Components of the bell. From the history of church bells. Bells in modern Russia

“BELLS OF THE EARTH RUSSIAN. From time immemorial to the present day ”- this is the title of the book by Vladislav Andreevich Gorokhov. It was published in Moscow in 2009 at the Veche publishing house. The book belongs to the category of spiritual and educational literature and for wide range readers are hardly intended. it Scientific research about the creation of bells, about the bell business, about its history, about the fate of the famous masters of bell ringing, about the master casters and about many other things directly and indirectly related to casting and the history of bells. Reading a book is not very easy - it is by no means fiction... But it contains a lot of very interesting information about the Russian bell ringing. I will cite some of them in this publication. You can read it with the Suzdal bell ringing.

Bells. History

When did the bell first come to Russia and why is it called that?

Scientists are still arguing about the etymology of the word. There is in the Greek the word "kalkun", to some extent consonant with the word "bell", it means "beat". In the same Greek, the verb "kaleo" is translated as "to call." The cry in ancient Indian is "kalakalas", and in Latin - "kalare". All of them are in one way or another consonant and explain the pre-Christian purpose of the bell - to call people. Although most likely, the word "bell" originates from the Slavic "kolo" - a circle. Other words come from the same designation, for example - "kolobok", "brace". There are also astronomical concepts with the same root - "sun spike", "moon spike". Therefore, the concept of "colo-col" can be explained as a circle in a circle - "colo-col".

True, the president Russian Academy Sciences from 1813 to 1841 A.S. Shishkov in the "Concise Alphabetical Dictionary" describes the origin of the word "bell" from the word "stake" and explains that in ancient times, to extract sound, they hit a copper pole called "stake" on another similar pole - "stake about stake". The consonance is really obvious, but not all words in the Russian language came from a simple consonance and the fusion of several definitions.

It is not known for certain when people first began to use bells. Hardly in pre-Christian times. Mention about them in the annals date back to the XII century. There is a record of a bell in Putivl from 1146, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma in 1168. And the famous veche bell in Veliky Novgorod was first mentioned in 1148.

Bells. What metal was cast

What were the bells made of? It is clear that bell bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Many believe that precious metals were added to the alloy for purity of sound. Nothing like this! On the contrary, in order to achieve the best sounding, the bell should not contain any impurities - only copper and tin, and in the following ratio - 80% copper and 20% tin. In the alloy for the manufacture of the bell, no more than 1, maximum - 2% of natural impurities (lead, zinc, antimony, sulfur and others) were allowed. If the composition of impurities in the bell bronze exceeds the permissible two percent, the sound of the bell is significantly impaired. Bell brass has always been difficult. After all, no one knew exactly the percentage of impurities, chemical analysis did not exist yet. Interestingly, depending on the size of the bell, the master increased or decreased the ratio of tin. For small bells, more tin was added - 22-24%, and for large bells - 17-20%. Indeed, if there is more tin in the alloy, the sound will be louder, but the alloy will be fragile and the bell can easily break. In the old days, the percentage of tin was lowered to ensure the strength of the bell.

As for gold and silver, the surfaces of bells were often gilded or silver-plated with these metals, inscriptions and images were made. There is a known bell, which was completely covered with silver. And sometimes silver bells were called those in which there was a lot of tin - the alloy in this case turned out to be light.

To accentuate the amazing ringing of a bell or an ensemble of bells, they are said to have “crimson ringing”. It turns out that this definition has nothing to do with the berry. It comes from the name of the city of Mechelen, which is located in that part of Belgium that in the old days was called Flanders. The French name of the city is Malines, it was there that in the Middle Ages the optimal alloy for casting bells was developed. Therefore, we have a pleasant in timbre, soft, iridescent ringing, they began to call on the ringing from the city of Malina - i.e. crimson ringing.
Already by XVII century Mechelen became the center of bell casting and bell music in Europe, and remains so to this day. The famous carillons are made in Malin. In Russia, the first carillon was heard thanks to Peter I, the tsar ordered it in the Southern Netherlands and its ringing corresponded to the Mechelen (crimson) standard.

