Bell. Bells in the works of writers of the XIX century

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M.M. Valentsova
On the magical functions of the bell in the folk culture of the Slavs

Yu.V. Pukhnachev

The articles of this collection are based on reports read at the conference “Bells. History and Modernity”, which was organized by the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences on the History of World Culture and took place on October 25-26, 1982 in Moscow under the leadership of B. V. Raushenbakh, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

For many centuries, bells accompanied the life of the people with their ringing. They measured the course of days, proclaiming a time to work and a time to rest, a time to stay awake and a time to sleep, a time to rejoice and a time to mourn. They announced imminent natural disasters and the approach of the enemy, they summoned men to fight the enemy and greeted the winners with solemn bells, gathered citizens to discuss important matters and called on the people to revolt during the years of tyranny. The sound of the veche bell was a signal to people's meetings in the ancient Russian feudal republics of Novgorod and Pskov - it was not for nothing that A. N. Herzen called his magazine “The Bell”, dedicated to wrestling with autocracy.

The stunning increase in the weight of Russian bells in the 16th-17th centuries was also deeply symbolic: "Bear", 1500 - 500 pounds, "Swan", 1550 - 2200 pounds, Big Assumption Bell, 1654 - 8000 pounds, "Tsar Bell ", 1735 - over 12,000 pounds. Let's pay attention to the dates - that was the time when the Russian state was growing and getting stronger. And the ringing of giant bells, resounding for many miles around, was a symbol of the growing power of our state, he called the people to unity and fidelity to civic duty.<...>

A. N. Davydov

Bells and chimes in folk culture

In the book: Bells. History and modernity. M., 1985, p. 7-17.

The existence of bells, their functions, their use since ancient times in Rus' in its various regions and regions had, on the whole, the same character. But in this article we give examples only on the basis of the study of the bells of the Russian North.

If you trace for what reason this or that bell was cast, then several groups can be identified. Often there are bells cast in remembrance of the dead. Here is an example of an inscription on one of them: “This bell was built from its inzhivation and attached to the Solvychegodsky Vvedensky Monastery in July 1738 for the excellent gentlemen Barons Alexander Grigorievich and the Stroganov brothers for the commemoration of their forefathers. Lit this bell at Salt-Vychiy with a sounding board in the suburb" 1 . The bell weighed 70 pounds. The casting of bells in commemoration of parents was customary in Russia. It was believed that each blow to such a bell is the voice of commemoration of the deceased.

known votive bells. Here is the story of D. A. Butorin, a hereditary Pomor from Dolgoshchelye, reproducing the events that happened somewhere in late XIX V. The Nenets couple had only girls for seven years, and the father, a baptized Nenets nicknamed Severko, made a vow to the church of St. Peter and Paul in the village. Soyan, in which he was married, that if a boy is born, he will donate a bell to the church. A boy was born 10 months after the vow. Severko sold the herd of deer and entrusted the craftsmen Deryagin and Melekhov from the village. Kimzha to cast a bell. In 1907, the bell was cast and hung on the bell tower of St. Peter and Paul.

Eat bells cast in memory of historical events. A striking example of this kind is the Blagovestnik bell, now exhibited in the Solovetsky State Historical, Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve. 2 . This bell was cast "according to the highest decree in the name of the Solovetsky monastery" at the Charyshnikov factory in Yaroslavl, in memory of the war of 1854. The top of the bell is crowned with the image of the orb.

Orb, one of the symbols of royal power, tells us that the bell is a royal gift. Analogue-power "Tsar Bell". The text is full of naive faith in the “intercession of heavenly powers”: “Wonderful is God in his saints. In the summer of 1854 July, on day 6, under the rector, Archimandrite Alexander, two English steam 60-gun frigates "Brisk" and "Miranda" approached the Solovetsky Monastery, and one of them fired several shots at the monastery with cannonballs, after which, from two monastery three-pound cannons, they answered as follows fortunately, they damaged the frigate and forced the enemy to leave the next day on July 7, after refusing to surrender the monastery and surrender to prisoners of war: for nine hours both frigates continuously bombarded the monastery with bombs, grenades, grapeshot, even three-pound red-hot cannonballs, and despite the intercession of the saints of God, the Solovetsky monastery remained intact. Before and during the bombardment, there was a service, there was a religious procession, in all church splendor along the walls around the entire monastery. When the passage went up to the wall during the singing: “Dare, dare people of God,” the enemy shots intensified, which made the monastic groans tremble, the wooden roof crackled on it, fireballs broke through it, and with an amazing noise rushed over the heads of the marchers: cannonballs either fell to the ground, hitting the walls of the fraternal cells, or flew through the cells, destroying everything in them. Death was a hair's breadth from everyone, and - oh, an obvious miracle! during the entire time of the bombardment, not a single person was not only killed, but not injured, not even one of the gulls nestlings in the monastery courtyard was killed. To top it all off, the core of the last enemy shot flew through the cathedral wall above the western gates of the face of the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign, which deigned to accept this wound for the monastery, like Her Son for the whole world. After this shot, everything stopped, and the next day the enemies retired in shame. According to the recall of the enemies themselves, from the number of shells thrown, not only a small unarmed monastery, but six large cities could be destroyed, which they themselves recognized as an obvious miraculous patronage of God. The historical event has been turned into a legend.

In a frame of the same shape and size as the frame with the above text, there is an image of the scene of the bombardment of the monastery. Enemy ships are shelling the monastery, flying cannonballs and a battery are visible, reflecting the attack. The scene is transferred dynamically, details are carefully developed. The convex relief of images is conveniently located on the complex surface of the bell, occupying a significant part of it. The image of the bombardment and the story about it are located on opposite sides of the bell.
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Especially for the bell "Annunciation" in 1862-1863. a bell tower was built in the monastery, called the "Royal" (not preserved). The main church and sacristy inventory of the monastery, compiled shortly after the creation of the bell tower, reports: “Under the bell there is a pyramid of cast-iron cannonballs and grenades collected after the attack by the British, of which there are 45 pieces of 96-pounder caliber, 146 pieces of 26-pounder caliber, and cast-iron fragments 20 pounds. Near the bell on the platform are two three-pounder cast-iron guns. These guns were used to repulse the British in 1854. 3

Bell "Annunciation" - a kind of monument to the courage of the northerners. The realistic scene of the shelling of the monastery, depicted on the bell, the cannonballs and cannons that were on the bell tower, could not but cause admiration for the heroism shown by the defenders of the monastery, their courage, which the church so eloquently described as "God's protection."

A variety of events served as an occasion for casting bells. In 1891, there was an incident in the Japanese city of Otsu, the young heir to the Russian throne was beaten by a policeman for his behavior. The epigram of V. A. Gilyarovsky is known:

Adventure in Otsu
The king and queen are saddened, -
It's hard for a father to read
That the son was beaten by the police.
Tsesarevich Nicholas,
If you have to reign -
Never forget,
What the police are fighting!

Arkhangelsk merchant A. M. Pochinkovi “to perpetuate in the history of the Arkhangelsk gymnasium the wondrous salvation of His Imperial Highness, the heir to the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich from the mortal danger that threatened him on April 29. 1891 in the Japanese city of Otsu, at the request of the current abbot, he donated 7 bells worth 35 pounds, arranged for them a beautiful bell tower ” 4 .

Most often, however, the appearance of a bell in a parish was an act of charity. Bells were given to churches, cathedrals, monasteries not only by tsars and members of the royal family, not only by the richest merchants (for example, the Stroganovs), but also by small and medium merchants, wealthy peasants 5 .

In spiritual educational institutions taught musical subjects such as violin, conducting or singing. But Russian Orthodox Church did not have a single bell-ringing school where professional musicians would teach the art of playing the bells, as, for example, in bell-ringing schools Western Europe. I will quote an article from 1896: “...neither the usual composition of our singing choirs, nor their musical and singing training, nor their knowledge and ability to church singing, nor the attitude towards church melodies in the proper sense in most cases does not speak for the fact that they are able to be guardians of church singing art, guardians of its correctness and legitimacy ... All their education is directed towards predominantly, if not exclusively, concert harmonic singing, although this singing, as you know, is only the smallest part of the entire vast circle of church singing, a part that, moreover, has a private and secondary significance and a completely peculiar character that is not suitable for the composition and structure of the divine service. 6 .

Sometimes the art of the famous ringers caused displeasure of the church authorities. So, the famous ringer A. V. Smagin had to seek protection from the Oryol bishop. Thanks to the patronage of hierarchs, lovers of ringing, Smagin became the bell ringer of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg 6a .

Bells and chimes played a variety of roles in public life, in popular culture. We will mention some of these functions.

The bells rang when meeting a distinguished guest or superiors. The Dvina chronicler repeatedly mentions bell ringing, describing the meeting in Kholmogory and Arkhangelsk of Peter I in 1693: “... July on the 28th day” ... the tsar ... Peter Alekseevich ... deigned in his first campaign with his neighbors to come to the city of Kholmogory on court . And as soon as ships appeared near the Kostroma volost, and then there was a call in the cathedral with one bell, until the ships landed on the shore against the city. And as soon as he deigns to sit in a carriage and march through the city ... then all the bells will ring in the cathedral ... And on tomorrow ... they sailed to the city of Arkhangelsk Dvina River past the settlements. And as they sailed by settlements, then there was a ringing in all the parish churches in all the bells. The lengthy edition of the chronicler reports about that day: “And I ring in all the former that evening and night until 5 o’clock” 7 . Bell ringing accompanied almost the entire stay of Peter I in Arkhangelsk.

The bells announced the fire, and this was their integral function in the wooden northern villages, for which fires were a frequent and devastating disaster.

The bells announced the approach of the enemy: Pomeranian bell towers had such a function, for example, during the years of the Crimean War: “... permanent guards were appointed on the bell towers, ... in such a way that at the first appearance of the enemy ... the sentry will sound the alarm” 8.

The bells hung from the lighthouses, there were also belfry-beacons. At the Church of the Ascension of the Lord on Solovki, "a wooden dome is located above the bell tower ... and on top of the dome there is a wooden lantern with glass, which serves as a lighthouse." Reinecke in the "Hydrographic description of the White Sea" mentions a turret with a bell at the lighthouse on Cape-Ostrov, "which rings during fog" 9 . The memory of such a function of the bells has been preserved in folk rumor. 10 .

A similar function was performed by the belfry of the Peter and Paul Church of the Cholmuzhsky churchyard. V.P. Orfinsky writes that on “foggy days, fishing boats, lost in the skerries of coastal islands, found their way home by the inviting bell ringing and the flickering of a light on the belfry” 11 .

