Includes the following numbers from the De Gruytters carillon book: 65, 96, 114, 126–127, 168 (3- and 3.5-octave versions), 179, 182, 184

During De Gruytters's lifetime, the conventions of French harpsichord music were well known throughout Europe, and were reflected in the music of German composers (including Bach) as well as Flemish and Dutch composers. (The presence of a Couperin piece, along with harpsichord pieces in a similar style by Fiocco and Raijck underscores this point.) Trils ordinarily begin with the upper note, though when the main note is approached from below, or when that same upper note occurs immediately before the trill, beginning the trill on the main note is a possibility. Grace notes are usually (not quite always) executed on the beat (not ahead of the beat) and take half the value of the notes they modify (or 1/3 in the case of dotted notes). There are several points where some additional ornaments seem implied by their occurrence in similar passages elsewhere in the piece. These are placed in square brackets. It is a part of the performance style to add additional ornaments (or ignore some of the printed ones) according to individual taste. It is, however, absolutely critical that such embellishments never disturb the flow of the rhythm. In the case of the Schepers Allegro (#65), there were many places where a rapid pedal part makes the music awkward and very cloudy on some carillons. I have simplified the pedal part in places to make it more effective, while documenting the original version in smaller notes. (The performer, of course, is free to choose which to play.)

—John Gouwens

The evolution of the carillon as a musical instrument began at the dawn of the fifteenth century with the earliest written record of a manually-played chime of bells dating from 1482 at Antwerp Cathedral. It was more than 160 years later that any extant music was written for the instrument. Interestingly, this important development also began at Antwerp Cathedral, with the carillon book of Joannes de Gruytters in the eighteenth century. In addition to being City Carillonneur, De Gruytters was much respected in musical circles as a harpsichordist, organist, and composer as well as a carillonneur. There were several earlier collections of music for carillon, mostly intended as notebooks for setting tunes to play automatically on the clockwork, but the nature of the pieces in De Gruytters's collection clearly exceeds the possibilities of automatic play. (The automatic playing drum in Antwerp is noted for its remarkable capabilities, however.)

Of the one hundred ninety-four pieces in the De Gruytters book, many are transcriptions of music written by other composers of the baroque period, and most are of anonymous origin. Several were settings of melodies well known to the common people of the time. De Gruytters signed five pieces in the collection as being his own compositions, and he included one work each by two Belgian fellow-carillonneurs: Jan Jozef Colfs of Mechelen, and Boudewijn Schepers of Aalst. (Like De Gruytters, Schepers was the first of three generations of his family to hold the post of City Carillonneur.) The compositions by these men are believed to be the earliest extant compositions written originally for live performance on the carillon.

The Rigaudon (#126–127) is a setting of a pair of melodies also associated with the French Christmas carol "Votre bonté grand Dieu," though like many such carol melodies, it was known in other contexts as well. The Menuets (#168, 182) by De Gruytters are typical of the dance movements one would find in baroque harpsichord suites, and the elegant Andante (#179) resembles the slow movement of an instrumental sonata. Both work well on the carillon, however, and clearly show the musical talents of De Gruytters himself. The March by Colfs (#114) and the Allegro by Schepers (#65) produce some exciting effects on the bells, but both are more naïve, musically speaking. The Couperin piece (#96) is an arrangement by De Gruytters of a harpsichord piece, though it certainly works well on the carillon (arguably more effectively than the Colfs and Schepers pieces). The anonymous Allegro (#184) is a particularly impressive piece, though on some carillons, the effect is a bit thick. This is surprising given that the two carillons at Antwerp Cathedral—the city carillon and the church carillon—were pitched a minor third low and a major third low, respectively. It is presented here in "urtext" form. The collection of arrangements of De Gruytters pieces by Albert Gerken (also a GCNA publication) includes a version of that piece which is actually more effective on heavier instruments. The main purpose of this collection is to provide clear, easy-to-read versions of the original musical content of some of the more interesting selections from the De Gruytters book, mostly emphasizing pieces that were not included in the Gerken collection, and particularly including pieces written by carillonneurs.

—John Gouwens