MUSIC FROM THE BELLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19918, 11 April 1928, Page 11

MUSIC FROM THE BELLS.

SYDNEY'S GREAT CARILLON. UNIVERSITY WAR MEMORIAL. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, March 23. Before very long the bells of the great war memorial carillon, at the Sydney University, will ring out, above the tumult and din of the city, their message of joy, and, for the relatives of the fallen, of beautiful solace. In an age of materialism, and of war memorials which, in a great many instances, are an ugly blot, the choice of the carillon fittingly to perpetuate the memory of those who made the great sacrifice out on the red horizon, was a master stroke. On clear days, the great bells will be heard for miles. They will probably be played for the first time on Anzac Day. They promise to be as notable as the world-famous carillons of Bruges and Ghent. Sydney University, while it has turned out armies of doctors and lawyers and scientists, and so on, has not been conspicuous for the encouragement of music. It has no Chair of Music, as a matter of fact, but the carillon, the first in Australia, the second in the British Empire, and one of the finest in the world, will associate the University with a happy contribution to one of the highest and most beautiful of the arts. Sydney hopes that the bells will be used for both sacred and secular purposes. The carillon has not yet been christened with a distinctive name, such as the old-world bells popularly known as Great Toms, Great Peters, Great Pauls, Great Johns, and so on. No better site could have been chosen for the carillon, than the University, surrounded. as it is, by open spaces, and overlooking, as it does, the city for many miles round.