A light chime escapes from a hangar in Doussard, at the end of Lake Annecy. On entering, an impressive forest of bells with golden reflections is revealed. “There are 63 in all,” proudly announces Anne Paccard, heir to the famous family foundry created in 1796, a flagship of Haute-Savoie know-how. “The smallest weighs 3 kg, the largest 2 tonnes! The whole can cover 5 octaves ”, she specifies, raising her voice to be heard while a deafening concert resonates.
“We finalize the last settings of the instrument controlled from a simple electronic piano keyboard …” Because this myriad of bronze bells actually forms a gigantic carillon, bought by the University of Tampa, Florida, and which will be assembled on American soil in early 2022 on a 32 m high steel structure. The whole weighs 85 tons and must withstand hurricanes.
“It will be the largest musical sculpture in the world! », Rejoices Anne Paccard, who has been leading this project for nearly three years, without fanning it until then. “It’s also the biggest market in our long history, but our client wanted us to keep it a secret. It was all funded by billionaire John Sykes, patron of the University of Tampa. He contacted us after seeing one of our Ars Sonora, a modern carillon concept that we invented in the 2000s. This kind of structure is a tradition on American campuses, so everyone wants to stand out, and that’s how we arrived at our contract of the century. “
The amount remains secret, even if it amounts to several million euros. “It gave us three and a half years of work, which allowed us to go through the Covid crisis with peace of mind. Out of a team of 24 people, we had to hire 4 more. “
A handover to the eighth generation
Among the newcomers, Thomas, 24, an electronic engineer and son of Anne Paccard for whom “this project is quite a symbol because it also marks the handover to the eighth generation”. A transition under the sign of technological innovation because, beyond manufacturing high-quality bells, the foundry now manages their electronic order.
This is why 9 km of cables run between the bells, all over the hangar, and connect them to two large computer cabinets which sparkle with hundreds of electronic cards. “They allow you to order a small hammer hidden in each of the bells, in addition to the clapper,” describes Thomas Paccard. They can be operated from a piano keyboard. Where we are revolutionizing the carillon is that by programming the electronic cards, we can make nuances and transcribe with extreme precision the pressure exerted on the keys. It is unprecedented and several patents have been filed. “
Olivier Allard, piano teacher at the Annecy conservatory, assists the youngest of the Paccard line on the musical feeling: “We adjust the reaction time of the pistons to the millisecond, to accurately transcribe the musician’s intention. The first notes should sound in a few months on the other side of the Atlantic, 7,700 km from Haute-Savoie.
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