[Bell Historians] 16th and 17th century tuning

[Richard Offen]

I’m a bit under the pump work-wise at the moment, but if I get a chance
later in the week, I’ll go through some of my physics of music books – I’m
pretty sure that Charles Taylor gives some of the history of the major and
minor scales in one of his books on the subject.

 

R

 

   _____  

From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Richard Smith
Sent: Monday, 11 August 2008 6:04 PM
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Bell Historians] 16th and 17th century tuning

 

Richard Offen wrote:

> > Is anyone aware of any research into how the tuning of rings
> > of bells evolved during the 16th and 17th centuries?
>
> "HYPERLINK
"http://www.hibberts.co.uk/index.htm"http://www.hibberts-.co.uk/index.-htm"
> "HYPERLINK
"http://www.kirnberger.fsnet.co.uk/"http://www.kirnberg-er.fsnet.-co.uk/"

Interesting though both of these are, I'm not sure either 
really touch on what I'm interested on. Or perhaps they do, 
and I haven't managed to locate the relevant parts, in which 
case a pointer would be appreciated.

The only passage I can find that is slightly relevant to the 
introduction of a major scale in rings of bells is the 
following paragraph on Nigel Taylor's site:

| Until the 17th century, few churches had more than four 
| bells. These rarely formed a scale; this was of little 
| consequence as each bell was used for a specific purpose, 
| such as the curfew, sanctus, or tolling for the dead. 
| Little, if any attempt was made to tune additional bells 
| to sound in tune with existing ones. In the mid-17th century, 
| English change-ringing was beginning to develop, and with 
| it the demand for greater numbers of bells in a set. For 
| change-ringing to make any sense, clearly the bells must 
| form a recognisable scale.

But this doesn't seem wholly compatible with John Eisel's 
essay 'Change Ringing: The History of an English Art, Vol 1' 
where he says:

| In the middle of the sixteenth century we have the results 
| of the first surveys on the numbers of church bells. 
| [...] The weights of the bells show that the bells would 
| have formed a ring and this is emphasised by the returns 
| of the Commissioners for the Hundred of Framland in 
| Leicestershire. Three parishes each had 'iij bells of a 
| corde', Croxton Kerrial had 'iiij bells of a ryng', and 
| Muston had 'iiij bells of one ryng'.
|
| A study of the 1552 and 1553 inventories shows that most 
| parish churches had between three and five bells, although 
| some had fewer and a handful had more.

I would be interested in what is known about the tuning of 
rings from this period. Heinrich Glarean didn't publish 
'Dodecachordon' until 1547, and this is usually credited as 
the point when the major scale (his Ionian mode) was 
introduced, so it would seem surprising if this was in many 
mid-16th century rings of bells.

Richard

 


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