Westminster strike

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Audio file / audio sample A midi file
with the 6 o'clock Westminster strike ? / i

The Westminster strike is a theme that is used by many clocks and musical mechanisms. It is also known as Westminster Quarters , Westminster Chimes or Cambridge Chimes according to its origins .

description

The melody consists of five different permutations of four tones and is tuned in E major.

The Westminster chime consists of the notes h 0 , e 1 , f sharp 1 and g sharp 1 .

The permutations are:

  1. g sharp 1 , f sharp 1 , e 1 , h 0
  2. e 1 , g # 1 , F # 1 , h 0
  3. e 1 , f sharp 1 , g sharp 1 , e 1
  4. gis 1 , e 1 , f # 1 , h 0
  5. h 0 , f sharp 1 , g sharp 1 , e 1

played as three quarter notes and a half note . A different sequence of these permutations is played every full quarter of an hour:

Quarter of an hour: (1)
\ relative c '' {\ set Staff.midiInstrument = # "tubular bells" \ time 5/4 \ key e \ major g sharp4 ^ "1" f sharp e b2 \ bar "|." |}
Half a hour: (2) (3)
\ relative c '{\ set Staff.midiInstrument = # "tubular bells" \ time 5/4 \ key e \ major e4 ^ "2" g sharp f sharp b, 2 | e4 ^ "3" f sharp g sharp e2 \ bar "|." |}
Three quarters of an hour: (4) (5) (1)
\ relative c '' {\ set Staff.midiInstrument = # "tubular bells" \ time 5/4 \ key e \ major g sharp4 ^ "4" e f sharp b, 2 | b4 ^ "5" f sharp 'g sharp e2 | g sharp4 ^ "1" f sharp e b2 \ bar "|." |}
Full hour: (2) (3) (4) (5)
\ relative c '{\ set Staff.midiInstrument = # "tubular bells" \ time 5/4 \ key e \ major e4 ^ "2" g sharp f sharp b, 2 | e4 ^ "3" f sharp g sharp e2 | g sharp4 ^ "4" e f sharp b, 2 | b4 ^ "5" f sharp 'g sharp e2 | R1 * 5/4 \ fermataMarkup \ bar "||" \ clef bass \ time 4/4 e, 1 ^ "Big Ben" | e1 | e1 \ bar "|." | }

In other words, two complete cycles of these permutations are played within an hour . For the striking mechanism of the watch, this has the advantage that only five sequences have to be stored in the mechanism that moves the hammer. The mechanism then plays two full runs of these five sequences every full hour. The first and third quarter of an hour end on the fifth degree (B), while the second and fourth quarter of an hour (half and full hours) end on the root note (E). This creates the very convincing musical impression, which has greatly contributed to the popularity of the Westminster blow.

The beat on the hour is followed by a beat to indicate the time (one beat for one o'clock, two beats for two o'clock, etc.). This hour is struck by the fifth, larger bell (the " Big Ben ", e 0 ) on the tower clock of the Palace of Westminster .

history

This melody is said to be a variation of the four notes from bars 5 and 6 of the aria I Know That My Redeemer Liveth from Messias by Georg Friedrich Handel . That is why the melody is played by the clock bells of the Red Tower in Halle (Saale), the town where he was born . The clock melody was written in 1793 for a new clock for the Church of St Mary the Great , the university church of Cambridge University . It is not clear who composed the melody: The lawyer Joseph Jowett was commissioned , but he was possibly supported by the musician John Randall (1715–1799) or his student William Crotch (1775–1847).

In the mid-19th century, the tune for the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (where Big Ben hangs) was adopted. It is possibly the most widely used melody for watches today. The melody is also used for many doorbells and school bells , but is often electronically generated.

text

Traditionally the melody has the following text:

O Lord our God
Be Thou our guide
That by Thy help
No foot may slide.

O Lord our God
Be our companion
That with your help
no foot may slip.

Another variant is:

O Lord our God
Be Thou our guide
So by Thy power
No foot shall slide.

Oh Lord our God
Be our companion
So that
no foot should slip through your strength .

The following text is sung by the Girl Scouts in the UK at the end of an elf meeting :

Oh Lord our God
Thy children call
Grant us Thy peace
And bless us all.

O Lord our God
call your children
give us your peace
and bless us all.

The inscription in the bell room of Big Ben reads:

All through this hour
Lord, be my guide
And by Thy power
No foot shall slide.

In this hour,
Lord, be my companion
And through your strength
, no foot should slip.

Musical references

The melody of the strike of Westminster has been used in many other clocks.

Among the many musical works that explicitly quote the Westminster strike are:

  • Carillon de Westminster for organ by Louis Vierne with a slightly different melody
  • A London Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams , quotes the quarters at the beginning and the end of his piece (based on these quotations, only a quarter of an hour would have passed from beginning to end, but the actual duration of the symphony is significantly longer)
  • The Westminster Waltz , a piece of popular music by Robert Farnon from 1956, quotes the chimes several times in a similar way
  • The theme tune of the comedy series Yes Minister is based on the Westminster beat
  • In 2012 the dance project Finger & Kadel produced an electro house record based on the melody (“Heiliger Bimbam”).
  • In his song Dear Little New Year's Eve (2013), Reinhard Mey sets the text passage "When the bell strikes at midnight / comes, little day, the last battle" to music with the melody of the Westminster chime (permutations 4-5-4-5 according to the above notation) .
  • Timepiece op.16 (1972) by Paul Patterson
  • At the beginning of the Reekviem by the Estonian composer Cyrillus Kreek , the motif is indicated by horns in the Requiem from 1927

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