Satis N. Coleman File – 03 : Chapters XVIII to XXIII Pages 187 to 267
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Bells Their History, Legends, Making and Uses BY Satis N. Coleman File – 03 : Chapters XVIII to XXIII Pages 187 to 267 This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing CHAPTER XVIII CARILLONS IN GENERAL -Anne carillon is the highest point yet reached in the. evolution of bell instruments. I} The single bell, the clock chime, the swinging peal, musical hand bells, and the stationary chime-each class has its appeal and its definite use. Almost any musical person, with a little training, can ~o justice to any pf the above instruments; but the carillon, to be properly heard, must be played by an artist. "Carillon" is a French word meaning a series of bells played by mechanism. In reality the carillon is a highly developed and elaborated chime. The underlying principles are the same, and both chime and carillon may be played either automatically or by hand-directed mechanism. ThfoL-differenc;~ between a carillon and a chime is in the number of bells, the tuning of them, and the arrangement of the keyboard. For simple melody playing, the ¢hime has, usually, eight to twelve bells tuned to the major scale; the carillon has at least two octaves ~pften four octaves), with all the sharps and fiats, s):,iitecl for complicated harmonies as well as for melodies. Chiming levers are arranged in a row; the carillon keyboard in four rows, two rows for the hands and two for the feet. Carillon bells must be tuned with greater care and scientific accuracy 187 188 BELLS FIG. 84. The drum of the Bruges carillon, showing pegs for automatic playing than is demanded of chime bells, for imperfect overtones destroy the harmony when several bells are struck at once. A bell may sound in tune when played in a chime, but when combined with other bells in a carillon it would cause jangling discord if its own overtones were imperfect and the bell not completely "in tune with itself" as well as with the other bells. So the chime and the carillon, although so closely akin, are vastly different. The automatic carillon plays music which is set on a barrel in the same manner as the tunes are set on the chime barrel described on page 184. It is called the tambour (barrel) carillon. Formerly the barrel was made of wood, but in modern times it CARILLONS IN GENERAL $"$ .tn!lde of metal, and, like the simpler chime barrel, is punctured with rows of holes. Little spikes are n.ttedinto these holes (according to the music to be pl~yed) which make the barrel resemble the cylinder \l rnarnmoth music box (see Fig. 84). In a music box the spikes flip little tongues of metal which make musical sounds. In the tambour carillon each spike lifts a tongue which pulls a wire connected with a hammer, raises the hammer, and lets it fall ona bell. Some bells have as many as half a dozen hammers, each hammer supplied with a separate wire, to be used when one bell is to be struck several tit-.oes in rapid succession. The spikes, or pegs, are set to playas complicated music as desired, and the barrel is connected with the clock, so that, at certain fixed times, the music plays automatically. A carillon machine is shown in Figure 85 (p. 190). This mechanism is usually set to play just before the stroke of the hour, and at the half and quarter hours. The other kind of mechanism allows the bells to be played by means of a keyboard. A series of large wooden keys is arranged in the order of a piano keyboard. Each key is connected with a bell by means of a wire which raises a hammer and makes it strike the bell from the inside, when the key is pressed down. By this mechanism nothing is "set," and the performer plays whatever he chooses. Thi$ kind is called the clavier (keyboard) carillon. It has been called a "piano which plays bells instead strings." The largest bells are usually connected BELLS with a pedal keyboard, and the performer who uses both feet and both hands skillfully may play very intricate music. The keys, too large and heavy to be pressed down with one finger, ar~ usually played by blows with the gloved fists. Some- Gillett & Johnston FIG. 85. A carillon machine times, however, the thumb and middle finger can press down two keys at once. Figure 86 shows a front view of the keyboard of a carillon in Morris town, New Jersey. The pedal keys show clearly the arrangement like piano keys. The musician who plays a clavier carillon is called a carillonneur. CARILLONS IN GENERAL FIG. 86. The keyboard of the Morristown, New Jersey, carillon BELLS Many carillons are provided with both kinds of mechanism, one connected with the clock and the other for artists' concerts. They do not interfere, as one is arranged to strike from the inside of the bells and the other from the outside. In a carillon of the first order-one having three or four octaves of bells-the sizes of the bells vary all the way from huge ones weighing several tons down to small ones weighing not over ten or fifteen pounds. In Belgium the bells are always hung in tiers, while in Holland they are often arranged in cir cles. See Figure 87, showing the arrangement of the bells in tiers in Notre Dame Cathedral in Antwerp. The carillon is developed to the greatest degree of perfection in Belgium and Holland. Very fine ones are found, however, in Germany and France, and to some extent in a few other countries. ' 'When John V of Portugal visited the Netherlands, about I730, he was so delighted with the bell music that he determined to have a carillon for his sump tuous palace then being built. The price having been ascertained (it appears to have been something like $43,000 for the completed carillon put in place), the suggestion was guardedly made by his treasurer that, in view of the financial burdens upon the king's purse, this was a large expenditure. The implied criticism is said to have so offended the self-esteem of the monarch that he replied: 'I did not think it would be so cheap; I wish two.' And these he got, for two carillons of forty-eight CARILLONS I:.J GE:.JERAL 193 bells each, played by clavier and clockwork, existed a few years ago, and, so far as I know," says Mr. Rice.' "still exist in the twin towers of the con vent, formerly the palace chapel, at Mafra." For some reason carillons have not been heard in England to any great extent until quite recently, FIG. 87. The arrangement of the carillon of Notre Dame Cathedral, Antwerp even though England has long been called "the Ringing Isle." This may be because the English ''IV. G. Rice, in the Musical Quarterly for April, 1915. 194 BELLS have found their change ringing so satisfying. Starmer, the foremost English bell authority, is still loyal to the swinging peal. The music from a peal of bells is louder than the music of the carillon. In the former there is an intense blow as the bell swings against the clapper; but in the carillon the hammer strikes the bell from a very short distance-s one-quarter of an inch~and consequently there is less volume of sound at any time. The carillon is particularly suited to fiat countries such as Holland and Belgium, where the bell sounds travel with more effect and at far greater distances than in hilly countries, where the sound is closed in, interrupted, and echoed back. Mr. Rice gives the following as the probable course of the carillon's development in those countries ;' 'I In Holland and Belgium in the distant years when clocks and watches were more rare than now, and the people were much more dependent upon the town clock for knowledge of the hme of day or night, it became the custom to precede the striking of the hour by a short, auto matic chiming on three or four small bells in the clock tower, as a premonitory signal. As this and that town sought to surpass its neighbors, the bells were increased in number, and the musical scale of tones and half-tones became complete. Brief melo dies began to be heard at the hour and half-hour, and with still more bells, came, at these divisions, whole tunes. All this playing was automatic. 'The standard authority on carillons is W. G. Rice's Carillons of Belgium and Holland. from which a large part of the material in this and the following chapter has been obtained. ' CARILLONS IN GENERAL 195 "Then came the point of greatest advance. The keyboard was just beginning to be used with stringed instruments. What was more natural than that bells should have their keyboard, or clavier, and so be made ready to respond to the art of the aspiring musician? Soon pedals were employed with the heavier bells. By these improvements, rapid and quite complicated playing was possible, and almost any composition could be fairly interpreted by a skillful executant, and so regular carillon recitals or concerts came into being. "Thus in the course of two or three centuries was developed a carillon, a musical instrument of distinct characteristics, and possessing wide possi bilities for community service. Not only did the carillon have, by automatic play, constant com panionship with time, but beyond this, the master of its clavier could make the town council meeting hour enjoyable, and the market (ever a feature of the life of the Low Countries) additionally gay for old and young.