Bell names

And how many bells were there in Russia? Or at least in Moscow? According to the Swedish diplomat Peter Petrey, who wrote "The History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow" in the capital of the state in the 17th century there were over four thousand (!) Churches. Each has from 5 to 10 bells. And the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries writes:

“I have been to four out of five parts of the world. I have had to step on the soil of all kinds of countries, and I have seen something. I saw beautiful cities, Prague and Budapest made a huge impression on me. But I have never seen anything like Moscow. Moscow is something fabulous. There are about 450 churches and chapels in Moscow. And when they start ringing the bells, the air trembles from the multitude of sounds in this city with a million population. The Kremlin overlooks a whole sea of ​​beauty. I never imagined that such a city could exist on earth. Everything around is replete with red and gilded domes and spiers. Before this mass of gold in conjunction with a bright in blue everything I ever dreamed of turns pale. "

In the old days, and even now, large sonorous bells received proper names... For example - "Bear", "Gospodar", "Good", "Perepor", " Burning bush"," George "," Falcon ". Some, on the contrary, received offensive nicknames: "Ram", "Goat", "Dissolute" - this is how the people called those bells that were discordant with the sound of the general ensemble of the belfry.

Bells on the belfry and belfry

It is interesting that the sound of the selection, that is, the group of bells, depends on where they are located.

Suzdal. Bell tower of the Smolensk church

It is necessary that the weight of the bells is evenly distributed on the supporting structures of the belfry in order to avoid distortion. Usually the bells are hung, increasing their weight from right to left of the ringer platform.
It also turned out that a hipped-roof bell tower with a support pillar in the middle is optimal for euphony. The largest bell (or a pair of large ones) is placed on one side of the pillar, all the others on the other. Bells are suspended on beams, which at the same time serve as a support for the base of the tent, sometimes they are placed on special beams.

Suzdal. Kremlin clock tower.

Why are bell towers being built in some churches and monasteries, and belfries in others? Bell towers are convenient in terms of placing bells on different tiers. Many different bells can be placed in them. And the sound from the bell tower spreads evenly, in all directions. From the belfry, the sound of the selection from different sides is heard differently. But on them it is convenient to achieve sound coherence. Indeed, on different tiers of the bell tower, the bell ringers do not see each other, while on the belfry they stand side by side and the bell ringing ensemble sounds harmoniously.
In the Russian North, where settlements are rare and the distances are enormous, they tried to arrange the bell towers in such a way that the sound from one of them could be heard on the other. Thus, the bell towers "talked" with each other, transmitting messages.

Bell Craftsmen

The euphonic ringing of bells depends not so much on their location. Each of them has its own parent - the master who made them. It is believed that the old bells rang better, their ringing was silver, crimson. But you need to know that the ancient masters were also wrong. They did not have manuals and technical methods at hand. Everything was done by trial and error. Sometimes it was necessary to play the bell more than once. Experience and skill came with time. History has brought to us the names of famous masters. Under Tsar Boris Godunov, there lived a foundry worker, who is more remembered as the creator of the famous in Moscow. But he was also known as a master of bells. His name was Andrei Chokhov. Four of its cannons and three bells have survived to this day. Bells hang on the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. The biggest of them is called "Reut". It weighs 1200 pounds and was cast in 1622. There are also two small bells cast a year earlier.

Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. Assumption Belfry and Bell Tower Ivan the Great

Literary master Alexander Grigoriev was also famous. He lived under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The bells of his work were intended for the most famous temples. In 1654 he cast a 1000-pound bell for the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. A year later - a 187-pound alarm bell on the Kremlin's Spassky Gate. A year later - a bell weighing 69 pounds for the Iversky Monastery in Valdai. In 1665, 300 pounds for the Simonov Monastery in Moscow and in 1668 - for the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod, weighing 2,125 pounds. Unfortunately, not one of them has survived.

The dynasty of foundry workers, the Motorins, was also famous. Its founder was Fyodor Dmitrievich. His business was continued by his sons Dmitry and Ivan, grandson Mikhail. In the history of bell-making, Ivan Dmitrievich is considered the most outstanding master. His bells rang both in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. For the latter, he cast the most important bell weighing 1000 pounds.

