart as I dashed across the quad to another tiresome meeting.\u00a0\u00a0 Sue\u2019s carillon strains of Illinois Loyalty <\/em>always slowed my hurried pace, and sometimes teasingly enticed me to play hooky.<\/p>\n

I was never able to find time to visit Sue as she played the chimes.\u00a0 Until I began conversations with Tina Horton, the university\u2019s current chime master (2019-present) about the long-term preservation of the chimes\u2019 music and administrative records, my experiences with the carillon were only as a voyeur passing below Altgeld\u2019s music belfry.<\/p>\n

In early October I finally had the opportunity to climb the steep stairway to the small room where the chimes were mysteriously played.\u00a0 My purpose was to photograph Tina\u2019s evening performance of the fabled carillon and identify which historical records to transfer to the Sousa Archives.\u00a0\u00a0 My hike up the stairs was greeted by the room\u2019s heavily padded doorway to prevent concussions for anyone taller than a thirteenth-century monk.<\/p>\n

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Tina Horton, chime master, Altgelt Chimes Concert on October 1, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, once in the room the simple darkly stained oak keyboard and its meticulously strung metal cables to the carillon\u2019s fifteen bells above me commanded quiet awe for the campus\u2019 most recognized music instrument.\u00a0 As I stood there, I imagined what the new chimes must have sounded like during their 1920 premiere playing By the Rivers Gently Flowing<\/em>, America<\/em>, Illinois Loyalty<\/em>, and Adeste Fidelis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Albert Marien with a student visitor, July 5, 1962, and Sue Wood, February 2001.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bells were built by Baltimore\u2019s McShane Bell Foundry Company under the direction of A. Austin Harding, the University\u2019s first director of bands.\u00a0 Originally thirteen bells were planned for the carillon in 1919, but it was discovered that two additional bells were needed to play the University\u2019s Illinois Loyalty<\/em>.\u00a0 After some handwringing by campus administrators, the University\u2019s U.S. School of Military Aeronautics provided the additional funding for the extra two bells.\u00a0 The historical records do not indicate which two bells were added to complete the necessary pitches to play Illinois Loyalty<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While the planned 2021 renovation of Altgeld Hall will again briefly silence the chimes, their historical legacy is now safely preserved at the Sousa Archives.\u00a0 As we await the carillon\u2019s voice to return above Alma\u2019s outstretched hands, the stories of the chimes\u2019 beginnings and the musicians who regularly played them will live on in the archives\u2019 collections.\u00a0 \u00a0For further information about and access to the newly acquired Altgeld Chimes Music and Records either visit the collection finding aid<\/a>, call 217-244-9309, or email sousa@illinois.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tina Horton, October 1, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  For anyone living within earshot of the Illinois campus after 1958, the sound of the Altgeld chimes will always be a fond memory.\u00a0 After the carillon\u2019s dedication on October 30, 1920, the chimes were played regularly until 1951 for major campus events like homecoming and graduation, but afterward only sporadically until the carillon was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4548,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/4548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}