HISTORIC TRINITY CATHEDRAL BELLS

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE HISTORIC TRINITY BELLS

Brief History of the Trinity Bells

Trinity Cathedral has been welcoming worshippers at the corner of 2nd Street and St John Street for over 150 years. The historic building first opened its doors in 1863 and grew rapidly with San Jose. In 1876 the church had to be reconfigured and enlarged to its present configuration to accommodate the growth of the congregation. But the little bell perched on the roof didn’t have enough presence to satisfy the congregation in those days. So, in 1879, the church leaders put their heads together and, rather than go for a bigger bell, they would instead install a “ring” of 5 bells tuned to the first five notes of the music scale. This would allow them to play simple versions of hymns from the tower. (Sets of bells are referred to as “rings” – 4 to 8 bells; “chimes” – 9 to 22 bells; and “carillons” – 24 bells and up).

The order went to the Meneely Bell Foundry in West Troy, NY, 20 miles up the Hudson River from the state capitol in Albany. Foundry records show that the order was received in November of 1879, and were shipped in April of 1880 along with instructions for hanging them. The bells were played from a bell stand with pump-handle batons connected by rope to the bells 2 levels above in the tower.

In 1905 Trinity ordered two more bells from Meneely and added them to the “ring”. This lasted until 1960 when two more bells from the Petit & Fritsen Royal Foundry in The Netherlands were added (Meneely by now had gone out of business). Now Trinity had a “chime of 9 bells. As a Bicentennial Project, Trinity added 9 more bells from the Petit & Fritsen Royal Foundry to bring the “chime” up to 18 bells. This put the weight of the Trinity “chime” above 6,000 pounds which allowed Trinity’s bells to sneak into the “carillon” category based on weight. At the same time the old chime-stand was replaced with a Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) Standard carillon keyboard.

The basic form of the carillon keyboard is almost unchanged since the 14th century. There are no electronics involved. The bells are connected to the wooden batons of the keyboard by cables and bell cranks, and the bell clappers are moved by sets of springs. The weight of the clapper is determined by the weight of the bell – the heavier the bell, the heavier of the clapper. The whole thing works by the muscles of the bell-ringer!

San Jose’s Trinity Cathedral’s carillon joins the UC Berkeley’s Campanile Carillon (1917) and Stanford University’s Hoover Tower Carillon (1941) in being the only traditional hand played carillons in the Bay Area. Trinity Embarks on Bell Expansion Project

Work started on a long-held dream of renovating and expanding the Trinity Carillon. Meeks, Watson and Company, the only remaining bell foundry in the United States, removed the bells in November 2013 and trucked them to their facility in Georgetown, Ohio, to begin the renovation. This was first time the historic bells have left the tower after more than 130 years of ringing out across St. James Park and downtown San Jose. When they return late this Fall they will be part of an enlarged Trinity Carillon of 24 bells with the capability of being expanded to 43 bells over time.

Trinity Cathedral’s renovated carillon will continue the tradition of ringing out the glory of God’s message over downtown San Jose for decades to come. The carillon will add a major cultural asset to San Jose for concerts in the park and for participating in community celebrations. The Carillon canl be an excellent teaching instrument for music students who are interested in learning to play.

New Bells:

Six new bells will be designed, molded, cast and tuned in the Meeks, Watson and Company Bell Foundry to extend the range to a total of 24 bells, 2 octaves. The bells will be cast from genuine bell bronze, approximately 79% copper and 21% tin. They will be cleaned and polished to a smooth, satin finish. A traditional bronze patina finish will be applied to the new bells to match more closely the color of the existing bells.

Existing Bells:

The original Meenely Bells installed in 1880 will be tuned according to the five-point carillon tuning system, developed long after these bells were cast, so that they will harmonize properly with the other existing bells and the new bells. This will preserve our most historic bells and allow them to take their proper place within the new carillon

The Petit and Fritzen bells cast in Holland in 1960 and 1975 will receive a thorough tonal analysis at the foundry and will undergo any necessary minor tuning corrections. All the bells will be fitted with new cast iron ball clappers. The clapper weight shall be such to bring forth a warm, musical tonal quality from the bells.

Playing Console

A new playing console will have a keyboard of 43 keys (batons) to allow for future expansion of the carillon. The console also will have foot pedals for the lowest notes of the carillon to allow the player to be able to play them either from the keyboard manually or by the foot pedals. The console will be made with the finest kiln dried red oak for the rails and end stands, pedals, music rack and bench. The manual keys (batons) will be made of kiln dried maple. All wooden parts shall be finished with an appropriate stain to enhance the grain of the wood, and a high quality surface finish shall be applied. A new wooden player’s bench will also be provided.

Also being built are a new bell frame to be installed in the bell tower capable of housing 43 bells and new cabling from keyboard to bell chamber for 43 bells. This will allow us to add bells easily in the future to build the carillon from 24 bells to the ultimate 43 bells.

Tower Strengthening

To accommodate the weight of the additional bells and ensure the ability of the historic tower to safely withstand future wind and earthquake activity, Trinity has engaged Biggs, Cardosa Engineering and Blach Construction to design and complete the necessary work to strengthen the tower. This work will be completed this summer in time for the return of the upgraded carillon.

Paul Archambeault