Tsar Bell in Moscow

Bell artels and factories

Whole artels came to replace the single craftsmen, and then factories. The plant of P.N. Finlyandsky was famous throughout the country. A plant opened in Moscow in late XVIII century, when the foundry in the city itself, it became more dangerous to keep the foundry in the Cannon yard. His factory carried out orders for the casting of bells from Paris, San Francisco, Athos, Jerusalem, Tokyo and other countries. The bells were also cast for the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. And when the owner himself appeared on Sukharevka and bought bronze scrap, then in Moscow they knew that soon the bell would be cast. It's time to spread the rumors. And they walked on golden-headed fables - that a whale was caught in the Moskva River, that the Spasskaya Tower had collapsed, and that the doorman's wife gave birth to triplets at the hippodrome and all with foal heads! And everyone knew that the Finnish bell was being poured, and in order for the sound of the future newborn to be clearer and louder, more fables had to be weaved, so they tried.

The plant of Mikhail Bogdanov was also famous. They also made small podduzhny bells and often on snow-covered roads "a bell sounded monotonously", cast at the Bogdanov plant.

At the plant of Afanasy Nikitich Samgin, bells were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration, which was built on the site of the wreck of the royal train where, thanks to enormous physical strength Alexander III, the entire imperial family remained unharmed.

At the end of the 19th century, all the guidebooks of Yaroslavl strongly recommended visiting the foundry of the Olovyanishnikov partnership in order to observe the exciting spectacle - the casting of a new bell. The high quality of the Olovyanishnikov bells was recognized both in the Old and New World - the plant received a silver medal at an exhibition in New Orleans and a gold medal in Paris.

Bell ringers. Konstantin Saradzhev

But no matter how good the bell is, if the hand of a stranger touches it, it will not sing, but groan. There were famous bell ringers in Russia. There is now. But one of them was a completely unique musician - there is no other way to call Konstantin Saradzhev. His fate, like the fate of many others, was destroyed by the post-revolutionary hard times. The amazing bell ringer died in 1942 at the age of 42 in a home for nervous patients. Here is what the bell ringer himself said about his sense of music:

"From the early childhood I was too strong, acutely perceived musical works, combinations of tones, the sequence of these combinations and harmony. I discerned in nature significantly, incomparably more sounds than others: like the sea compared to a few drops. Much more than perfect pitch hears in ordinary music! ..
And the power of these sounds in their most complex combinations is not comparable in any way with any of the instruments - only a bell in its sound atmosphere can express at least a part of the majesty and power that will be accessible to the human ear in the future. Will! I'm pretty sure of that. Only in our century am I lonely, because I was born too early! "

Professional musicians, scientists, poets, all lovers of good music came to listen to Saradzhev. They learned from each other about where and when Saradzhev would call and gathered at the appointed time. Anastasia Tsvetaeva was also among the admirers. Here is how she wrote, according to her own impressions, in the story "The Tale of the Moscow Bell Ringer":

“And yet the ringing burst suddenly, blowing up the silence ... As if the sky had collapsed! Thunderous blow! A rumble - and a second blow! Measuredly, one after another, the musical thunder collapses, and the rumble comes from it ... And suddenly - it began to thunder, burst into bird chirping, the flooded singing of unknown large birds, a holiday of bell jubilation! Intermittent melodies, arguing, yielding voices ... deafeningly unexpected combinations, unthinkable in the hands of one person! Bell Orchestra!
It was a flood, gushing, breaking the ice, flooding the surroundings in streams ...
Raising their heads, they looked at the one who was playing above, thrown back. He would fly if it were not for the tethering of the bell tongues, which he ruled in a selfless movement, as if embracing with outstretched arms the entire bell tower, hung with many bells - giant birds that emitted booming copper ringing, golden cries that beat against the blue silver of the swallow voices that filled the night an unprecedented bonfire of melodies "

The fate of Saradzhev is unenviable. The fate of many bells is also unenviable. High reliefs of famous scientists and writers that adorn the building of the library to them. Lenin in Moscow on Mokhovaya Street are made of bell bronze - for the 16th anniversary of the October Revolution, the bells of eight Moscow churches were poured for them.

