Adèle Celestine Josephina Colson (24 February 1905 – 22 December 1997) was the first woman to graduate from the

Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" The Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" ( nl, Koninklijke Beiaardschool "Jef Denyn"; informally also the Mechelen carillon school) is a music school in Mechelen, Belgium, that specializes in the carillon. It is the first and largest carillon sc ...

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

, Belgium, and the first woman in the world to earn a professional

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmon ...

certification.

Life and career

Colson was born in

, Belgium, and studied voice and piano at the Mechelen Conservatory. In 1924 she enrolled at the Royal Carillon School. refused to teach her because he believed the carillon should not be played by women. As a result, she was taught by the director Jef Denyn himself. Colson earned her carillon diploma on August 10, 1929, performing a range of repertoire including

Jef van Hoof Jef van Hoof (8 May 1886 - 24 April 1959) was a Belgian composer and conductor with a Flemish ethnic background. Born in Antwerp, Van Hoof was a pupil of Paul Gilson and was heavily influenced by the works of Peter Benoit. He studied at the Ro ...

's , an original piece she composed, and Matthias Vanden Gheyn's third carillon prelude. Due to

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primar ...

, she was never able to find ongoing employment as a carillonist and famously tore up her diploma. In the 1970s, Royal Carillon School director Piet van den Broek reissued her diploma that is now preserved in the

Anton Brees Carillon Library The Anton Brees Carillon Library, located within the ''Singing Tower'' at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida, is home to various collections that document the history and development of the Singing Tower and its gardens, the historic Pinewood ...

References

External links

Photograph of Adèle Colson (c1929)
in the

Bok Tower Gardens Digital Collections The Anton Brees Carillon Library, located within the ''Singing Tower'' at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida, is home to various collections that document the history and development of the Singing Tower and its gardens, the historic Pinewood ...

Photograph of Adèle Colson looking at the camera (c1929)
in the Bok Tower Gardens Digital Collections
Photograph of Adèle Colson's carillon diploma
in the Bok Tower Gardens Digital Collections
Photograph of Adèle Colson with Jef Denyn
in the Bok Tower Gardens Digital Collections
Digitized photographs of Adèle Colson in the Regionale Beeldbank of Mechelen, Bonheiden, Duffel, Sint-Katelijne-Waver and ZemstCatalogue of the Municipal Carillon Museum of Mechelen, Belgium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colson, Adèle 1905 births 1997 deaths 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century women musicians 20th-century Belgian musicians Belgian women musicians Carillonneurs Keyboardists Musicians from Mechelen Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" alumni