have bells that don’t go well together. “And yet the sound can still be pleasant.” The seven bells of the Bernese Minster are “pretty well harmonised”, according to Walter. Rung together, they produce “one of the most majestic and historically significant peals in all of Europe”. The Grosse Glocke, for its part, is “a true gem of world renown”. My bell is bigger than your bell Wouldn’t every church dignitary have wanted a bigger bell in their tower, just to say that they had the largest? Walter laughs and nods. Berne has never had a bishop, so the Minster and its wonderful bells were an “impressive way to compensate”. Technically speaking, casting even bigger bells would not be a problem – bigger bells have indeed been made. “But it really wouldn’t make any sense,” he says. Giant bells also produce high tones, while the really low notes are very hard for humans to pick up. “It just results in a cacophony.” Dancing with Susanne During our conversation, it occurs to me that Walter has only referred to the big bell as Grosse Glocke, not “Susanne”. He says the latter name only came into use a few decades ago. Apparently, a bell-ringer once said that working the Grosse Glocke was about as hard as leading his wife Susanne in a dance. The name eventually stuck. Getting Susanne to swing from side to side was indeed far from easy back in the day. Eight ringers were needed. You can still make out the positions in which they stood in the bell tower to pull on the ropes. Since 1944, the bells in the Bernese Minster have been rung by an electrical mechanism. Walter has an answer to every question. He explains how sturdy wooden beams help to neutralise the tremendous force exerted by the swinging of the bells, diverting it downwards. A bell swinging in synch with the natural swaying of the tower is more dangerous, he says. “The swaying can get worse. Like when people walk over a bridge in lockstep.” Ironically, the second-smallest bell at the Minster is “the most dangerous of them all”. Parishes experiencing problems with one or all of their church bells often come to Walter for advice. At the Minster, Walter suggested over 20 years ago that the Armsünderglocke (or poor sinners’ bell) be rung again as a solitary bell. It was an awkward subject to broach, because the Armsünderglocke used to be the Henkersglocke (or executioner’s bell), which was sounded 65 times between 1735 and 1861 to herald hangings. The Armsünderglocke now rings every evening. Taming the bells Walter is also the man to call when neighbours complain about the ‘noisy’ bells. He has developed bell strikers that don’t have to swing as much because they are extended on both sides in the two directions they move. This more or less halves the volume. The specially designed bell strikers have another effect, and a quite remarkable one at that: shrillsounding bells suddenly begin to sing like Susanne at the Bernese Minster. Not only is Matthias Walter a bell expert, he is a bell tamer. The sound of Swiss church bells Church bells ring in the following Sunday every Saturday evening at 5.20 p.m. on Swiss radio (SRF). The “Glocken der Heimat” is an institution. However, the collection of some 300 different peals has not been expanded for a good few years. Bell expert Walter, who contributed many of the recordings, says people still listen to the radio programme. However, a lot of peals can now be found on other platforms like YouTube. The recordings of 300 or so selected peals are available on the SRF website, as is information about the history and set-up of the bells used in each peal. www.revue.link/bimbam “Bells can sing,” says Matthias Walter. Photo provided The bell striker dictates how the bell sounds – and how loud the bell is. Specially designed bell strikers are used these days to reduce the volume. Photo: Keystone Interlaken, Schlosskirche Photo: iStockphoto Swiss Review / October 2024 / No.5 18 Report
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