Bells - travelers of the Danilov monastery

And an amazing story happened with the bells of the Danilov Monastery. The communists banned bell ringing throughout Russia in the 1920s. Many bells were thrown from the bell towers, smashed, poured into the “needs of industrialization”. In the 1930s, the American businessman Charles Crane bought at the price of scrap the bells of the Danilov Monastery: 25 tons of bells, the entire selection of the monastery ringing. Crane understood and appreciated Russian culture well and realized that if this ensemble was not redeemed, it would be lost forever. In a letter from Charles to his son John, we find an explanation for his deed: “The bells are magnificent, beautifully installed and made to perfection ... this small selection may be the last and almost the only fragment of a beautiful Russian culture left in the world. "

The entrepreneur's acquisition found new house at Harvard University. This ensemble was tuned by Konstantin Saradzhev. Among the 17 newly arrived bells, the students immediately singled out one with an amazing and rare in beauty sound and immediately dubbed it "Mother Earth Bell". It was cast in 1890 at the plant of P.N. Finlyandsky by the famous master Xenophon Verevkin. There were also two bells of Fyodor Motorin himself in the ensemble, cast in 1682 - "Podzvonny" and "Bolshoi".

After the war, Harvard University students organized a club of Russian bell ringers and mastered the traditions of ringing. But bad luck, no matter how Russian bells were tuned in a foreign land, no matter what masters were invited, they sounded not so joyful, sonorous and merry, as in their native Danilov Monastery. The sound from them was clear, loud, powerful, but very lonely and alert, not creating an ensemble. The bells confirmed the old Russian belief that the best sound at a bell is in their homeland. After all, the Vladimir bell did not begin to ring in Suzdal, where the Grand Duke Alexander Vasilyevich of Suzdal took it. This is also mentioned in the annals. And as they returned him to his native place, so "the voice, as before, is pleasing to God."

The bells were evidently yearning for their native Danilov monastery. Gone are the godless times. In 1988, one of the first in Russia to reopen the monastery of Prince Daniel, resumed services in his churches. Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the belfry of the oldest monastery in Moscow. New bells were ordered for Harvard University at the Voronezh Bell Foundry of the Vera Company - exactly the same, 18 in number, with a total weight of 26 tons. The casting was made according to old technologies. Unless, instead of clay molds, they used ceramic ones. Therefore, the drawings on the new bells turned out to be extremely clear. And the sound of the duplicates corresponds to the sound of the original selection - this was the main condition for the return of the bells to Moscow.

And the "wanderers" who had been gratefully serving American students for so many years returned to their home. Together with copies of the bells of the Danilov Monastery, two more were cast at the factory - for the University with the symbols of Harvard with gratitude for the preservation of the priceless treasure and for the St. Danilov Monastery with the symbols of Russia and the United States in gratitude to those who participated in the fate of our sounding shrine, who believed and waited.

Bells. Customs

Speaking of bell traditions, one cannot but recall the small arched bells that were cast on. These bells rang on all the roadways, and in the cities it was ordered to tie them up. Only imperial courier troikas could ride in cities with a bell. Legend has it that when the rebellious Vechey Bell was taken to Moscow from, it did not submit to the conquerors. A bell fell from a sleigh and shattered into thousands of ... small bells. Of course, this is nothing more than a legend, but it is there that the only museum of bells in Russia is located. Let me emphasize - bells, not Valdai bells.

Russian bells have always been colossal in size compared to their European counterparts. One of the largest western bells - the Krakow “Zygmunt” (which will be discussed below) - weighs only 11 tons, which sounds rather modest for Russia. Even under Ivan the Terrible, we cast a 35-ton bell. There was a famous bell weighing 127 tons, cast by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. It crashed, falling from the belfry, during one of the many Moscow fires. Casting a huge bell was a godly deed, because the larger the bell, the lower its sounding, the faster the prayers lifted up under this bell will reach the Lord. But there is another reason why Western Europe the bells did not reach the same size as ours. Indeed, in the west, the bell itself is swinging, but in Russia - only its tongue, which weighs incomparably less. However, in the West there are many famous bells and no less legends and interesting stories associated with them.