In the Pomeranian village of Nenoksa, bells were also rung so that a lost person could go to the house to ring. Similarly, bells were used in almost all northern Russian villages, with the inhabitants of which I had to talk about a similar function of bells.

The bells measured the time. In social practice, the very order of church bells has already served as a signal of the times. Starting from the XVI century. V in large numbers there are also tower clocks on the bell towers with special clock bells. The very first such clock in the North was installed by Semyon Chasovik, the archbishop (master of the Archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov) in the Solovetsky Monastery in 1539. "iron fighting clock". In the book "The Development of Chronometry in Russia", from which information about the tower clock is taken, there is also an image of a clock on the bell tower of the Vygoretsky Monastery 12 . From other sources we learn about the existence of similar clocks in Vologda, in Sumposad, in Verkol, on the bell tower of the cathedral in Arkhangelsk, in the monasteries of the Trinity-Stefano-Ulyanovsky, Kozheostrovsky Nikolo-Karelsky, Shenkursky for women, Onega Cross, Syamsky, Michael the Archangel in Arkhangelsk, Solvychegodsky, Vvedensky and others. This list is clearly not complete.
11

Finally, the bells announced important state or local events.

These are some of the most significant functions of bells in the social life of the Northern Russians.

Bell ringing developed as a kind of folk art. Art. Smolensky noted that "artistic ringing is possible only in small bell towers, where all the bells are subject to the will of one bell ringer" 13 . We do not deny the possibility of beautiful ringing of large bells (an example of this is the belfry of Rostov the Great), however, in the Russian North, single-tier bell towers with relatively light bells prevailed. Ringers in the North were local residents, in the church hierarchy they stood at the lowest level: “The church watchman, he is also a bell ringer (in the local language - a trapper), whether he was hired from society, or from a person elected by him, receives alms in addition to monetary rewards, to do this, he goes to the homes of parishioners on every holiday. There, this repast is served baked bread, shangi, etc. ” 14 The trapeznik was often instructed to dig graves, in winter for a fee of 40 to 50 kopecks, and in summer - from 20 to 30. It seems that in this state of affairs the trapeznik was a poor man.

Sources describing beautiful ringing do not, as a rule, name the ringers. Judging by the wide distribution of bells, a large number of bell towers in the northern cities and villages, we can consider bell ringing as one of the usual manifestations of folk art, where the master is often anonymous. Speaking of bells as a folk art, we note the custom that existed in Russia, according to which during the Easter week access to the bell towers was completely open. According to S. P. Arkadov, a former bell-ringer in the Pomor village of Nenoks, he became addicted to ringing during Easter, when it was “bell-ringing week”.

P. S. Efimenko writes: “Just as during the whole week of Easter there are all-day chimes on church bell towers, then men and women, single and married, married and girls have a custom to go after the first day to the church bell towers in crowds” 15 . The author of the article had to hear about the “ringing week” throughout the North, from the Mezen basin to Vychegda, from Pinezhye to Poonezhye. Anyone could call, up to teenagers. Such a tradition, of course, contributed to the emergence of new combinations of ringing, the selection of rhythmic "figures", which later became fixed in chime music.

The ringers themselves very often did not have a musical education, but they were talented people who were in love with their work. Onp bells were memorized with the help of ditties and sayings.

To my question: “how did they call in the bell tower?” - the old bell-ringer of the Pomeranian village of Nenoksa answered:
- And how they called, guy ... Here we climb with a partner on the bell tower, take the ropes from the bells in our hands, look at each other and sentence. He measures figures for himself on small bells like this:
Go-li-ka-mi with-you-ka-li!
Go-li-ka-mi with-you-ka-li!
And I measure more:
Let's hit the head!
Let's hit the head!
- Golik, what is it? I didn't understand at first. And the ringer replies:
- Golik - a broom in our opinion. He is in a saying about nothing, but for the sake of harmony. And during the ringing it's so fun - you want to dance right!

Another Zvonar "saying" was told to me by S. A. Zhitnukhina, a resident of the village of Aleshino, Vologda Region, recalling the ringing of the old Alyosha bell tower: "Dor-da-Batyushka-Sluda-and-Serednya-Labazna-last!" 16 In this case, there is a listing of nearby villages.

The rhythm of the bell ringing of Arkhangelsk is mentioned in the fairy tale by S. G. Pisakhov “A lot went to the city for a wedding”. “The big bell overslept: it’s a wedding thing, he drank and swayed all the days - he didn’t open his eyes at all, but half-awake in a hangover voice barked:
- Why cod?
- Why cod?
The small bells did not sleep the night - they also walked all night - they did not find out the price of the cod and chattered at random:
Two ko-drink-ki with po-lo-vi-noy!
Two ko-drink-ki with po-lo-vi-noy!
13

In the market near the St. Nicholas Church, bells - mischievous robots knew the price of cod, and they rushed:
You're lying, you're lying - one and a half!
You're lying, you're lying - one and a half!
The big bell chattered its tongue, swung about the edge:
Let them be silent!
Don't scream!
Remove them!
Remove them!
It was good that the other cathedral bells were sharp-eyed, our gifts-gifts had long been looked out for and began to sing:
To us! To us!
With beer to us!
To us! To us!
Welcome to us!
To us! To us!
With vodka to us!
To us! To us!
With a cup to us!
To us! To us!
The bride - the cathedral bell tower, dragged the fence behind her like a hem. Zhonikh - the fire tower with lanterns furnished and some of the guests set the lanterns " 17 .

Bells and bells are associated with traditional folk culture. P. S. Efimenko cites the following beliefs about bell ringing that existed among the peasantry in the North: “Hearing the ringing of bells, the devil runs away from a person. They also notice that if you leave the house, enter it, finish something at the very beginning of the ringing, there is a harbinger of good. 18 . The monks of the Solovetsky Monastery, relying on the ideas already formed about the bell ringing, spread rumors that the bombardment of the monastery during the Crimean War also stopped with the ringing of the large “Thousandth” bell.

The attitude to the bell, as to a talisman, to the ringing, as to salvation from evil forces in the North at the end of the 19th century. was ubiquitous. A. Balov noted the deep connection between bell ringing and the cult of the thunder god, believing that “as St. the prophet Elijah partly replaced in the concepts of our ancestors, with the adoption of Christianity, Perun - the god of thunder, and the bell ringing became a symbol of the thunder of heaven "; and further: “Nature excites from sleep, according to the belief of the pagan Slav, the same thunder god with his thunderous voice” 19 .
14

Here it is important for us to pay attention to special treatment to the bell traditions in Pinega. This northern river has long been famous for its archaic folk culture. So, according to P. Ivanov, on Pinega “before, they say, circles were led on the bell towers,” that is, round dances, which means they sang songs of the pre-Christian calendar cycle! On these significant days of the turn of the year to spring, the people of Pinez enjoyed the attention of the ringing of small, arched bells, as well as botals, sharks: On Saturday evening of the bright week, along the upper reaches of the Pinega, the guys run randomly, each holding a stick with tied bells in his hand. To do this is to meet Thomas. On Fomino Sunday, along the upper reaches of the Pinega, peasants ride horses harnessed to sledges with arches and hung to them in a multitude of bells, bells and sharks. 20 .

We can assume some important role of bells in the ancient pre-Christian ideas of the Slavs. Perhaps their ringing was a magical summoning of thunder and spring? In any case, the above facts require the serious attention of ethnographers and religious scholars. The problem of the role of the bell in the Christian ideas of the Slavs is of extreme interest.

Draws attention and wedding ceremony. In Pinega, as in most other places in the North, a wedding train is inconceivable without bells. Bells with their ringing protect the young from " evil spirits"On the most important road - to the crown and from the crown: "Ahead of the entire ceremonial procession, made up of a huge train of betrothed and village relatives, with a lot of bells, shufflers, bells, vertebrae buzzing under the arcs, on the shafts and on the necks of the horses, they go to sledges, carts or horseback carts with ribbons lowered on their sleeves" 21 . Wedding rituals, like calendar ones, are characterized by the greatest archaism of symbols. In this context, it does not seem to us accidental or late appearance of bells with their protective function in traditional culture northern Russians.

Finally, the ringing of bells is also associated with the ideas about the dead that existed among the traditional northern Russian peasantry. As in the rest of Russia, the peasants believed that “a donation for a new bell can best alleviate the fate of a sinful soul in the afterlife”, that bell ringing has the ability to “excite the dead from their deep sleep” 22 .

The magic of the bell and the ringing of bells penetrated into folk medicine. Here it is appropriate to recall the legend that existed in the North, as if a broken bell hanging on one of the bell towers of Solvychegodsk is the same bell that at one time informed Uglich about the murder of Tsarevich Dimitri, was whipped for this and exiled to Tobolsk. The people considered this bell miraculous. A certain M. K. G-vich describes the magical rite associated with it: “Almost every day one could hear the dull sound of this bell: this is a peasant, climbing the bell tower, washing the tongue of the bell, ringing several times while "(local vessel) home, as a remedy for childhood diseases" 23 ). The logic of reasoning here, most likely, was as follows: the bell that angered the people, the “protector” of an innocent murdered baby, carries the power that can help sick children, heal them.

Bells and ringing are a great value of the cultural heritage of the Russian people. In the past, they were a significant phenomenon in the social life and folk culture of the Russian North. The study of their many and varied functions in Russian culture will allow us to better understand the roots of national identity.

