Parsifal Bell - Earlier Wagnerian Church Bell Substitutes

Earlier Wagnerian Church Bell Substitutes

Various substitutes for bells were tried in vain, but no other instrument gave a tone similar to that of church bells. This is because a bell sound consists of rich harmonics composing the clang, plus two distinct simultaneous notes, first the tap tone, which gives the pitch, and the hum tone or lower accompanying note. The dignity and beauty of the bell tone depend on the interval separating the hum from the tap tone.

A stringed instrument, similar to the Parsifal bell but having only four notes, was used at Bayreuth for the first performance of Parsifal in 1882, where it was combined with tam-tams or gongs in an attempt to replicate the sound of a church bell. The instrument was built by the Bayreuth-based pianoforte manufacturer Steingraeber & Söhne. After many trials the following combination was adopted as the best makeshift:

1. the stringed instrument with four keys;
2. four tam-tams or gongs tuned to the pitch of the four notes composing the chime;
3. a tuba, which plays the notes staccato in quavers to help make them more distinct;
4. a fifth tam-tam, on which a roll is executed with a drumstick.