Editing Carillon (section)

===Decline===
The [[French Revolution]] had far-reaching consequences on the Low Countries and the carillon. France conquered and annexed the [[Austrian Netherlands]] in 1795 and the [[United Provinces (Low Countries)|United Provinces]] in 1810. After publishing instructions for extracting copper from bell bronze, France sought to dismantle local carillons to reduce its copper shortage.{{sfn|Swager|1993|pp=39–40}} Carillon owners resisted by, for example, petitioning the new governments to declare their instruments as "culturally significant"{{sfn|Rombouts|2014|p=143}} or by disconnecting the bells and burying them in secret.{{sfn|Rombouts|2014|p=145}} During this period, there were as many as 110 carillons. About 50 of them were destroyed as a result of war, fire, and dismantling. The majority were melted down to produce cannons for the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].{{sfn|Swager|1993|pp=39–41}}

Between 1750 and the end of the 19th century, interest in the carillon declined greatly. An increasing number of households had access to [[grandfather clocks]] and [[pocket watch]]es, which eroded the carillon's monopoly on announcing the time.{{sfn|Rombouts|2014|p=149}} As a musical instrument, the carillon lagged behind during the [[Romantic music|Romantic era]], which featured music of a wandering, story-like nature. Many carillons were tuned using meantone temperament, which meant they were not suited for the [[chromaticism]] of the newer musical styles.{{sfnm|Swager|1993|1pp=41–42|Rombouts|2014|2p=150}} The production of new musical works for the instrument essentially came to a standstill.{{sfn|Van Ulft|2020|p=33}} The standard skill level of carillonneurs had also dropped significantly, so much so that in 1895, the music publisher [[Schott frères]] issued [[Matthias Vanden&nbsp;Gheyn]]'s 11 carillon preludes for piano with a foreword claiming "no carillonneur of our time knows how to play them on the carillon".{{sfn|Price|1983|p=224}} Also, with a reduced demand for new carillons, the tuning techniques developed by the Hemony brothers, but not Van&nbsp;Eyck's underlying theory, were forgotten. Subsequent carillons were generally inferior to earlier installations.{{sfn|"Carillon." ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''}}