Bells in Europe

The amazing bell story took place in the middle of the 17th century in Moravia. The Swedish commander Torstenson continuously attacked Brno, the richest city of the Czech Republic, for three months. But the Swedes could not take the city. Then the commander gathered a council of war and announced to the audience that the next day the last assault on the city would take place. Brno must be picked up before the bell rings at noon at St. Peter's Basilica. “Otherwise, we will have to retreat,” the commander said firmly. This decision was heard by a local resident and, assessing their importance, made his way into the city and informed the townspeople about it. The inhabitants of Brno fought for life and death. But the Swedes were not inferior to them either. Enemies in some places overcame the city walls when the cathedral bell rang 12 times. No one dared to disobey Torstenson's order, the enemy retreated by evening and left Brno forever. So 12 strikes saved the city. Since then, every day at exactly 11 o'clock in memory of this event, not 11, but 12 bells are heard from the main cathedral. As well as more than 350 years ago, when resourceful townspeople an hour earlier struck a saving 12 blows.

Some of the bell traditions of the West are interesting. In Bonn, the "Bell of Purity" summoned residents to a weekly cleaning of city streets and squares, a German "Sunday". In Turin, the "Bread Bell" informed the hostesses that it was time to knead the dough. The "Labor Bell" of Baden announced the lunch break. In Danzig they expected the beat of the "Beer Bell", after which drinking establishments were opened. And in Paris, on the contrary, those were closed at the signal of the "Drunkards Bell". In Etampes, the ringing of the bell ordered to extinguish the city lights and he was nicknamed the "Chaser of revelers", and in Ulm, the "Bell of eccentrics" reminded that late at night it was dangerous to stay in the dark and cramped medieval streets of the city. In Strasbourg, the storm bell foreshadowed the beginning of a thunderstorm. There is a house "At the Stone Bell", the corner of its facade is decorated with an architectural element in the form of a bell. An old legend says that the time will come and this bell will come to life and speak in its own language. The old bell in "Sigmund" can disperse the clouds, and call the girls of the betrothed.

Krakow. Wawel. Bell "Sigmund"

Bells in literature

The Russian people have come up with many riddles about the bell. Here are the most interesting ones:
They took from the earth,
They warmed on the fire
They put it in the ground again;
And when they took it out, they began to beat,
So I could speak.

He calls others to church, but he himself does not come to it.

The bell was also attended by Russian poets. There is a well-known poem by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (K.R.) about the Russian ringing. Everyone remembers the poem "Nabat" by Vladimir Vysotsky. On the memorial plaque of the poet on Malaya Gruzinkaya Street, where Vysotsky lived, his portrait is depicted against the background of a broken bell.

Memorial plaque to Vladimir Vysotsky on the house Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28

A large collection of bells was collected by Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava. Until now, annually on August 27, Peredelkino celebrates the day of the bell. On this day, admirers of Okudzhava's art bring another gift to his house - a bell.
How glad it is that the bells are ringing again in the churches. While timid and modest. But a silver ringing floats purely and sonorously over the Motherland.

“... In the blue sky, pierced by bell towers, -
Copper bell, brass bell -
Either rejoiced, or angry ...
Domes in Russia are covered with pure gold -
For the Lord to notice more often…. "
V. Vysotsky "Domes" 1975

And this is the real bell ringing of the Suzdal bell ringers of the Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery. Everyone can hear them, they perform a small bell concert every hour when the monastery is open to visitors. Two entries - three minutes.

And in short - less than two minutes.

Based on materials from the book by V.A. Gorokhov “Bells of the Russian Land. From time immemorial to the present day ”. M, "Veche", 2009

Having cast a glance at the history of bells, it will be interesting to get acquainted with their casting.

As mentioned above, the main advantage of any bell is its euphoniousness, but casting the bell in the required tone and the right weight it is not so easy, although there are different rules for the construction of bells, yet even an experienced craftsman does not always manage to fully satisfy all the requirements. Much also depends on the composition of the metal. The requirements are very often presented to the craftsman in order to achieve the desired bell tone, euphony and its durability with the least amount of metal.