Notes

1 Solvychegodsky Vvedensky Monastery of the Vologda diocese. Vologda, 1902, p. 10.
2 Davydov A.N. Two bells of the Crimean War. Russia and the Russian North during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Vologda, 1979, p. 64-83; he is. The “miraculous” salvation of the Solovetsky Monastery (history and legend).-Science and Religion, 1981, No. 1, p. 32-34.
3 GAAO, f. 878, op. 1, d. 1, l. 221-221 rev.
4 Brief historical description of the parishes and churches of the Arkhangelsk diocese (hereinafter: Brief historical description ...), no. I. Arkhangelsk, 1894, p. 114.
5 Ibid., p. 19, 59, 114, 295, 339; issue II, p. 56, 66, 93, 102. 114, 125, 131,
184, 188, 233, 252, 254, 266, 280, 399; issue III, p. 62, 98, 250, etc.
6 Vologda Diocesan Gazette. Addition to No. 21 for 1896
6a Rybakov S.G. Church bells in Russia. SPb., 1896, p. 47.
7 PSRL, vol. 33. L., 1977, p. 162-163, 192-196.
8 GAAO, f. 115, op. 1, d. 180, p. 166 vol.
9 Reinecke. Hydrographic description of the White Sea. - Arkhangelsk Gubernskie Vedomosti, 23.1. 1846 (.No. 4). Part neof., p. 50.
10 Krinichaya N. A. Northern legends (Belomorsko-Obonezhsky region). L., 1978, p. 107.
11 Orfinsky b. (I). In the world of fairy-tale reality. Petrozavodsk, 1979, p. 77.
12 Pipunyrov V.N., Chernyagin B.M. Development of chronometry in Russia. M., 1977, p. 18, 31, 32, 51.
13 Smolensky St. About bell ringing in Russia. - Russian Musical Newspaper, 1907, No. 9-10, March 4-11, St. 265.
14 Efimenko P. S. Collection of folk legal customs of the Arkhangelsk province. Arkhangelsk, 1869, p. 106.
15 Efimenko P. S. Materials on the ethnography of the Russian population of the Arkhangelsk province, vol. 1. M., 1877, p. 141.
16 Zhitpukhina Sofya Alekseevna, born in 1914, native of the village Aleshino, Vologda region; record by A. N. Davydov. Arkhangelsk, 25.10.77.
17 Pisakhov S. A. Fairy tales. Arkhangelsk, 1977, p. 59-60.
18 Efimenko P.S. Materials on ethnography..., p. 164.
19 (Balov A.) Bell ringing in folk beliefs. - Arkhangelsk provincial sheets, 1903, No. 243, - p. 4.
20 Efimenko P.S. Materials on ethnography.., p. 168, 141.
21 Ibid., p. 78.
22 (Balov A.). Decree. op., p. 3-4.
23 G-vich M. K. Solvychegodsk and his county.-IAOIRS, 1911, No. 15, p. 119

V. V. Lokhansky

Russian bells

In the book: Bells. History and modernity. M., 1985, p. 18-27.

Since ancient times, there has been a special tool for convening citizens in Russia. For this, a wooden board was used - "beat", which was hit with a wooden mallet - "riveting". "Small beater" is a two-oar board with a cutout in the middle for holding it with your left hand. In the middle the board is thicker, gradually thinning towards the edges. Dry old beaters (maple, beech) give different sounds depending on the place of impact (pitch) and the force of impact (nuances). Hence the musicality of the instrument 1 This music of different performers had many variations. In particular, in the North they "riveted" much more slowly than in the South.

The powerful sounds of the bell called the townspeople to the meeting. In the event of a military threat, the "alarm" bell gathered people to jointly rebuff the invaders. The people of the victorious heroes - the regiments of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy - greeted the people with bells.

Unlike the cities of Western Europe, in which there was a large concentration of residents and therefore prohibitions were often issued to ring during rest hours, and the number of bells at each church was regulated, in Russia, with its vast expanses and considerable remoteness of villages from each other, there was an urgent need for such an instrument , which could quickly alert a large number of people in a wide area. Therefore, on
Rus' and sought to cast large bells with a low, strong sound that would be heard very far away. Thus, one of the predecessors of the Tsar Bell, cast in 1654 under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, weighed about 130 tons and was heard over 7 miles 2 . Bells were the only musical instrument used in Orthodox worship. In addition, they were generally the only monumental instrument in Rus', and therefore were used in a very diverse way. One of the Western travelers who visited Moscow at the beginning of the 17th century wrote to the largest Moscow bell: “This bell is rung when the tsar is celebrating a celebration, when he receives foreign ambassadors in the castle or is having fun, then they ring it (instead of timpani and pipes) especially joyful sound" 3 .
18

It is known that Ivan the Terrible, who loved choral and bell music, having retired to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda and led a monastic life there, at four o'clock in the morning went to the bell tower for matins. The son of Ivan IV, the devout Fyodor, also a great connoisseur of bells and an amateur bell ringer, lamented that the bell ringer from the Androniev Monastery was able to perform a better figure on bells than he, the king's son. Judging by this fact, Russian bell-ringers were able to skillfully perform certain various rhythmic motifs.

According to Adam Olearius, who visited Russia at the beginning of the 17th century, up to 5-6 bells hung on the Moscow bell towers, weighing up to two centners 4 . They were run by a bell ringer.

The formation and development of bell ringing as a musical art is inseparable from the ancient Russian singing art. His early experience - Znamenny chant - was monophonic. Over the course of several centuries, it was being transformed into a widely developed melody. Something similar happens with the ringing of bells. At first it was only a signal, but over time it acquired some definite outline of a monophonic principle. According to the description of B. Tanner, who visited Moscow in 1678, they called here like this: “First, they strike one smallest bell six times, and then alternately with a larger bell six times; then both, alternately with a third even larger one, the same number of times and in this order they reach the largest; here they are already striking all the bells and, moreover, as many times. Then they suddenly stop, and there they start all over again in the same order. 5 . From this description it can be seen that the ringers still did not differ in great musicality and expressiveness. This is a variant of chime - one of the most ancient types of chime that has survived to this day.

At the same time, even then, on Sundays and major holidays in the Kremlin, all the bells rang at once. 6 . It looked like a normal chime.

The formation of choral polyphony in the form of lowercase and then partes singing probably influenced the appearance of polyphony in bell music. A large number of bells appear on the bell towers (in Rostov - 13, on Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin 37 bells hang in four tiers). They are divided into groups according to the functions performed by them. Moreover, the names of the groups in most cases are determined by choral terminology.19

The bell ringing is dominated by a three-voice structure, hence the term “trezvon” came from, that is, three rings, three-voice. The largest bells, low sounding, give pace to the chimes. Their heavy tongues are difficult to control, they move, obeying the natural laws of the pendulum, therefore their pace is constantly the same. But still, the most experienced bell ringers know how to vary by playing them. They can hit both sides of the bell, one, and sometimes even miss a beat altogether.

The smallest bells lead the main melodic-rhythmic figuration, but sometimes they form, as it were, an echo to the middle voices leading the main musical material. "Ringing" bells ("trebles") always play in small durations, such as a trill. It is she who gives the whole ringing a joyful, lively and mobile mood. A trill is “like a horizontally stretching thread during a ringing. Due to its diversity, it gives the ringing the most diverse sounds, ”said K. K. Saradzhev, a wonderful musician who was famous for his playing the bells in the 20s of our century. 7 .

The middle bells - "alto" (and sometimes "tenor") - also perform two functions. First, they give rhythmic filling to the large durations of bass bells. Secondly, the “altos” themselves often perform the main ringing pattern, similar to how middle voices lead the main melodic line in lowercase singing. A comparison with a folk song is appropriate here, where the violas very often performed the melody. The range of average voices is the largest, often it corresponds to the range of the human voice.

All these three lines form a single whole, but at the same time each has great independence. This principle is typical for Russian folk song with its subvocal polyphony.

Continuing the parallel with choral singing, it should be noted: just as in the choral business Russia has always been famous primarily for the bass part with its extremely deep octaves, so in the bell ringing we have always had the largest - and therefore the lowest sounding - bells. Since ancient times, Russian foundry masters were considered the best in the world.
20

So, the largest of the bells of the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin - the "Big", hanging on the Filaretovskaya extension - weighs more than 65 tons (cast in 4817-1819), its main sound is the "D flat" of the counteroctave, its rumble sounds an octave below. There is also "Reut" - 32 tons (1622), "Everyday" - more than 13 tons (1652). On the bell tower of the Troipko-Sergius Lavra was the "Tsar Bell" (the namesake of the famous Kremlin) weighing more than 53 tons (1746), as well as "Godunov" - about 30 tons, "Kornoukhy" - more than 20 tons (1684). The wonderful bell of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery weighed about 39 tons (1667), the large bell of the Simonovsky Monastery weighed 16 tons (1677), the famous "Sysoi" in Rostov weighed 32 tons (1688). Finally, the world's largest "Tsar Bell" (1735) weighs 202 tons.

Simultaneously with the increase in weight, the number of bells also increased. So, according to contemporaries, in Moscow and its suburbs alone in the 16th-17th centuries. there were more than 4000 churches, each of them had from 5 to 10 bells 8 . An unimaginable rumble stood in Moscow during the big holidays, when several tens of thousands of bells rang at the same time.

The spread of bells in Rus' caused the people to have a special attitude towards them. The love of Russian people for bell ringing with its diversity and grandeur, which is not found in other countries, has long been known. The different nature of the chimes comes from different genre beginnings. Here is the ringing signal, simple, clear, clear; epic ringing associated with heroism and glory - such a ringing is slow, majestic, using large bells that set the basis. “Wire” (funeral) ringing with the help of deep pauses, a large fading, alternating with a bright strike on all the bells, moderate movement produces a strong impression of grief, deep tragedy. The post-wedding ringing, with its large acceleration from small bells with the gradual connection of larger ones, with its bright amplification, ending in complete fortissimo, has a cheerful intonation, a special solemnity.

Often, bell ringing acquires the features of dance. Rimsky-Korsakov noted this, retelling from the words of one of his acquaintances how some tipsy peasant first crossed himself under the festive chimes, and then started dancing.

Cheerful, perky bell ringing is very close to Russian ditties. And this is no coincidence. Very often, ringers, in order to remember and correctly reproduce a certain rhythmic figure, danced and sang composed melodies, sometimes of a rather frivolous content, during the game. For a long time in Russia there was a custom: on Easter, anyone who wished could climb the bell tower and ring the bells. Then various folk rhythms and melodies sounded from the bell towers.

The most important quality that determines the genre of ringing is its rhythm. It is he who, first of all, makes it possible to distinguish dance, epic, lyrical, funeral and other types of ringing from each other. Of course, here there are features of texture, orchestration, and to some extent melodic movement. But still, the rhythmic pattern is the content of the bell ringing. The music of Russian bells is not melodic, but rhythmic,

There are a number of features that bring the bell ringing closer to the folk song. Both for those and for others, the methods and traditions of the given area are characteristic. For example, northern songs and chimes are sung, wide, sedate, with a patterned pattern, intricate interlacing of voices, while in Moscow dance, moving rhythms are more common, here the manner of folk singing and bell ringing are simpler, more straightforward.

With this, probably, the variance of calls is also connected. So, for example, the traditional chime in some places goes as single successive strikes from the smallest to the largest bell, sometimes from large to small, in some places from large to small, and then back. Sometimes they make not one, but several blows to each bell, and the number of these blows is different - from two to six. In some cases, the chime is produced with a slight melodic beat.

