ANN ARBOR - A few days after the disastrous destruction of the World Trade Center in New York last year, a special carillon composition was written by John Courter: 'In Memoriam - September 11, 2001'. It is dedicated to the people whose lives were lost in the terrorist attacks on that day.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
John Courter, well-known composer, carillonneur and organ-player, has been a Professor of Music at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, since 1971. Four days after the tragic terrorist attacks, he was reading an e-mail newsletter for the University of Michigan Alumni Association. It mentioned that numerous Michigan Alumni worked in the World Trade Center, and were among those missing and presumed dead. The Alumni Association asked for appropriate ways in which these Alumni might be memorialized. John Courter had the idea that a musical composition for the carillon might be a suitable contribution, since bells can play such an important part in times of sorrow. They toll for the dead, and play hymns to comfort those grieving.

He began writing the 'In Memoriam' on September 15th, and finished it late that evening. Since that date the composition has already been distributed to musicians in the USA, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, France, and Japan. The composition was also played as the opening piece of a 'Memorial Concert of American Music' to an audience of 6000 in the Library Square in Louvain, Belgium, on September 30, 2001.

FREE SCORE
People who are interested can download the score freely here: In Memoriam (C-minor). There is also a meantone version available: In Memoriam (D-minor). A special version for a 2-octave carillon was arranged by Andreas Friedrich: In Memoriam (2 octaves). All files are in .pdf format. In order to be able to print these documents the program Acrobat Reader is required. This is a free program that can be downloaded from http://www.acrobat.com.