*Location:

   Oratoire St-Joseph du Mont-Royal
     (St.Joseph's Oratory)
   Queen Mary Road / Reine Marie
   Montréal, Québec, Canada
   LL: N 45.49165, W 73.61809

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   Andrée-Anne Doane, Carillonneur   (C)
   7356 rue Chouinard
   Lasalle, PQ  H8N 0A5
   H: 514-369-4552
   W: 514-733-8211x2581
   E: aadoane@osj.qc.ca

   1956-75 Emilien Allard   (1915-77)
   1976-80 Andrea McCrady   (C)
   1980-2009 Claude Aubin   (C)

*Contact:

   Oratoire St.-Joseph
   3800 Queen Mary Road
   Montréal, QC  H3V 1H6

*Schedule:

   Silent during relocation

*Remarks:

   Some bells installed in 1955.
   Instrument originally designed for the
   Eiffel Tower in Paris; plans changed.
   Original keyboard 6 octaves C-C.
   Major renovation by Taylor, 1981,
   including new playing and practice
   keyboards, range unknown.  A bass bell
   acquired in 2004 was cast in 1949
   for Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix, Montreal
   (now closed); plans to connect it to
   pedal B were not carried out.  Another
   bass bell from a different redundant
   church has also been acquired;
   both are by Paccard, and in storage.
   Sep.2018: bells removed; to be
   reinstalled in a new tower.
   Jun.2023: one new bass & 2 new trebles
   blessed before all were installed
   in new tower under construction.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 62 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A# in the bass octave
   Keyboard range:     --C   /    A#--  
   Transposition is nil (concert pitch)
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The instrument was enlarged in 2023
     with  3 bells made by Paccard      
   Prior history:
     In 2020, the instrument was enlarged to 59 bells
       by Paccard     
       (3 bells were added in and/or remain from that work.)
       Pitch of heaviest bell was D# in the middle octave
       Keyboard range was:     --G   /    A#--  
       Transposition was up  5 semitone(s), i.e., from C to F 
       There were no missing bass semitones
     In 1956, the instrument was begun with 56 bells
       by Paccard     
       Keyboard range was:     C G   /    C C 24
       Transposition was up  3 semitone(s), i.e., from C to D#
       There was one missing bass semitone
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2023

The Oratory Website has a tiny drawing and a partial photo of the main building on the home page.  French, English and Spanish versions are available, but are not identical; the French is most extensive, and the Spanish the least.  A long page about the carillon includes a photo of the instrument and a video (1:36), with French narration, and the old carillon.

Near the bottom of the home page of the carillonneurs.fr Website is a link to a blog article by A-A Doane on the status of the Oratory carillon upgrade; with several photos.

News article (17 June 2023) about the restoration of the bells; with video (1:31) showing the cleaned old bells; bells assembled in their frame sections ready to be hoisted into the new tower, the skeleton of which is visible in the background in the last few seconds of video.

Text-only article (17June 2023) about the restoration and expansion.

News article (15 June 2023) about the expansion now in prograss has a photo of the carillon in its accustomed place, plus a historic photo from its 1955 inaugural concert.
Also a video (3:20, made 2012) of David Doane playing the carillon.

A Waymarking page for these bells has 6 photos of the old carillon building.

YouTube video (3:24) of Emilian Allard playing the Oratory carillon in 1974

An information page has front and aerial views of the building complex; in the aerial view, the carillon is atop the rear corner of the L-shaped building to the right of the front of the Basilica.

A French-language page has photos of the main building but says nothing about the carillon.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the second phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Paccard bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by weight.
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American concert class carillons by year of completion.

Other concert carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

Index to all traditional carillons in QU.

Index to all tower bell instruments in QU.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2023/06/22
   and on technical data last updated on 2023/06/22