Variation is the most important principle of both folk song and bell ringing. Taking some particular rhythm as a basis, an experienced ringer will be able to decorate it with some modifications, rhythmic figures of both the upper voices and especially the middle ones. Sometimes the rhythm of the middle voices changes significantly. This keeps listeners interested in ringing for a long time. Both in Moscow and in Leningrad, I have repeatedly observed how untalented ringers played the same rhythmic phrase for several minutes without any change. Such ringing causes either an indifferent or a disapproving reaction from the listeners. On the contrary, a gifted ringer-improviser, who performs the same ringing twice (for example, before the service and at the end of it), does not repeat it, but skillfully diversifies it. On the same bells, with the same tricks, different bell ringers often play very differently, while again the principles of their playing are the same. Of course, talent, experience and skill are involved here, but the momentary mood of the bell ringers, their momentary musical feeling and thinking are also important.
22

Of course, greater freedom of improvisation is possible where the number of ringers is limited - one or two. Where there are several of them, as, for example, in Rostov, the game should be more learned, as if by notes. In this case, some variation of ringing is possible, but not so free.

Like a folk song, bell ringing has always been created in the oral tradition, in the process of collective work. In oral performance, they developed and changed. We had a lot of talented bell ringers, all of them transmitted old compositions composed by many masters. Moreover, they were not just artisans-performers, but creators, with inspiration developing already existing chimes.

From generation to generation, the Russian art of bell ringing was passed on and grew rich, as popular as the Russian song. The people were the creator of the bells, so we can rightfully say that the bells are the musical epic of the people 10 .

The love of the Russian people for the bell ringing manifested itself in large numbers. folk songs dedicated to him. These are: “Something ringing” from the Voronezh region, “Ringing in the city” from the Kursk region, “It was heard in the distance” from the Astrakhan region, “Din-bom” - a children's song, “The bells rang”. Almost all of them, to one degree or another, beat the rhythmic chimes of the bells themselves. On the same list are the wonderful “Evening Bells”, and “They Ring at the Savior for Mass”, and many other songs.

Bell ringing has been reproduced more than once in the work of Russian and Soviet composers. And here you can hear all kinds of ringing - the alarm in the scene of the Putivl fire in Borodin's opera "Prince Igor"; the sudden ringing that calls the guardsmen to Red Square in Tchaikovsky's Oprichnik; the big ringing accompanying the entry of Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov's Pskovityanka; light, festive ringing in Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan"; the solemn ringing in the second scene of the prologue of Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov"; the jubilant ringing in the epilogue of Ivan Susanin by Glinka; alarming, inviting ringing in the scene near Kromy in the opera Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky and in it - a gloomy, mournful funeral chime in the scene of Boris's death.
23

Bell ringing is used in Rimsky-Korsakov's Sunday Overture, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Glazunov's suite The Kremlin, Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevsky, Shostakovich's poem The Execution of Stepan Razin, and in many other works.

The ringing of bells for these composers was not only an illustration, an everyday fact. Here it is appropriate to cite the expression of Academician Asafiev: “The ringing is like the color of the atmosphere” - that musical atmosphere that once surrounded a Russian person from childhood, brought up his musical taste, musical feeling 11 . Bell ringing in the music of Russian composers is the personification of Russia. As one of the national symbols, the profile of the bell is also visible in the monument "Millennium of Russia", created in 1862 by the sculptor Mikeshin.

All Russian music is closely connected with choral singing and comes from it. The Russian choir is characterized not by the general leveling of voices, but by the convex use of their bright and varied timbres. The principle of using bells was the same in Russia.

Undoubtedly, the most famous Russian bells were in Rostov the Great. They have always been famous for their coherence, expressed primarily in their rhythmic harmony; in addition, the three heaviest of the Rostov bells are coordinated and harmonically, forming a domajor triad. But Russian chimes are not characterized by a harmonious beginning with its well-balanced system. The bells were often assembled on the same belfry by chance, made according to different canons of form and from alloys of different composition, and therefore having an unequal timbre.

The outstanding bell ringer of the 1920s, who so dreamed of making a state concert bell tower, separated from the church, K. K. Saradzhev, who had a fantastic ear, answered the question of which, in the sense of selection, bells he prefers to ring, answered that he was all it doesn't matter if the bells are picked up in musical scale or do not constitute any scale. He was guided only by the nature of the individuality of the bell. It did not matter to him if a given bell with its neighbor gave a discordant sound. There are no dissonances in bell music, just as there are none in folk songs. 12 .

This feature of the bells was very well understood and vividly shown in many of his works by a great connoisseur of folk music, the brilliant Russian composer M. P. Mussorgsky. In his work, he used authentic bells more than once, and also imitated them in piano and orchestral sound. Mussorgsky did not consider the combination of dissonant (by classical standards) intervals and chords to be dissonance for bells. In support of this opinion, it can be noted that, for example, the ringing of the bell tower of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow does not hurt the ear, although the selection of bells there is inconvenient in terms of harmonic clarity and order. On the bells during the game, such a scale listens perfectly and allows the ringer to compose various and interesting compositions.

In the same way, both the bell ringers and the listeners of the Rostov bells were not in the least disturbed by some discordance in the bells on which these chimes are played.

Rostov Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich guessed to build a non-traditional bell tower, high in several tiers, where the ringers would not hear and see each other, which would make the ringing inconsistent and stupid, and a low single-tier bell tower - a spacious gallery with wide windows. Several different patterns of ringing were performed here. The oldest of them is "Ioninsky", performed by five ringers. The first and second bell ringers, swinging the Sysoya tongue, hit both sides of the bell with it, so that they get 42 beats per minute. The third bell-ringer strikes both sides of the "Polyoleiy" at the same time as the "Sysoy". The fourth ringer plays on six bells. The tongue of the "Swan" is pulled close to one end of the bell with a rope, which is tied to the railing of the bell tower with the other end. In the middle of this stretched rope there is a rather long loop, into which a bar is inserted, which acts as a pedal. By pressing this pedal with his left foot, the bell-ringer makes blows simultaneously with "Sysoy" and "Polyeleiny". In his right hand, he takes the ropes tied into a knot from four alto bells and rings them in turn. In his left hand he has a rope from the "Red" bell.

The fifth bell ringer plays four bells: in "Hunger" in the same way as in "Swan" - with the help of a foot pedal; from the tongue of the "Baran" a rope was stretched to the railing, - pressing it, the bell ringer struck the bell. Ropes from two "ringing" bells are tied together; pulling the rope to the right, left or towards himself with a wrist movement, the ringer could play these bells alternately or immediately on two together 13 .
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Such chimes are easily controlled, so the sound of each of the bells can be taken at exactly the right time. These chimes were always performed very rhythmically and clearly. From generation to generation, the bell-ringers played here learnedly, precisely.

Many technical principles and ways of playing inherent in Rostov chimes have received their further development and a modification in the practice of ringers from other places in Russia.

The belfry on the bell tower of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra is arranged in a similar way. The largest of the bells hanging here, the "Swan" (7 tons), so named for its soft, "flying" sound, is played by one bell ringer striking both sides. The main bell ringer plays on the others. In his right hand he has ropes tied into one knot from four "ringing" bells hanging in the front opening of the bell tower; they perform various kinds of trills. The cables from the "alto" bells are tied with their second ends to a low post and act as keys. Striking but with it, the bell ringer makes certain sounds in a certain rhythm. From the tongues of the "tenor" bells hanging in the far opening, cables are stretched through a system of pulleys to the foot pedals; by clicking on them, the bell ringer receives the desired sounds.

A similar principle of play is used on the bell towers of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and the Novodevichy Monastery. Their ringing, with some specific patterns and common features, is entirely built on constant improvisation and variation. In this it is fundamentally different from Rostov, where the main thing is learning and stability.

One bell-ringer plays on the Novodevichy bell tower. The ropes from the two largest bells, tied into one knot, are tied to a log, as in Rostov.

On some bell towers, to control a large number of bells, the ringers took part of the ropes from the tongues into their hands, and some were tied to their elbows.

In the process of the development of bells, several types of them have developed. One of them constantly used M. P. Mussorgsky in his work, superimposing the active rhythmic movement of high bells on the roll call of the sustained sounds of “alto” and “bass”. Their character, rhythm changes, but the scheme is the same. It is interesting that Mussorgsky sometimes starts ringing with medium voices, for example, in the opera "Boris Godunov", in the scene "Under the Kromami" (this is very rare in Russian bell practice), and sometimes from high voices - also not so frequent onset ringing.
26

Russian bell ringing - from the most common and traditional examples of folk art of ringing to exquisite bell intonations in the works of Russian composers - is a rich and vibrant musical material.

Notes

1 See: Smolensky S. V. On the ringing of bells in Russia. SPb., 1907, p. 13.
2 Pavel of Aleppo. Journey of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch to Russia in the middle of the 17th century. M., 1896, p. 109.
3 Olovyanishnikov N. I. History of bells and bell foundry art. M., 1912, p. 42-43.
4 Olearius A. A detailed description of the Holstein embassy to Muscovy and Persia in 1633, 1636 and 1639. M., 1870, p. 345.
5 Tonner B. Description of the journey of the Polish embassy to Moscow in 1678. M., 1891, p. 57-60.
6 Ibid., p. 57-60.
7 See: Tsvetaeva A. I. The Tale of the Moscow Bell Ringer. - "Moscow", 1977, No. 7, p. 154.
8 Petrey P. History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. M., 1867, p. 5-6.
9 Rimsky-Korsakov N. A. Chronicle of my musical life. M., 1982, p. 215.
10 See also: Pukhnachev Yu.V. Riddles of sounding metal. M., 1974, p. 118.
14 Asafiev B. V. Selected works, vol. IV. M., 1955, p. 94.
12 Tsvetaeva A. I. Decree. op., p. 155.
13 Izrailev A. A. Rostov bells and ringing. M., 1884.

L. D. Blagoveshchenskaya

Belfry - musical instrument

In the book: Bells. History and modernity. M., 1985, p. 28-38.

The bell in its main function is a musical instrument. In addition, it is a monument of history and material culture, a work of artistic casting, a monument of writing, a mechanical system. All these aspects should be the object of study by the relevant specialists.

Until now, “bell” and “bell” appeared in all instrumental reference books (of course, only where they were nevertheless attributed to musical instruments). The absence of a clear distinction between these two concepts immediately attracts attention.

A bell, unlike a bell, can be part of a monumental plein-air instrument - a bell tower with a selection of bells, and this is the main form of its existence. Even when only one pick bell is used in a ring, it is simply a partial use of the entire instrument (similar to how any one register of a piano can be used).

The bell is not used as an additional sound source in more complex instruments, which is typical for bells (for example, a drum with bells). Bells in such cases are used as a noise effect; the tone of each of them is not an independent component of the intonation cell, as is the case in the selection of bells. The same is often observed when the bells are not an additional, but the main source of sound.