As you know, an alloy of copper and tin is used for casting in a certain proportion, i.e. bronze, which is called both "bell bronze" and "bell metal". Incorrect composition sometimes leads to a quick deterioration of the bell, i.e. the bell breaks. However, bells are often broken for other reasons, such as from a low descending tongue or from the excessive zeal of the bell ringer who wants to knock out the sound harder.

The bell alloy must be composed in such a way that together with a pleasant sound it combines sufficient rigidity and strength. Usually, 80 parts of copper and 20 parts of tin are taken for the alloy, although these numbers often fluctuate, depending on the purity of the metals.

The popular view that the admixture of silver improves the sound is completely mistaken. Known for their pleasant sound, the bells, in which a significant amount of silver was assumed, did not give chemical analysis not the slightest trace of silver. For example, the famous "Roneni" bell, which was supposed to contain gold and silver, gave the following results during the analysis: copper - 71%, tin - 26%, iron - 1.2%, zinc - 1.2% ...

There is also a bell in Rouen, which has long been considered a silver bell.

Girardin, who analyzed it, says that the presence of the precious metal in the large bells is doubtful. He thinks that the foundry workers, instead of throwing the precious metals they brought into the crucibles, forced the donors to throw them directly into the fire. “Thanks to this, the silver mass, instead of being added to the bronze, remained in the ash, from where the foundry workers took it out as soon as the ceremony was over and the workshop was empty” 1).

The popular rumor about adding silver to the bell has its own history. In the old days, churches that needed bells sent special collectors on carts who moved from village to village, and stopping at the marketplace, the collector called and collected worldly pennies and silver rubles from generous donors so that the bell would sound better and louder. This custom has been preserved in some provinces of the Volga region.

In addition, good bell metal has a silvery sheen in the fracture, which also gave reason to think that silver was melted into the bell.

It happens that peasants, having delivered a broken bell to a bell-foundry and assuming silver in it, ask to be refilled, but do not buy a new one.

The copper for casting bells must be pure without any impurities, then it is easier to make the bell euphonious, it is easier to calculate the correct ratio of copper to tin. In society, the best copper for casting is considered to be Demidov's, and customers willingly overpay extra just to have a bell made of Demidov's copper. This copper is the purest of all types of Russian copper. Introduced in recent times electrolytic copper is higher in purity, but the foundry masters, having no experience with it, still prefer the former.

The metal itself has a characteristic red color, melts at a temperature of 1084 ° C; molten copper is liquid and has the color of sea water. At the temperature of a voltaic arc, copper flies and oxidizes, giving a greenish flame.

The second metal for the bronze alloy is tin; white, rather soft with a silvery sheen, has a crystalline constitution and melts at 228 ° C. When heated in air, it burns out in a bright white color. Copper and tin fused together, in a known proportion, give bronze. Both soft metals in the alloy become hard and the color of the copper changes dramatically from the tin. The color of the alloy in the fracture is grayish steel, the appearance is uniform, dense-fine-grained. The heterogeneity of the appearance indicates poor mixing of the alloy.

The melting point of bell bronze is about 880 ° C. Bronze becomes worse when melted. It becomes thick and its fragility grows with every pour; this is due to the absorption of oxygen by the alloy and the conversion of metallic tin to stannous acid. Correction of the alloy is possible by adding phosphorus to the alloy, which melts together with bronze, as it were, dissolves in it and restores tin acid.

Experiments were carried out with an alloy containing 9.6% tin and after each remelting the% tin content dropped by almost 1%.

A liquid alloy, passing from a molten state to a solid, decomposes into its constituent parts; this phenomenon is called segregation and its degree depends on how much the alloy was heated before pouring into a mold and how quickly it cooled. For the bell alloy, relatively rapid cooling is desirable so that white spots, which are a copper alloy with a high tin content, do not appear in the middle of the casting.

Likewise, more copper is seen at the bottom of the bell than at the top. Analysis of one old bell showed that after taking three samples from different places of the bell: top, middle and striking part, we got different components: tin and lead, as fusible ones, gathered at the top of the bell.

A thin layer of alloy with a high tin content is observed on the bell surface.

Found by practice best attitude copper to tin in the bell alloy, completely coincided with laboratory experiments for determining the properties of bronze depending on the content of tin and copper.

