inscribed and dated "The Town Hall Alkmaar Sep 1876" and signed with initials "TT"
Tom and Laura Taylor and thence by descent
The Waag building is a National monument (Rijksmonument) listed building on the Waagplein in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. On this square Waagplein every Friday from April till the second week of September, the famous cheese market is held. The Dutch Cheese Museum and the tourist information Office (VVV) are also in the building. In the tower is a famous carillon weekly played by a carillonneur and also automatically by a drum chiming the quarters of the hour. There is also the famous automatic horse with knights play in the tower with an automatic trumpetplayer.
history
The Waag (balance scale) building has an interesting history dating back to the 14th century. In that period it was built as a chapel for the adjacent Holy Spirit hospital where poor travelers could get free accommodation for three days and nights. Also the sick were nursed in this hospital. In 1566 the Bishop of Haarlem gave permission to the Holy Spirit hospital to re-purpose the hospital building for weighing. In 1582, the weighing activities were moved to the larger Holy Spirit Chapel, which by then was no longer being used for divine services.
cheese market (kaasmarkt)
The weekly cheese market is held near the weighing building, where Edam and Gouda cheeses were traditionally sold. Today, the cheese market is a show put on for tourists from around the world, rather than an active center of trade in cheese. For the tourists there is also other merchandise for sale on the market along the nearby canal called Mient.
the conversion to weigh house
The conversion of the chapel to the weighing house, which involved reducing the exterior of the building somewhat, was completed in 1583. The choir of the chapel was removed and a richly decorated façade in Renaissance style was made. Today the contours of the former choir can be seen in the pavement next to the facade. (The current façade, closely following the original design, dates from 1884.) In 1597–1603, the original tower was replaced by a much larger one (the present Waagtoren).
latin proverb
Atop the façade of the building is the Latin proverb: "SPQA RESTITVIT VIRTVS ABLATAE JVRA BILANCIS". This means : SPQA (Senatus PopulusQue Alkmaris - Council and People of Alkmaar) by virtue of its courage and strength, restored the rights to the balance to the people and government of Alkmaar." This refers to a battle against Spanish Roman Catholics, which, upon the truce of October 8, 1573, established the rights of the citizens to have a weigh house.
the carillon and other bells
Situation today
- The tower contains a carillon, installed originally by Melchior de Haze from Antwerp, cast in 1688. Over the years, the majority of the bells deteriorated due to air pollution, to the point that only the largest nine bells were still usable. From that basis, a new carillon was installed, with the remaining bells (bringing it to a total of 47 bells) cast by Royal Eijsbouts, of Asten, The Netherlands in 1967. The largest bell (keyed as low "c") is an e-flat, weighing approximately 1375 kg. The range from there continues through f and g, thereafter chromatic to an e-flat four octaves higher than the largest (de Haze) bell. The historic meantone tuning has been retained.
- Also hanging in the top of the tower is a condemned de Haze bell from nearby St. Laurens Church (Grote Kerk, or Great Church, also in Alkmaar), which serves only as decoration today.
- In the room beneath the clockwork hangs the "gate bell", cast by Henrick Wegewaert of Kampen in 1616, with an average diameter of 124 cm. Originally, it was used as a signal to indicate that the city gates were about to be closed for the night, or opened in the morning.
History
Prior to the installation of the de Haze carillon, the earlier, smaller turret on the roof of the chapel held an 11-bell chime by Jacob Waghevens, of Mechelen, Belgium from the 1540s. Over time, seven more bells were added by other founders, and a baton keyboard, similar to that found on other carillons in the Netherlands, was built. At that time, the art of tuning bells effectively had not yet been developed, so the pitch and tuning of most bells was therefore very rough. (One may hear such a set of bells still today at the "speeltoren" in Monnickendam.) After the Hemony brothers mastered the art of tuning bells in the 1640s in Zutphen (and later in Amsterdam), Alkmaar also sought to obtain a well-tuned set of bells. Nearby cities of Enkhuizen, Haarlem and Amsterdam had already done this. Pieter Hemony was summoned to propose a new carillon in 1671, but the city authorities were unwilling to agree to Hemony's demand that the bars enclosing the belfry be removed to allow the sound to carry better into the square. After Pieter Hemony died in 1680 (his brother having preceded him in death), successor (and cousin) of the Hemony's, Claude Fremy was hired to build a carillon of 35 bells, in the process melting down the old bells to provide some of the metal for the new ones. The committee inspecting the bells several times, rejected Fremy's bells, which were very poorly tuned, and he was obliged to repay the city for the value of the bronze used. In the same time Willem Spraackel the clockmaker from Haarlem built the ironwork in the carillon and the new drum.