No one doubts that when an individual bell strikes in an orchestra, then this is a musical instrument, we note right away - episodic. But over the centuries, a whole branch of folk instrumental music has developed - bell ringing 1 where he was no longer episodic. The instrument on which the ringing was performed was no longer a bell, but a selection of them, fixed on a specific belfry equipped in a certain way.

The sound spectrum of a bell is a complex combination of harmonic and non-harmonic overtones, the ratios of which serve as the basis of the scale selection (just as the harmonic spectrum serves as the basis of classical harmony). We will not dwell on these issues further. This article will focus on some aspects of the specifics of the selection of bells on the belfry as a musical instrument, the function of the belfry itself and the aesthetic awareness of the whole complex as a whole.

Like any work of folk art, the bell tower is multifunctional. Often she played the role of a lookout tower, a defensive structure. And in the city of Porto (Portugal), for example, it still serves as a lighthouse 2 .

The described instrument has undergone a long evolution in parallel with the evolution of the bell itself. The birth of a qualitatively new instrument in comparison with a separate bell should be attributed to the time when the bell, too heavy to be held in the hand, began to be hung on a pole or wooden goats. Then they saw that two or three bells could be hung on the crossbar of the pole, and a small protective canopy appeared on the top of the pole. Of course, from such a structure to a classical bell tower is a huge distance.

The man realized that the ringing on two bells is richer than on one: you can not only encode a larger number of signals, but also make them more beautiful. Since the sound of the bell depends on the relief of the surrounding area and nearby buildings, the instrument has acquired an individual sound, different from other specimens of this type. An increase in the number of bells and the observed dependence of their sound on the conditions of their fixing led to the construction of a wooden bell tower, and an increase in the weight of the bells, and the desire for durability - to the appearance of a stone bell tower.

It is interesting to note that ancient churches were often built without bell towers, until the ringing was so significant in public life and such an essential moment in the service. Later, bell towers were often attached to them. 3 . From the 14th century in Russia, churches “under the bells” appear, that is, built into the lower part of the bell tower, the former main goal construction. Not always the construction of the bell tower was associated with the presence of a selection of bells; there were bell towers with one bell 4 . The sound from them carried already further than from the poles. In Hungarian villages, a bell was sometimes hung on a wooden tripod or on a tree. 5 . The krona extinguished the sound, but in small and not far from each other villages this was not so significant.
29

Apparently, bell towers were not built in Rus' before the Mongols 6 . The first mention of the belfry in Pskov dates back to 1394, in Novgorod - to 1437. 7 , but Olearius in the 1630s noted that so far bells hung on the poles more often than on bell towers 8 .

Historically, there were two types of such structures: the belfry and the bell tower. The first is a wall with openings for hanging bells, the second is a multifaceted or rounded tower (often tiered), inside which bells are hung, and the sound propagates through the auditory openings in the form of windows, often the entire width of the bell tower. Thus, the ringing from the bell tower spreads horizontally in the same way, but from the belfry - not the same. A complex complex connecting both of these species is also possible. For example, in Suzdal, the belfry of the Spaso-Efimiev Monastery is a two-tiered bell tower, docked with a belfry-wall.

The design of the belfry determines not only the propagation of sound in the surrounding space, but also the reachability and quality of the ensemble of performers. For example, on a tiered belfry, where the ringers do not see each other, it is more difficult to achieve coherence. So, for the bell tower of Ivan the Great, the famous ringer A.V. Smagin invented for this purpose a whole system of auxiliary devices 9 . The ringing is also complex in the case when there are several bell towers (for example, St. Isaac's Cathedral in Leningrad has four bell towers).

The shape of the auditory openings of the bell towers is also significant. In Western Europe they are not great. Hungarian belfries, for example, have small windows 10 , and among Russians the entire tier of ringing is often open. Naturally, this gives a different sound and is one of the specific features of the local traditions of the instrument. 11 .

In the East, there are types of such instruments. In Japan, for example, bells were hung at the corners of multi-tiered pagodas. 12 . But they were not always hung. In Burma, even now they strike with a mallet on the outer surface of the bell, standing with the bell down on a special pedestal 13 .

How did it happen that, having a long history, bell ringing was not comprehended in Russia as instrumental music, and a belfry with a selection of bells - as musical instrument? The ringing was used as an instrumental accompaniment to the service in the Orthodox Church, which was one of its main functions. Recall that in the Orthodox service, unlike the Catholic, there is no instrumental music, and the ringing was not considered “music”.

In this regard, one can try to find interesting origins of the custom of christening bells, naming them with human names and nicknames, and other manifestations of anthropomorphism. In his Notes on the Religion and Customs of the Russian People, Sederberg writes: instrumental music Russians reject it because, as they say, it, like other soulless objects, cannot praise and glorify the creator, but, on the contrary, only gives pleasure to the senses and interferes with reverence. 14 . Well, if the bell is baptized with a successor, give it a name, then it will no longer be a “soulless object” and a musical instrument, but, on the contrary, “the voice of God”. And if he is guilty, he, like any Christian soul, must be punished, sent into exile.

The facts of the struggle of Orthodoxy with folk instrumental music, the destruction of instruments are well known. At the same time, a number specific qualities ringing (great power of sound, "mysterious" timbre, monumentality and dissimilarity with everything that we used to call a musical instrument) made it attractive for use during the service. Perhaps the very fact of a kind of "ban" led to the emergence of a new instrument. Researchers noted such facts: “... an attempt to circumvent the well-known musical prohibitions formed on the basis of historically established social relations led to the formation of new instruments ...” 15

The acceptance by the church of the bell as an attribute of the Orthodox cult, on the one hand, gave a material opportunity and a powerful impetus to the development of the art of ringing, since it requires a lot of money, on the other hand, it firmly placed it outside of instrumental music.

In the West, where Catholicism widely used instrumental music, a different type of bell tower was formed with freely suspended bells and devices for swinging them, where melodies of folk and classical music or (in England) mathematically organized sequences of sounds; where the concept of "bell concert" was widely used; where they were not afraid of such parallels with traditional music, but on the other hand, ringing was less different from its other types and was not as peculiar as in Russia. In the West, specific types of bell towers were also formed - chimes and carillons, which have long been firmly ranked as musical instruments.

The characteristic features of the bell tower with a selection of bells are monumentality, incommensurable with all other instruments (including the largest ones), plein air and “attachment” to one place 16 . Here is an ironic folk saying: “Less arable land, more space; the huts are not covered, but the ringing is good! 17 . In this regard, let us recall the name of one of the cities near Moscow - Zvenigorod, in the center of the coat of arms of which in the 19th century. the bell appeared.

It was not always possible to create a belfry at once as a whole. It was necessary to add new bells, to reconstruct the belfry. Well, if the case then turned out to be in the hands of a knowledgeable person, as, for example, in Rostov the Great or. in Novospasskoye, in the homeland of Glinka. And it happened that the new bell did not agree with the others, the selection was distorted, and it had to be reorganized. So, in 1871, four bells of the Ascension Maiden Monastery were poured to form a new ringing 18 . Many bell towers have been exploited for years with an unsuccessful, random selection. This must be taken into account when analyzing their scales, paying attention to the aesthetic assessment of the bell tower by local residents.

The functions of a bell tower with a selection of bells are much wider than those of a separate bell or bell. The selection of bells on the belfry is a carrier of very complex information, an important communicative medium, part of a synthetic action (religious service). Different genres of ringing also carried different functions. From the purpose of the bell as a signal calling to the temple, a blagovest has grown - a kind of instrumental introduction to the service, to create a certain mood - a chime (having, accordingly, a great aesthetic value) or a death knell.

It was only with the suspension of bells on the bell tower that ringing began to take shape as an aesthetic phenomenon. It is quite obvious that the expressive means of selection are much richer than those of a single bell. Not to mention the fact that the timbre, strength and possible rhythmic combinations are brighter and more diverse, the selection also has fundamentally new expressive means - pitch ratios (chants) and texture. However, the intonational side did not become dominant in Russian chimes, which is one of their cardinal differences from Western ones. The improvement of expressive means led to the further development of the signal-informative function of the instrument, which in turn served as an incentive to enrich the expressive means.
32

Despite all the prescriptions of the church authorities, the traditions of folk music constantly penetrated the Orthodox statutory bells, and the clergy had to either fight them or canonize them as officials. 19 . In addition, there were a lot of secular bells, which we do not specifically dwell on now; there was a custom of free ringing during the Easter week. So it is a mistake to consider ringing only an attribute of a cult.

Despite the fact that officially the selection of bells on the belfry was not considered a musical instrument, and ringing was not considered instrumental music, many contemporaries intuitively assessed it that way. At the same time, the aesthetic functions of ringing were noted more often than the understanding of the bell tower with bells as a whole. The aesthetic assessment of the people cannot be ignored when clarifying the question of whether a phenomenon belongs to art. 20 .

The bell tower with a selection of bells has its own functions and expressive means, and it should be singled out in the Russian instrumentation as an independent musical instrument and an object of scientific research. No one should be disoriented by its multifunctionality and applied existence in musical practice, since this is one of the typical features of Russian folk art, due to historical and social conditions.

The attitude to the bell tower with the selection as a single whole is often heard in the popular nicknames of churches: “Ascension is a good bell tower”, “At the red bells” 21 , "Red Bells", "Red Ringing" 22 . In the saying "They beat at the Spas, they call at Nikola's, and at old Egor's the clock is talking" 23 the merits of three different bell towers are compared. Evidence of the intuitive attitude to the selection of bells as a musical instrument is, for example, the fact that the main top of the trembita among the Hutsuls always coincides with the order of the bells of the local village bell tower 24 .

The comprehension of the bell tower as a whole is observed in the most subtle people of different social groups. Therefore, one should take into account not only folk testimonies, but also the statements of writers, musicians, etc. The ringer P.F. Gedike, brother of the famous composer, said that from the bell tower of the Sretensky Monastery, where he called and organized the not a single bell (this, he said, would be tantamount to removing a key from a piano). The integrity of the selection as a "historical monument of high musical value" is emphasized by the folklorist E. N. Lebedeva 25 .