The diagram of such a study showed that the best compatibility of the properties of bronze for a bell such as malleability, hardness and toughness is found in a copper-tin alloy with a tin content of about 20%.

When heated, bronze expands, and when cooled, it contracts strongly, which is why an impure casting is obtained on the surface. The settlement ratio for bronze is 1/65; knowledge of it for the caster is necessary in order to calculate the correct dimensions of the model.

Bell bronze in air is covered with a green basic carbon dioxide copper powder - patina, this layer protects the metal from further atmospheric influence.

Usually, bells are not made of new metals for sale not to order. They are cast from old, used metals and often analysis shows in the bell alloy the presence of foreign metals harmful to the quality of the bell.

In the evening ringing, alarm bells, evangelism ... A bell is a musical instrument, a warning system and even a subject of study of a special science - campanology (lat. Campana - "bell"). The melodic ringing of bells came to Russia with the adoption of Christianity, and XVI century the art of foundry reached the scale of "thousand-people", who set the tone for special occasions. The main giant among the melodic giants is the Tsar Bell. Like many of his fellow-bellies, he has risen from the fragments more than once. We will learn the history of the most famous bells of Russia together with Natalia Letnikova.

The Tsar Bell... Intended for the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Its history dates back to the time of Boris Godunov. He died twice in a fire and recovered again, getting heavier from time to time. Under Anna Ioannovna weighed about 200 tons. The ebb work was carried out right on the square - after a year and a half of preparation. 36 hours of metal melting, casting in a little over an hour and chasing a bell in a giant pit covered with a wooden ceiling. In 1737, during a fire, the ceiling caught fire. The bell cracked and a piece weighing 11.5 tons broke off. Almost 100 years later, the Tsar Bell was installed on a pedestal designed by the architect Auguste Montferrand, and became a monument to the skill of Russian foundry workers.

Big Assumption Bell Moscow Kremlin. The largest of the 34 bells of the Ivanovskaya belfry, weighs over 65 tons. Was poured from the wreckage of its predecessor, destroyed in Patriotic War 1812: the French, fleeing from Moscow, blew up the belfry attached to the bell tower. In memory of the victory over Napoleon, bronze of captured French cannons was added to the metal of the broken bell. The bell was cast by the 90-year-old master Yakov Zavyalov, who almost 60 years earlier had participated in the casting of the previous Assumption bell. Before the revolution, the solemn ringing of Moscow bells on Easter began with a blow to the festive bell. Again, the Great Assumption Bell gave its voice on the occasion of Christ's Resurrection in 1993.

Trinity Evangelist. The Trinity-Sergius Lavra also has its own Tsar Bell. Sets the tone with special density and sound strength. The bell was cast by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1748. 65 tons of weight were lifted to the belfry by 300 people. In the anti-religious campaign of 1930, about 20 bells were dropped from the bell tower - and the evangelist was among them. In 2003, the bell was cast again at the Baltic plant in the tradition of Russian craftsmen from an alloy of tin and copper. The bell is the heaviest operating in Russia, weighing 72 tons. It is decorated with images of all Radonezh saints. The evangelist was raised to his original place for about an hour, accompanied by endless bell ringing.

Large solemn bell. The main bell of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was the third in Moscow by weight - 1,654 pounds (more than 26 tons). Lost along with the destroyed temple. Of the bells of the old church, only one has survived - it is located in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The rest of the bells had to be restored according to old photographs with the participation of the Society of Old Russian musical culture- by musical notations and books. The bell of the temple, erected in honor of the victory of 1812, was built in A minor. Today the bell, cast in the 90s of the last century in the workshops of ZIL, sounds again in the days great holidays... And at the very Cathedral of Christ the Savior there is a school of bell ringing.

Rostov belfry. A unique ensemble of bells of the Assumption Cathedral of the Rostov Kremlin. “I pour bells in my courtyard, little people are surprised,” said Metropolitan Jonah of Rostov, who loved to cast bells in his residence. The most famous Rostov 17 chimes and bells: "Sysoy", 32 tons in weight, velvety to a small octave; The 16-ton polyoleonic gives an E, and completes the Swan chord with a G note. Priest Aristarkh Izrailev made tuning forks for all the bells of the belfry and presented them at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, receiving a gold medal. Tsar Nicholas II with his family and Fyodor Chaliapin, who lived in a dacha near Rostov, listened to the famous ringing.

