Includes the following numbers from the De Gruytters carillon book: 1, 9, 10, 12–15, 22–23, 28, 30–32, 35–37, 39, 44–46, 48–50, 53, 58, 62–64, 68–69, 72, 75–78, 82–85, 87, 92, 95, 97, 100–101, 103, 105–106, 108–112, 115–118, 120–125, 128–129, 132–133, 138–139, 143–144, 157–159, 167–168, 171–174, 176–178, 180–182, 184–188

There are in existence today very few manuscripts of carillon music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those which have been preserved contain little more than popular airs and tunes arranged for mechanically operated carillons.

One of the very few sources of early carillon music that has been preserved is a collection compiled by Joannes de Gruytters (1709–1772) who served as carillonneur at the famous Antwerp Cathedral which, at that time, housed two carillons, one owned by the church and the other by the city.

The original manuscript, dated 1746, is preserved in the library of the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp. It contains a variety of pieces popular in de Gruytters' day, nearly two hundred entries in all, consisting mainly of transcriptions and only very few compositions for carillon. Composers included in the collection were de Gruytters' contemporaries. Unfortunately, he acknowledged the composers of less than one-third of the contents and, while it is likely that many of the anonymous pieces are his own, he autographed only five.

The collection served de Gruytters as a resource for carillon music from which he must have played ad libitum, for many of the pieces are almost unplayable from the original manuscript. Some of the transcriptions are poorly written, even illegible, containing many errors and omissions while exhibiting the limitations of the carillons on which he played. It appears that de Gruytters' resource for obtaining many of these pieces was his ear alone, often failing him, or from scores from which he copied with careless haste.

Nevertheless, this historically valuable collection offers us some insight in performance practices of the period, most especially with regards to ornamentation, and contains many selections that are suitable for inclusion in the repertoire of present-day carillonneurs.

The completion of a performance edition of these selections, begun some years ago, was made possible by the University of Kansas in granting me a sabbatical leave for this purpose during the spring of 1979.

—Albert Gerken; Lawrence, Kansas; February 1980