In Hauptmann's play "The Drowned Bell", the master, who had previously cast more than a hundred scattered bells and conceived the main work of his life, not only casts the entire selection, but also builds the temple himself 26 . In a poem by Blas de Otero: "... The bell tower cries on the night of the tribunal" 27 . The bell tower is crying, not the bells! The same with V. Hugo: “Are the bells ringing, from the tocsin the earth is buzzing ...” 28 True, Western selections were closer to traditional music, and it was easier to notice that this is a musical instrument. But similar turns of speech, indirectly indicating an understanding of the functional unity of the bell tower, are also found among Russian authors. A. I. Kuprin gives a saying that imitates the ringing of bells: “Po-op Ma-a-rtyn, are you sleeping too? Ringing the bell tower... " 29 Instead of the usual - "they ring the bells." He has the same: “To him (the bell) other bell towers responded ...” 30 And if M. I. Glinka recalls that in his childhood, during an illness, “for fun”, individual bells were brought to his rooms 31 , then S. Smolensky, who later wrote a work on ringing, in his childhood, when he studied this art, arranged a bell tower (!) In the attic from flower jars and clay pots 32 , and then "he also went through a peculiar school of bell ringing at the nugget-ringer of the Intercession Church in Kazan, the most complacent, but most skillful" Semyon Semyonych "" 33 .

In addition to general impressions, many composers - Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov - recall specific bell towers, vivid childhood auditory impressions, subsequently reflected in their work. 34 .

The attitude towards bells as an instrument can be found in the works of Soviet musicologists. For example, A. Alekseev writes about Rachmaninov: “... when the composer sought to enrich the piano palette with the timbres of other instruments, he especially willingly resorted to reproducing bell sonorities” 35 . An important circumstance in the historiography of the issue is the inclusion in the program of the book "The History of Cult Music in Russia" by A. N. Rimsky-Korsakov, a section on bell ringing 36 .

Bells and their selections have numerous relatives in the instrumentation close in sound source (voiced timbre idiophones), in the material used for their manufacture (metal), in form, and in social function. But instruments that are related in one of these parameters differ in others. For example, the immediate predecessors of bells in Rus' - beat - at first glance, have nothing in common with their successors (the difference in form and material). But the function and way of being put them extremely close.

Let's try to present in the form of a table the "kinship system" of the bells and their selection. The table does not claim to be complete and only illustrates the difficulty of determining the place of the bell in folk and professional tools. Therefore, only some instruments of different eras and peoples are taken as an example.< Таблица (с. 34-35) >

Notes

1 Yareshko A. Bell ringing is an instrumental variety of Russian folk musical creativity.- From the history of Russian and Soviet music, issue. 3. M., 1978.
2 Kritsky L. Portugal. M., 1981, p. 89.
3 See: Patay P. Regi harangok. Budapest, 1977. See also article
V. V. Kavelmacher in this collection.
4 Dickinson A. Searches with variations.- Patterns of symmetry. M., 1980, p. 71.
5 Patay P. Op. cit., s. 41.
6 Encyclopedic Dictionary, vol. XVth (30). SPb., 1895, p. 722-727.
7 Karger M. Veliky Novgorod. L. - M., 1961; Pskov Chronicles, II.M., 1955, p. 107.
8 Klyuchevsky V. Legends of foreigners about the Moscow state. M .. 1866.
9 See: Rybakov S. Church bells in Russia. SPb., 1896, p. 60.
10 Patay P. Op. cit.
11 Appreciated the acoustic properties of the bell towers, the famous singer Gigli loved to sing from them. See: Gilly B. Memoirs. L., 1964, p. 21.
12 See: Fedorvnko N. Japanese records. M., 1974, p. 384-385.
13 Mozheiko I. 7 and 37 miracles. M., 1980, p. 293, 301.
14 See: Livanova T. Essays and materials on the history of Russian musical culture. M., 1938, p. 285.
15 Braudo E. Fundamentals of material culture in music. M., 1924, p. 59.
16 Just as in a concert hall the location of the listener's ear affects the perception of sound, so the location of the listener in the landscape surrounding the bell tower affects what he perceives. See: Olovyanishnikov N. I. History of bells and bell-casting art. M., 1912, p. 392-393; Smolensky S. About the bell ringing in Russia. SPb., 1907, p. 4.
17 Dal V. Explanatory Dictionary, vol. I. M., 1955, p. 672.
18 The term "ringing" has several meanings: the act of making sound and picking bells; architects called this word a place for placing a bell - an arch, an opening, etc. See: Martynov A. Moscow Bells. - "Russian Archive", 1896, No. 1-3, p. 108. See also the article by VV Kavelmacher in this collection.
19 See: Donskoy G. About church bells. Novocherkassk, 1915; Cherepnin L. On the history of the "Stoglavy" Cathedral of 1551 - Medieval Russia. M., 1976. p. 118-122; Yareshko A. Decree. op., p. 64.
20 Matsievsky I. Folk musical instrument and methodologyhis researches (on urgent problems of ethnoinstrumentation). - Actual problems of modern folklore. L., 1980, p. 143-170.
21 Pylyaev M. Historical bells. - "Historical Bulletin", vol. HI1, 1890, p. 174.
22 Zabelin I. Experiences in the study of Russian antiquities and history, part II. M., 1873, p. 205.
23 Rabinovich M., Latysheva G. From the history of ancient Moscow. M., 1961.
24 Matsievsky I. Decree. op., p. 167.
25 See: Lebedeva E. Inspection of the bells of the Sretensky Monastery.
26 Hauptman G. Sunken bell. Gannele. M., 1911.
27 Palacio K. Composer and life. Autobiographical notes. M., 1980, p. 98.
28 Hugo V. Lyric. M., 1971, p. 116.
29 Kuprin A. Sobr. soch., in 3 volumes, vol. 2. M., 1954, p. 96.
30 Ibid., p. 143.
31 Glinka M. Notes. L., 1953, p. 23.
32 Smolensky S. About bell ringing in Russia. SPb., 1907, p. 16-17.
33 In memory of Stepan Vasilyevich Smolensky. [Bg. m.].
34 See: Bryantseva V. Rachmaninov's Piano Pieces. M., 1966, p. 72-73; Rimsky-Korsakov N. Chronicle of my musical life. M., 1935, p. 226.
35 Alekseev A. S. V. Rachmaninov. M., 1954, p. 184.
36 Rimsky-Korsakov A.N. Plans for books and articles. The history of cult music in Russia, etc. - Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography, f. 8, op. R 111, unit ridge 15.

The history of bells dates back to bronze age. ancient ancestors bells - a bell and a bell were discovered by scientists in the everyday life of many peoples: Egyptians, Jews, Etruscans, Scythians, Romans, Greeks, Chinese.

In a dispute about the origin of the bell, a number of scientists consider China to be its homeland, from where the bell could have come to Europe along the Great Silk Road. Evidence: it was in China that the first bronze casting appeared, and the most ancient bells of the 23rd - 11th centuries BC were also found there. size 4.5 - 6 cm or more. They used them in different ways: they hung them on the belt of clothes or the neck of horses or other animals as amulets (to drive away evil spirits), they were used on military service, in the temple for worship, during ceremonies and rituals. By the 5th century B.C. The interest in bell music became so great in China that whole sets of bells were needed.

Chinese bell from the Chang Dynasty, 16th-11th century. BC, diameter 50 cm

IN late XVIII centuries in Russia established "exemplary post". But the Western postal horn did not take root on Russian soil. It is not known for certain who attached a bell to the arc of the postal troika, but it happened around the 70s of the 18th century. The first center for the production of such bells was in Valdai, and the legend connects their appearance with the Veche Novgorod bell that allegedly crashed here. You can learn more about this on the very interesting website of the Valdai Bell Museum

During the Soviet years, thousands of Russian religious bells were barbarously destroyed, and their casting was stopped. The 20s of the 20th century were the last in the history of bells: bells, fire bells, station bells ... Fortunately, today the art of bell casting and bell ringing is being revived. And collectors have preserved in their collections the coachman's bells, wedding bells, bells, bells, bells, murmurs and rattles. Recently, a rare pyramidal bronze bell, presumably from the 2nd century AD, found near Kerch, was donated to the Valdai Museum of Bells by a private collector.

And how great is the variety of souvenir bells - and do not tell. There are no limits in this matter, just as there is no limit to the talent and imagination of the artist and master.

Svetlana NARozhnaya
April 2002

Sources:

M.I. Pylyaev "Historical bells", Historical Bulletin, St. Petersburg, 1890, vol. XLII, October (the article was reprinted in the collection "Famous Bells of Russia", M., "Fatherland-Kraytur", 1994).
N. Olovyanishnikov "History of bells and bell-casting art", edition of P.I. Olovyanishnikov and sons, Moscow, 1912.
Percival Price "Bells and Man", New York, USA, 1983.
Edward V.Williams "The Bells of Russia. History and Technology", Princeton, New Jersey, USA, 1985.
Yu. Pukhnachev "The Bell" (article), "Our Heritage" magazine No. V (23), 1991.
Website of the manufactory "WHITECHAPEL"
Illustrations:

I.A. Duhin "And the bell is fervently poured" (article), "Monuments of the Fatherland" magazine No. 2 (12), 1985.
Yu. Pukhnachev "The Bell" (article), magazine "Our Heritage" No. V (23), 1991
Percival Price "Bells and Man", New York, USA, 1983
Edward V.Williams "The Bells of Russia. History and Technology", Princeton, New Jersey, USA, 1985
Site of the Valdai Museum of Bells

Site of CJSC "Pyatkov and Co" (Russia)