Part of the Alkmaar bells still consists. Some of the bells that had been made for Alkmaar Weigh house and for the Hague st. Jacobtower (Grote Kerk) are today present in the old carillon by Claude Fremy in the tower of the Loreto convent in Prague in the Czech Republic. It was purchased in Amsterdam in 1695 by Eberhard de Glauchov, a merchant from Prague.
After the affair with Claude Fremy the city took the advice of Willem Spraackel and David Slechtenhorst carillonneur of Leiden, who had already advised and worked for the Hague on a new carillon by Melchior de Haze from Antwerp. Spraackel advised to contact de Haze. The committee from Alkmaar asked Willem Spraackel also if bells from another founder would fit the already-made ironwork. It was not a problem because de Haze matched the specifications previously met by Fremy and set by Pierre Hemony. So Melchior de Haze cast a three octave 35 bells carillon in the standard meantone tuning of the day. The bells were judged in Antwerp by David Slegtenhorst, Cornelis van Neck carillonneur and organist in Hoorn, Gerard van der With the carillonneur of Alkmaar and a bell expert from Haastrecht (near Gouda) Jacob Claren. The bells were approved and shipped directly to Alkmaar. On 26 October 1688 at 3pm Gerard van der With performed his music on the de Haze bells for the first time. However, there was some dissatisfaction with the sound of the small bells so that in 1689 de Haze recast and replaced 6 small bells. The carillon persisted in this form into the 20th century.
The carillon after 1900
Around 1900 two bells in the carillon were cracked; one of these was recast by bell founder van Bergen from Midwolda (Groningen), and another bell was welded. The result was not satisfactory, so Eijsbouts replaced them in 1926 with bells cast by Taylor from Loughborough England. Still the bells were not satisfactory, and, after repairs in 1948 by a clockmaker named van de Kerkhof and in 1953 again by Eijsbouts, it was around 1960 that was decided to tackle the carillon in a better way. This meant more or less the end of the Historic Waag Carillon as we saw earlier. Between 2006 and 2013 big repair works were done to the 'Waagtoren' and the carillon. For example: The automatic drum got a more efficient wiring to the hammers on the bells, which created more space round the baton keyboard and the attics in between.
The disapproved bells in Alkmaar de Haze carillons
Twelve historic disapproved bells from the 'Waagtoren' are used in the turret at the Great (St. Laurens) Church (Grote Kerk) to replace bells with less quality. The two Taylor bells and 21 bells by the Haze from the 'Waagtoren' and the Great church play on a new drum in the turret of the 'Kapelkerk' (Chapel Church on the Laat). This drum is put into operation by the historic clock. So Alkmaar has three carillons related to de Haze. Except in the 'Kapelkerk' also provided with a baton keyboard. The last restoration took into account that a keyboard can be placed in the Kapelkerk turret. But the money for this was missing in 2005. Some donated new bells have been cast and hung to complete already.
The Clock and Drum
The clock with Gothic angle pillars was made in 1541. The drum (big music cylinder) part of the clock was built in the enlarged frame by Willem Spraackel round 1690. It chimes every quarter of the hour with on half and full hour the full strike on lowest bell, the bourdon of the carillon. (half full strike on a large smaller bell) this is called 'Hollandse slag' (Dutch strike). In 1690 the clock was changed into one with a pendulum an invention by Christiaan Huygens around this time. The drum plays a short melody on the four quarters of all hours of the natural day. This has been a tradition in Alkmaar since first bells were hang on the towers in the 1540s. Also in the night man had to be able to hear what time it was. The city carillonneur changes the melodies on the drum twice a year. This is called 'versteken' (remove and insertion of the pins which lift the hammers on the bells).
