Percival Price

Percival Price’s interest in carillons arose during a trip to the Netherlands in 1921. On his return he became carillonneur at the Metropolitan Church in Toronto, where the first carillon in North America was installed. In 1925 he took up this position in New York. Price was the first non-European to graduate from the famous Beiaardschool in Mechelen. From 1932 he studied composition in Wien (Vienna) and wrote the symphony “St. Lawrence”. In 1935 he went to Basel with a travel scholarship. Price was an advisor on the design of the carillon of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, where he remained “Dominion Carillonneur” until 1939. He then became professor of composition and carillonology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a position he held until 1972. He gave concerts on more than 100 carillons all over the world and collected archival material, which was later acquired by the National Library of Canada.

Price had already written his first book on the instrument in 1933. As an expert, he helped with the restoration of bells and researched the whereabouts of bells lost in wars. As a composer, Price also broadened the possibilities of the carillon. He wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements for this instrument. He also founded the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and was its president from 1947-49. In 1975 he was elected honorary president of the World Carillon Federation.

In the Official Report of the 1952 art exhibition, Price added the following remark to the entry of his work Variations for Carillon on a Theme for Bells by Sibelius: “The theme Kallionkirkon kellosävelmä, op. 65 b, was composed by Jean Sibelius as chimes for the bells of the Kallio Church, a modern building in a new suburb of Helsinki. The variations were composed to be played on the Peace Tower Carillon in the Parliament of Canada and on other carillons of suitable range in North America.” Today, the work appears primarily under the title Kellosaevel Variations. Although according to the catalogue these were not written before 1952, variations by Price on this melody by Sibelius turn up in concert programmes as early as 1939.