Analytical task
Perform a holistic analysis of the proposed work. You can rely on the questions given after it, or you can choose your own path of analysis. Your work should be a coherent, coherent, complete text.
From the cycle of A.I. Solzhenitsyn "Tiny" (1996-1999)
BELL UGLICH
Who among us has not heard of this bell, which, as an outlandish punishment, was deprived of both the tongue and one eye, so that it would never again hang in the dignity of a bell; not only that - beaten with whips, but also exiled two thousand miles away, to Tobolsk, on a rattletrap, - and in all, and in all this distance, it was not the horses who carried the cursed luggage, but the punished Uglichians pulled on themselves - in addition to those two hundred, already executed for the tearing apart of the sovereign's people (the murderers of the little prince), and those with truncated languages, so as not to explain what happened in the city in their own way. period until it was pardoned for return. And here I am in Uglich, in the temple of Dmitry-on-the-Blood. And the bell, although it is twenty pounds, but only half a human height, is strengthened here in high esteem. His bronze has dimmed to a hard-won serizny. His beater hangs motionless. And they offer me to hit.
I - beat, once. And what a marvelous rumble arises in the temple, how meaningful this fusion of deep tones, from antiquity - to us, unreasonably hasty and clouded souls. Just one beat, but it lasts half a minute, and a full minute is extended, only slowly, slowly, majestically fading away - and up to the very silence without losing the colorful polyphony. Ancestors knew the secrets of metals.
In the very first moments, on the news that the prince had been stabbed to death, the sexton of the cathedral church rushed to the bell tower, smartly locking the door behind him, and no matter how enemies burst into it, he beat and sounded the alarm at this very bell. The cry and horror of the Uglich people ascended - the bell announced the general fear for Rus'.
Those rolling bell strikes - the cry of the great Trouble - and foreshadowed the First Troubles. I also got it, now, to strike the suffering bell - somewhere in the duration, in the decay of the Third Troubles. And how to get rid of the comparison: the people's visionary anxiety is only an unfortunate hindrance to the throne and the impenetrable boyars, four hundred years ago, and now.
1996
Basic questions:
1. What technique (tropes) is the most important in the image of a bell? Why?
2. What details in the description of the bell do you consider the most significant? Which symbolic meanings receives in the "tiny" A.I. Solzhenitsyn's bell in Uglich?
3. What is the scope of time and space in this prose miniature by A.I. Solzhenitsyn? How are past and present related?
4. What thoughts and feelings accompany the narrator's "acquaintance" with the bell? How are they expressed in the text?
5. What are the features of the language of A.I. Solzhenitsyn, could you mention?
Creative task
Very popular in the 18th century genre form travel. Descriptions of travels, real and fictional, appeared in the form travel notes, diaries, letters, reports. At the same time, the so-called "small form" - "walks" - was formed. So, for example, K.N. Batyushkov, we will find prose works “A walk around Moscow”, “A walk to the Academy of Arts”.
EXERCISE. Create your own version of the "walk" using the form of a letter or diary entry, blog posts or on your social media page.
Choose and use one of the following fragments of poems as an epigraph.
Do not forget that the epigraph is an emotional and semantic key to the text.
1. Do I wander along the noisy streets ...
A.S. Pushkin
2. …Look out the window
Autumn, in yellow leaves, in delicate gilding,
Slowly conjures. What are we destined for?
K. Balmont
3. The city is akin to trying
Air to keep the note from silence ...
I. Brodsky

Attached files

Bell, at M.Yu. Lermontov, a part of something eternal, unearthly, an animated being, not tied to the bustle of the mortal, petty world of people " Himself a stranger to everything, earth and heaven”, which announces to them the most important thing: about "death" or "immortality" ("Who in the winter morning ...", 1831 ). In a quatrain about the famous Kremlin bell tower, Ivan the Great appears, in Moscow half asleep, half asleep - “at one o’clock in the morning golden, / When fog lies over the city ...”, a timeless, majestic hero-king, personifying epic Rus' (“Who saw the Kremlin ...”, 1831). Something similar is being developed by I.A. Bunin in the poem "About the Moscow Kremlin" (beginning of the 20th century). In the poem "Mtsyri" (1839), the bell belongs to a space alien to the hero - the monastery. On the one hand, the bell becomes hated by Mtsyri - “From childhood, he has more than once / Chased away the visions of the dreams of the living / About dear, loved ones and relatives ...”, on the other hand, the hero is so exhausted, devastated by longing for his native element and his intransigence with fate, that it is as if he himself turns into a bell “It seemed that the ringing came out / From the heart - as if someone / Iron struck me in the chest ...”.

In "Night" V.M. Garshina ringing literally saves a person from an irreparable step - suicide. At the most tense moment of spiritual intensity, the peak of despondency, the ringing breaks into the small world of a completely confused person, opens the “shell of condemnation” of others, suggests that there is another, real, very different world around, and that there is something higher than it. grief and disappointment.

- Farewell, people! Farewell, bloodthirsty grimacing monkeys!

All I had to do was sign the letter.<…>he felt hot<…>went to the window and unlocked the hatch.

“You have to,” he said to himself at last.

He walked over to the table.<…>When, having approached, he had already taken a revolver, a distant, but clear, trembling sound of a bell was heard through the open window.<…>

- Bell! he repeated. - Why the bell?<…>

The bell did its job: it reminded the confused person that there is something else besides his own narrow little world, which tormented him and drove him to suicide.<…>

Above the vanity, above ordinary human life, above suffering, above the history of the people, the old man Mikheich is raised by the bell tower and the ringing in the “Old Ringer” by V.G. Korolenko (1885). The old man's legs no longer obey, but he still rises to the bells in order to fulfill his obedience on time, to which he devoted his life. Through his ringing, he looks at his life, the description of the views from the bell tower and the episodes of memories are closely intertwined and “break through” in a very psychological picture of the Easter ringing. In this episode, the peak of Mikheich’s experiences and the peak of the Holiday coincide (the first exclamations of “Christ is Risen!”), the bells here sympathize, live with the hero, helping him overcome the burden of worries, insults and, most importantly, with a calm, pure heart, having performed obedience properly, die .

It is hard for an old man to climb a steep staircase. Old legs no longer serve, he himself has worn out, his eyes do not see ... .<…>He buried his sons, buried his grandchildren, escorted the young to the domino, escorted the old, and he himself is still alive. Hard….<…>And here he is, the rich enemy, bowing to the ground, praying for bloody orphan tears; hurriedly swings at himself sign of the cross and falls to his knees and thumps his forehead ... And boils - Mikheich's heart flares up, and the dark faces of the icons look sternly from the wall at human grief and human untruth ...

All this has passed, all this is there, behind ... And the whole world for him is a dark tower<…>. "God judge you! God judge! ”The old man whispers and droops his gray head, and tears quietly run down the bell ringer’s old cheeks ....

<…>Mikheich hears a joyful cry - Christ is risen from the dead!

And this cry resounds like a wave in the senile heart….<…>It seemed as if his overflowing old heart had turned into dead copper, and the sounds seemed to sing and tremble, laugh and cry, and, intertwining in a wonderful string, rushed upward.<…>. Big bass screamed and threw<…>two tenors sang along with him joyfully and loudly<…>the two smallest trebles, like little guys, sang in a race<…>the wind seemed to follow. And the old heart forgot about a life full of worries and resentment ...<…>He listens to these sounds<…>and it seems to him that he is surrounded by sons and grandsons<…>.

Not so noticeable, but significant and defining, Dostoevsky's “bells” in The Brothers Karamazov and Possessed. In the novels of this writer, the role of the bell and bells is mostly veiled - in the focus of the author - the narrator, certain copper objects appear from time to time to herald an important event ("ontological expectation of copper" - the term of L.V. Karasev), "support" the hero in the moment of the “threshold minute” (term by L.V. Karasev). This issue is quite fully covered in the article “On the Symbols of Dostoevsky”, after reading which one can once again be convinced of the exceptional saturation of the writer’s text with information, about the powerful symbolic load on the artistic object “bell”, and quite definitely - about the innovation of F.M. Dostoevsky in terms of working with objects, symbols and emblems, as well as in building on their basis a multi-layered and very dense text, the so-called "text of gospel density".

Bells S.T. Aksakov appear as the personification of the Motherland in a foreign land (“Let it often be there, on the side of a stranger ...”, 1840s), empathizing with the lyrical hero, also in K.R. (“The gospel is borne so sadly and depressingly…”, 1880s). At the same time, in the poem “Vespers in the Village…” (1830s) (also by S.T. Aksakov), through the image of the simplest ringing, blagovest, the seal of simplicity and absence falls on the whole poem - a description of the temple, choir, chants , fathers, prayers, parishioners. And from this simplicity, humility, because this is a village, it seems that prayer in this temple is the most real, the most sincere. And “the tone is set for this” by the ringing of the bell - the ringing begins and ends the poem.

“He lays down his soul for his friends” bell A.K. Tolstoy. In a quatrain

“Peacefully slumbering at the bell…” (1855), with the last of his strength, he sends people the warning “mighty copper sounds” of the tocsin. A simple and transparent blagovest, in the poem "Nabat" of 1840, a simple and "transparent" three-foot trochee, with a truncated third foot, "calls" to the Motherland, wakes up in lyrical hero longing for her, for the Heavenly Motherland. In the poem "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (1868), the author likens the soul of the protagonist to the legendary Church, "gone underground", from the depths of which at times "bells are heard". Here the bells become both the emblem of the legend, and in fact the archetype of Kizhi, and are likened to a part of an allegorical temple, a temple to a man (“In the soul, / Always open to the enemy and friend, / Lives love, and goodness, and prayer, / And as if a quiet ringing is heard in it ...”). The parallel “man - temple” is given by the Gospel:

Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you, whom you have received from God?<...>Therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

A.I. Kuprin, the ringing of bells in the "Easter Poem in Prose" is presented, first of all, as the most cherished and fulfilled boyish dream, the process of ringing and the "intoxication" of the hero with height, views from the bell tower and, most importantly, the realization of a dream are described.

Bell tower. What a cheerful, intoxicating, dizzying variegation below, under my feet. The sky is scary close<…>. Oh, the height of boyish happiness - finally in my hands is a rope from the most important, the biggest bell.

We can say with confidence that the bell throughout the entire 19th century was a quite common reality in any Russian city, village, village, a full and familiar part of the “sound atmosphere” of this time. He not only accompanied a person throughout his life, in a religious sense, noting the most important points(holiday, counter, wire, wedding, funeral, etc. chimes), in everyday terms (alarm, blizzard, veche chimes), but it will not be an exaggeration to say that bell ringing organized every day, year and in general a person’s life. This can be confirmed by one of the existing proverbs: "The first ring - disappear my dream, the second ring - bow to the ground, the third ring - get out of the house."

Given the above, it would be quite reasonable to note that the bell, bell ringing, in the works of poets and writers of the 19th century, rather an ordinary detail of the era, the "background" on which the intrigue unfolds, the plot. But one cannot exclude the possibility of an active role of this "habitual reality" in the work, whether it be as a significant artistic detail, through motif or character. Our tasks do not include an in-depth review of Russian classics of the 19th century, we will limit ourselves to listing the main trends in the material available to us related to the concept of "bell" in the literature of this period, in the work of mainly classics included in school curriculum, as well as less famous poets and writers.

Having considered the fragments of the above texts, we can sum up the micro-results:

most often in the works of Russian literature XIX century bells are found in a passive function (illustration of the era, comparison, assimilation, allegory, etc.),

· less often in the works of this period, bells are involved in the organization of the plot (the novels of F.M. Dostoevsky), in psychological episodes (lyrics, “The Old Ringer” by N.G. Korolenko).

Thus, we can conclude, on the one hand, about the high frequency of use of this subject in Russian literature, but, on the other hand, about its use mainly in a passive function.