Trumpet Player with little barrel organ
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Famous in this tower is also a so-called 'ruiterspel'. Riders on horseback perform during the striking of the hour a battle game while a wooden trumpeter blows his trumpet above it. Several times a day he plays an automatic melody after the full hour strike. The trumpet sound comes automatically from a small drum playing on a small reed organ directed from the clock and installed behind the riders on horse back. Because of changing in temperature the little organ must be regularly tuned by the city carillonneur of Alkmaar. For this the organ has double pipes for every tone. Labial and reed pipes. The melody played by the organ for the trumpet player comes from a little drum and can get a new melody in the same way as the big carillon drum.
Concerts on the carillon
Weekly performing by the city carillonneur on the carillon is held throughout the year on Saturday mornings from 11 am to noon. Furthermore, from April till second week in October during the cheese market on Friday 09:15 am to 09:45 am, 10:45 am to 11:00 am and 11:45 am to noon. Since 2009, Christiaan Winter is appointed city carillonneur by the municipality of Alkmaar. In the summer there are also concerts by guest carillonneurs on Wednesdays at 4 pm.
Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literature and language at University College, London in the 1840s, after which he practised law and became a civil servant. At the same time he became a journalist, most prominently as a contributor to, and eventually editor of Punch.
In addition to these vocations, Taylor began a theatre career and became best known as a playwright, with up to 100 plays staged during his career. Many were adaptations of French plays, but these and his original works cover a range from farce to melodrama. Most fell into neglect after Taylor's death, but Our American Cousin (1858), which achieved great success in the 19th century, remains famous as the piece that was being performed in the presence of Abraham Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1865.
Early years
Taylor was born into a newly wealthy family at Bishopwearmouth, a suburb of Sunderland, in north-east England. He was the second son of Thomas Taylor (1769–1843) and his wife, Maria Josephina, née Arnold (1784–1858). His father had begun as a labourer on a small farm in Cumberland and had risen to become co-owner of a flourishing brewery in Durham. After attending the Grange School in Sunderland, and studying for two sessions at the University of Glasgow, Taylor became a student of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1837, was elected to a scholarship in 1838, and graduated with a BA in both classics and mathematics. He was elected a fellow of the college in 1842 and received his MA degree the following year.
Taylor left Cambridge in late 1844 and moved to London, where for the next two years he pursued three careers simultaneously. He was professor of English language and literature at University College, London, while at the same time studying to become a barrister, and beginning his life's work as a writer. Taylor was called to the bar of the Middle Temple in November 1846. He resigned his university post, and practised on the northern legal circuit until he was appointed assistant secretary of the Board of Health in 1850. On the reconstruction of the board in 1854 he was made secretary, and on its abolition in 1858 his services were transferred to a department of the Home Office, retiring on a pension in 1876.
Writer
Taylor owed his fame and most of his income not to his academic, legal or government work, but to his writing. Soon after moving to London, he obtained remunerative work as a leader writer for the Morning Chronicle and the Daily News. He was also art critic for The Times and The Graphic for many years. He edited the Autobiography of B. R. Haydon (1853), the Autobiography and Correspondence of C. R. Leslie, R.A. (1860) and Pen Sketches from a Vanished Hand, selected from papers of Mortimer Collins, and wrote Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1865). With his first contribution to Punch, on 19 October 1844, Taylor began a thirty-six year association with the magazine, which ended only with his death. During the 1840s he wrote on average three columns a month; in the 1850s and 1860s this output doubled. His biographer Craig Howes writes that Taylor's articles were generally humorous commentary or comic verses on politics, civic news, and the manners of the day. In 1874 he succeeded Charles William Shirley Brooks as editor.
Taylor also established himself as a playwright and eventually produced about 100 plays. Between 1844 and 1846, the Lyceum Theatre staged at least seven of his plays, including extravanzas written with Albert Smith or Charles Kenney, and his first major success, the 1846 farce To Parents and Guardians. The Morning Post said of that piece, "The writing is admirable throughout – neat, natural and epigrammatic". It was as a dramatist that Taylor made the most impression – his biographer in the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) wrote that in writing plays Taylor found his true vocation. In thirty-five years he wrote more than seventy plays for the principal London theatres.
