ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
The Deagan chimes in the Asheville City Hall belfry, which had been silent for years, sounded again last month, thanks to Michael Luchtan, Andrew Fletcher and Jamar Woods.
Luchtan, who now lives in Barcelona, began playing public bell instruments with the carillon, a pitched percussion instrument played with a keyboard and bells, while on a fellowship at Berea College.
“When I returned to Asheville from my fellowship, I was excited about the idea of bells and public instruments and searched to find something local, ending up at City Hall,” Luchtan said via email.
The peace chimes were not being played at the time, so Luchtan found someone at city hall with the keys to give him access and he began to play them.
Asheville’s 10 cylindrical brass chimes weigh from 300 to 700 pounds each, city officials said, and the carillon can be played manually — on a small keyboard or by an old-fashioned perforated roll used on an automated player. The sound comes when a mechanical arm strikes each chime note with a mallet.
“After a few weeks, the City Manager at that time became aware that the Peace Chimes were being played and decided that no one could play them without a policy in place,” Luchtan said. “Although I tried to help craft a policy, they have been inactive ever since. That was about a dozen years ago.”
Luchtan, who has gained more experience over the years playing and writing for large public instruments, was back in Asheville this past spring and again sought to work with the Deagan chimes.
“It took all of three months, but I finally achieved success my last week in town before I returned home to Barcelona,” he said.
History of the chimes
Asheville City Hall, designed by architect Douglas Ellington, was constructed in the late 1920s and opened to the public with a dedication ceremony on March 19, 1928, according to city officials. The 10-chime carillon was made by the J. C. Deagan instrument manufacturing company of Chicago and installed in the belfry in 1932 in honor of the Buncombe County soldiers who had lost their lives in World War I.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A DEAGAN SALES BROCHURE FROM 1930
The chimes were played regularly during the 1930s and 1940s at various events and occasions, city officials said. Asheville’s then City Attorney Lucille McInturff, who was also a musician, became the city’s unofficial chimer, playing the bells regularly for about 10 years.
The chimes stopped being used in the 1960s when the BB&T building (now the Arras building) installed a speaker system on its roof to play recorded chime songs, city officials said. This lasted until the 1980s.
In the late 1980s there was an effort to restore the chimes, and the restoration finally got underway in 1997, officials said. During the restoration, the chimes were disassembled, cleaned, polished and painted. The wooden rack holding them was scraped clean and repainted. The wiring, originally installed in the 1930s did not need refurbishing.
The chimes were rededicated in a ceremony in 1999.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CITY’S FACEBOOK POST
Present day
The chimes, Luchtan said, are in good condition.
“Pretty great condition considering their age. There is just a bit of work that needs to be done to recondition and to get the player mechanism to play at a set time.” Luchtan said.
The chimes are not able to be programmed to play on a schedule, city officials said in a news release. There are maintenance needs that require one-time and ongoing costs. The chimes are only operational by using the manual keyboard. The wall clock that operates the automated player is not currently functional for automated scheduling purposes.
The city is considering a contract with a company to maintain the chimes, the news release said.
“In preparation for this maintenance and with a need to operate the chimes, the City worked with Asheville’s own Michael Luchtan. Michael specializes in revitalizing retired instruments, and he recently requested to examine the chimes and compose original music tailored to its mechanics,” the news release said.
Luchtan brought in pianists Fletcher and Woods to help.
“Even for these experienced musicians, this endeavor is not as simple as noodling around,” the news release said.
Luchtan, Fletcher and Woods wanted to compose music for use by the instrument’s primary mechanism, an old-fashioned perforated roll used on an automated player.
“The city owns only two existing musical pieces for the automated player that are many years old,” the news release said. “The work requires a heavy-duty hole puncher from a hobby store and significant craftsmanship from the musical team.”
Luchtan confirmed he has written music for the chimes.
“During my stay in Asheville this spring, I composed a chime for the Asheville Peace Chimes in spirit of the original intention of the Mothers of the Buncombe County War Dead,” he said. “My chime, entitled ‘While There Is War, We Ring For Peace,’ is dedicated to the people of Buncombe County and specifically to the mothers and their children who paid the price for them.”
Luchtan, Fletcher and Woods fabricated a roll, much like a player piano roll, that contains the composition.
“It can be played automatically on the player mechanism and programmed to be played at a specific time each day,” Luchtan said.
The future of the chimes
Luchtan said the next step is for city officials to craft a policy so the chimes can be played.
“Hopefully, there are now several parties in City Hall who are interested in pushing the project along,” he said.
In the meantime, Luchtan is in Barcelona, working on a composition for a bell tower there.
“Asheville will always be a home to me, but my work there with this project is done for now,” he said. “I have left my composition in the hands of the appropriate personnel at City Hall, and there are other musicians there on the ground to play it and to continue with the project.”
Editor’s note: Photos were used by permission of the City of Asheville.