Due to bureaucratic delays, mold making, oven construction and other preparatory work were started only in January 1733. All work was carried out on the Ivanovskaya Square of the Kremlin near the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Technological process was similar to that described earlier, according to Biringuccio, performed with special care, dictated by the huge mass of the product.

On November 25, 1735, the casting of the Tsar Bell was successfully completed. Until May 20, 1737, the day of the fire, fatal for the bell, it was still in the pit, where finishing work was carried out (never completed). Part of the decorations of the bell remained unminted.

The history of the creation of the bell is described in detail in a number of publications. It should be noted only a few points that characterize the complexity, and sometimes the drama that sometimes accompanies the creation of such unique works. Troubles in casting the bell began with the melting of the metal. The huge amount of it needed to fill the mold was supposed to be smelted in four 50-ton furnaces installed around the mold. However, in November 1734, during the melting process, the base of three furnaces rose and the metal began to “leave” under the furnaces. Then the installation, designed to lift the mold casing, and the roof of the building caught fire. Burnt oak logs collapsed on the prepared mold. The fire was extinguished, but the process had to be stopped to sort out the mold and repair the ovens. A new, this time successful attempt was made in November 1735. About 200 people were employed in the manufacture of the bell. different professions. Approximately 1.3 million bricks were used for laying stoves and molds. It took 2.5 months to make the dummy rod, 2 months for the mold casing, and so on.

Several times there were ideas to raise the damaged bell. However, it lay in the ground for 101 years and 7 months until, on July 23, 1836, a grandiose operation was also carried out to extract the bell from the pit (Fig. 156). The rise was led by the builder of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, architect A. A. Montferrand, the author of the design of the pedestal, on which the bell was then installed. For lifting, a special structure was built over the pit, 20 gates were used, each of which was rotated by dozens of soldiers. Crowds of people, officials and the public of the city watched the rise, the governor general was present.

And finally, before the eyes of the audience appeared a giant with a diameter of 6 m 60 cm and a height of more than 6 m, a true masterpiece of foundry art. The bell is richly decorated with relief images. Made on it formal portrait Empress Anna Ioannovna, who ordered him to cast (Fig. 157, a). The image of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich reminded that the new bell was poured from an older one, cast back in the 17th century. during his reign (Fig. 157, b). On the body of the bell there are also oval medallions with images of saints.

Two large cartouches are very beautiful, inside of which are lengthy inscriptions about the history of the creation of the bell. Surprising decoration of the bell is a light, elegant ornament in the upper part and belts of acanthus leaves and an ornament with large flower rosettes.

After installing the bell on a pedestal, it was crowned with a pommel resting on the ears of the bell, in the form of a ball with a gilded cross (see Fig. 154). On the commemorative plaque of the pedestal, the text contains an inaccuracy in the date of the casting of the bell.

According to the analysis carried out in the laboratory of the mine building (1832), the Tsar Bell material contains 84.51% copper, 13.21% tin, 1.25% sulfur. The presence of about 0.036% gold and about 0.25% silver was also revealed. A reanalysis performed during the restoration of the bell in 1979-1982 gave slightly different results: copper 81.94%, tin 17.24%. A particularly significant difference (50-100 times) in the content of impurities, for example, sulfur 0.035%, gold 0.0025%, silver 0.026%. Leaving aside the discussion of the possible accuracy of analyzes due to technical means, it should be noted that modern results should not be overestimated in order to judge the optimal composition of bell bronze. The composition of the metal in large bells depends on where the sample was taken. In the lower parts, the copper content will be higher than in the upper ones, due to segregation processes. Lighter impurities are distributed in reverse order.

In addition, and this is the most important thing, we, in fact, do not have "reference" samples of ancient bells, when pure components were used for metal smelting: copper and tin. Bells were a type of product whose service was rarely durable. They were broken by inept ringers, they fell from the bell towers and broke during fires, capricious kings and queens could “punish them with destruction” if they didn’t like the tone of the ringing or the bells sounded at the wrong time (for example, during a riot).

There were, figuratively speaking, "epidemics on the bells" when they were subjected to mass destruction. Bronze bells were poured onto cannons in Germany, France, Russia and other countries by both religious rulers and atheists. After the defeat near Narva (1701), when there were not enough artillery pieces to continue the war with Sweden and there was no free metal for the manufacture of cannons, Peter I ordered that part of the church bells be “borrowed” for this purpose. Bells with a total weight of 90 thousand pounds were brought to Moscow.

During the Great French Revolution almost all the bells were destroyed: part of the metal was used to make coins, part to cannons to defend the revolution (the laws of the convention of 1791-1793).

The mass destruction of bells took place in Russia after the October Revolution. On June 30, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars decided: “To ban the ringing of bells in all churches ... since it prevents workers from resting after labor day» 28 . This campaign acquired a particularly wide scope at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. Thousands of bells were destroyed throughout the country. For example, in Moscow, out of about 200 large bells weighing from 100 to 1000 pounds, two remained in place: one in the Novodevichy Convent, the other in the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo. The metal of the bells of the largest Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow 29 was used to decorate the first stage of the Moscow metro, bronze bas-reliefs of famous Russian writers were made from it, installed on the facade of the new building State Library them. V. I. Lenin.

Bells were destroyed during the first and second world wars. In Germany, the fascist regime mercilessly destroyed both its own bells and those captured in the occupied territories, using their metal for military needs (Fig. 158).

Therefore, bells cast before the 17th century are rarely found among the surviving ones. Not all of them are made from the material of the first heat. Many of the most famous bells have been overflown many times. The Assumption Bell, which is now in the Kremlin (finally installed in 1819), weighing 65 tons (4,000 poods), overflowed six times. Each time during the remelting, the metal of the old bell was used and scrap of another casting of bells, cannons, household bronze, etc. was added. So, 600 small bells from the Cannon Yard with a total weight of about 27 tons and other scrap fell into the metal of the Tsar Bell.

It should be added that sometimes the composition of bronze, especially in terms of the content of impurities, depended on the specific materials available to the caster, their deposits, history and other circumstances. For example, it is known that the monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow is made of brass rather than bronze, since there is a lot of zinc in the alloy. However, in this case, this is not due to special technical requirements, but rather with financial difficulties - tin is more expensive than zinc.

Nor should one idealize the quality of old bells. In the 1920s, the outstanding bell ringer KK Saradzhaev examined the acoustic properties of 388 bells from 362 churches, cathedrals and monasteries in Moscow and the Moscow suburbs. Of these, he singled out 29.5% as noteworthy and only 4.4% as good sounding bells.

Thus, any modern, even very accurately performed, but single analysis of the composition of the metal of a previously cast bell gives an essentially random result. This once again confirms the importance of historical evidence, summarizing the long-term experience of casters of many generations in choosing the composition of bronze.

The study of acoustic and physical properties alloys of the copper-tin system using modern methods has shown that their optimal combination falls on alloys containing 17–22% tin, i.e. corresponds to the old recommendations for "bell bronze". The content of tin less than the lower limit worsens the acoustic properties, but increases the ductility of bronze. A bell made of an alloy containing more than 22% tin sounds cleaner, but is very fragile.

The scarcity of copper alloys encouraged casters to make bells or cheaper materials such as cast iron. But the acoustic properties of such bells are not high: the sound is deaf, quickly fading. A steel bell sounds sharp - a bronze tongue softens the harshness, etc. In the case of carillons that perform a melody, the long sound of the bell after a blow complicates the task of playing them, therefore it is desirable to make carillons from manganese bronze with 75% copper.

In the 19th century the production of bells, the demand for which was constant, is concentrated in specialized factories. There were more than 20 of them in Russia, only in Moscow there were three bell factories. The most famous were the Yaroslavl plant of Olovyanishnikov, St. Petersburg Lavrov and Moscow Finlyandsky. The latter employed up to 80 people. During the year, the plant spent up to 25 thousand pounds of bronze. In 1819, the bell weighing 4000 pounds of the Assumption Cathedral was poured here, instead of the one that died in 1812. At the same plant in 1877-1878. 14 bells were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the total weight of which was 40,008 pounds 38 pounds. The main bell weighed 1654 poods 20 pounds, and the smallest 24 pounds.

The technology for making molds for casting bells at factories was unchanged: for large bells, molding was performed according to a template in a pit, for smaller molds, they were made on the edge of the pit, and then they were also lowered into the pit. The smallest were made in flasks according to the model. Large forms were still poured directly from the furnace, small ones - from ladles.

To adjust the required tone and chord of the sound of medium-sized bells, they were sometimes turned from the inside in places responsible for the main harmonics of the sound (Fig. 145).

After decades of active anti-religious propaganda, a new turn in the history of our country began in 1985. It made significant changes in the position of the church. All over the country, temples that were once closed began to reopen, the restoration of the destroyed ones began, and the construction of new ones began. There was a need for a large number of bells. However, over the past years, the domestic school of this and for modern conditions of difficult production has almost completely disappeared. So, even at one of the Italian factories of artistic casting in the first half of the 60s, when manufacturing a bell weighing 22.5 tons (approximately 1380 pounds), the process of preparation and casting took about three years.

The revival of the production of bells in Russia took time, it became necessary to attract experienced casters and scientists. In particular, such an industry giant as ZIL joined the solution of the problem. Acoustics specialists under the guidance of Dr. tech. Sciences B. N. Nyunina conducted a comprehensive study of the old bell weighing 5 pounds, cast at the famous Moscow factory of Samgin. Based on this, a mathematical model for constructing the shape of a bell and a set of bells with predetermined acoustic characteristics was created.

Some cooperatives also took up the production of bells, for example, "Vera" in Voronezh, the "Yantar" association, a number of enterprises of the military-industrial complex with qualified personnel and appropriate equipment. Of course, all of them initially made relatively small bells weighing up to 500 kg. However, as experience is gained, their range expands. As a result, several enterprises took part in the competition for the restoration of the destroyed bells for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (out of 14 bells, the mass of the largest is 1654 pounds, or 27 tons). The competition was won by Moscow car manufacturers.

In March 1996, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' consecrated 10 bells made at ZIL. The first batch ends with the manufacture of a bell weighing 3 tons. The bells of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (incomplete set) rang for the Christmas service in 1997. The next step is the casting and installation of the largest bells: “Solemn” weighing 27 tons, “Sunday” - 16 tons, “Polyelein” - more than Yuti "Budnichny" - more than 5 tons. It is planned to cast all the bells in 1997.

28 A. G. Lagyshsv. Declassified Lenin. - M .: Im-vo "Mart". 1996. - 336 p.

29 The temple was built with public money in 1837-1883, blown up according to the plan for the reconstruction of Moscow in 1931, and now it is being restored in the same place, again with public money, on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the founding of the city.