A substantial portion of Taylor's prolific output consisted of adaptations from the French or collaborations with other playwrights, notably Charles Reade. Some of his plots were adapted from the novels of Charles Dickens or others. Many of Taylor's plays were extremely popular, such as Masks and Faces, an extravaganza written in collaboration with Reade, produced at the Haymarket Theatre in November 1852. It was followed by the almost equally successful To Oblige Benson (Olympic Theatre, 1854), an adaptation from a French vaudeville. Others mentioned by the DNB are Plot and Passion (1853), Still Waters Run Deep (1855) and The Ticket-of-Leave Man (based on Le Retour de Melun by Édouard Brisebarre and Eugène Nus), a melodrama produced at the Olympic in 1863.Taylor also wrote a series of historical dramas (many in blank verse), including The Fool’s Revenge (1869), an adaption of Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse (also adapted by Verdi as Rigoletto), 'Twixt Axe and Crown (1870), Jeanne d'arc (1871), Lady Clancarty (1874) and Anne Boleyn (1875). The last of these, produced at the Haymarket in 1875, was Taylor's penultimate piece and only complete failure. In 1871 Taylor supplied the words to Arthur Sullivan's dramatic cantata, On Shore and Sea.
Like his colleague W. S. Gilbert, Taylor believed that plays should be readable as well as actable; he followed Gilbert in having copies of his plays printed for public sale. Both authors did so at some risk, because it made matters easy for American pirates of their works in the days before international copyright protection. Taylor wrote, "I have no wish to screen myself from literary criticism behind the plea that my plays were meant to be acted. It seems to me that every drama submitted to the judgment of audiences should be prepared to encounter that of readers".
Many of Taylor's plays were extremely popular, and several survived into the 20th century, although most are largely forgotten today. His Our American Cousin (1858) is now remembered chiefly as the play Abraham Lincoln was attending when he was assassinated, but it was revived many times during the 19th century with great success. It became celebrated as a vehicle for the popular comic actor Edward Sothern, and after his death, his sons, Lytton and E. H. Sothern, took over the part in revivals.
Howes records that Taylor was described as "of middle height, bearded [with] a pugilistic jaw and eyes which glittered like steel". Known for his remarkable energy, he was a keen swimmer and rower, who rose daily at five or six and wrote for three hours before taking an hour's brisk walk from his house in Wandsworth to his Whitehall office.
Some, like Ellen Terry, praised Taylor's kindness and generosity; others, including F. C. Burnand, found him obstinate and unforgiving. Terry wrote of Taylor in her memoirs:
Most people know that Tom Taylor was one of the leading playwrights of the 'sixties as well as the dramatic critic of The Times, editor of Punch, and a distinguished Civil Servant, but to us he was more than this. He was an institution! I simply cannot remember when I did not know him. It is the Tom Taylors of the world who give children on the stage their splendid education. We never had any education in the strict sense of the word yet through the Taylors and others, we were educated.
Terry's frequent stage partner, Henry Irving said that Taylor was an exception to the general rule that it was helpful, even though not essential, for a dramatist to be an actor to understand the techniques of stagecraft: "There is no dramatic author who more thoroughly understands his business".
In 1855 Taylor married the composer, musician and artist Laura Wilson Barker (1819–1905). She contributed music to at least one of his plays, an overture and entr'acte to Joan of Arc (1871), and harmonisations to his translation Ballads and Songs of Brittany (1865). There were two children: the artist John Wycliffe Taylor (1859–1925) and Laura Lucy Arnold Taylor (1863–1940). Taylor and his family lived at 84 Lavender Sweep, Battersea, where they held Sunday musical soirees. Celebrities who attended included Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Henry Irving, Charles Reade, Alfred Tennyson, Ellen Terry and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Taylor died suddenly at his home in 1880 at the age of 62 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery. After his death, his widow retired to Coleshill, Buckinghamshire, where she died on 22 May 1905.