Parsifal Bell - Modern Church Bell Substitutes

Modern Church Bell Substitutes

In most orchestral music, tubular bells are used when a bell sound is called for. In another special case, a special peal of hemispherical bells was constructed for use in performances of Sir Arthur Sullivan's cantata, The Golden Legend. Struck with mallets, they produced both tap and hum tone. But Parsifal presented a particular problem because the lowest of the Golden Legend bells was a minor tenth higher than the lowest note required for Parsifal, and the aggregate weight of the four bells was thousands of pounds.

Modern productions of Parsifal typically use a synthesized, or electronically recorded, church bell sound.

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