Uglich exile bell. Nabatny. In 1591 Uglich notified Uglich of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry. In the Savior Cathedral, the alarm was sounded by order of Queen Maria Nagoya. The townspeople gathered at the bell ringing, "a great turmoil ensued" and lynching of murder suspects. The bell was thrown from the belfry, the tongue was torn out, the ear was cut off, and the exiled to Tobolsk. In Siberia, he served in various churches, visited the alarm, "clock" and "ringing", suffered from a fire. In 1890 it was bought out by the Tobolsk Museum, and two years later it was solemnly returned to Uglich to the Church of Demetrius on the Blood.

Chersonesos bell. Cast in Taganrog in 1778 from captured Turkish cannons for the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - in memory of the heroism of Russian soldiers and sailors. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was taken to Sevastopol, and after Crimean War hit the cathedral bell tower Notre dame de paris... In 1913, thanks to the efforts of Russian diplomats, the "prisoner bell" returned - as a "sign of union and friendship" - and became "foggy". Like all the bells of the Chersonesos monastery, it rang during the fog, announcing the ships. Since 1925, when the monastery buildings became museum buildings, the bell worked as a sound beacon, and with the advent of sound sirens it became a monument of the history of Sevastopol.

Evangelist of the Solovetsky Monastery... Monument to military valor. Gift of the monastery of Emperor Alexander II in memory of the heroic defense of the monastery in 1854. Two coastal artillery cannons, eight on the fortress wall and a religious procession stopped the attack of two British frigates Brisk and Miranda. The ships fired about 1800 shells and bombs at the monastery, but the Solovetsky monastery remained unharmed and did not surrender. By the imperial order, a bell weighing 75 pounds was cast. On the medallions, the bells depicted a panorama of the monastery and pictures of the battle. The chapel, specially built to accommodate the bell, has not survived, but the bell miraculously survived.

Evangelist of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. The symbol of Zvenigorod depicted on the coat of arms of the city. A bell weighing 35 tons was cast on the Cathedral Square of the monastery in the 17th century by the "sovereign cannon and bell" master Alexander Grigoriev with a squad of masters of the Pushkar Prikaz. The surface of the gospel was covered with inscriptions in nine rows, and the bottom three lines were cipher script, the author of which was believed by the researchers to be Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The sound of the bell was called one of the most beautiful in the world: "melodious, thick, excellent and surprisingly harmonious." In 1941, during the days of the German offensive near Moscow, an attempt to save the bell by removing it from the bell tower was unsuccessful. It crashed and the metal was used for military purposes.

Cathedral bell Nizhny Novgorod. It is located at the confluence of two rivers, the Oka and the Volga, on the square in front of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. One of the largest bells in Russia was created in 2012 in memory of a historical event, according to Archbishop Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, "not out of pride, but with humility and calm joy." The 64-ton bell was cast in 2012 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the feat of the Nizhny Novgorod militia of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The copper giant is decorated with relief icons depicting the Nizhny Novgorod saints - Alexander Nevsky and the founder of Nizhny Novgorod, Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich.

(usually cast from so-called bell bronze), a dome-shaped sound source and, usually, a tongue striking the walls from the inside. Bells without a tongue are also known, which are beaten with a hammer or a log from the outside.

Bells are used for religious purposes (calling believers to prayer, expressing solemn moments of worship) and in music. The use of the bell for social and political purposes is known (like an alarm bell, for calling citizens to a meeting (veche)).

Classic bell as a musical instrument

Bells are medium in size and have been included for a long time in the category of percussion musical instruments having a certain sonority. Bells come in various sizes and in all tunings. The larger the bell, the lower its pitch. Each bell makes only one sound. The part for medium-sized bells is written in the bass clef, for small bells in the treble clef. Medium bells sound an octave higher than the written notes.

The use of bells of a lower order is impossible due to their size and weight, which would prevent them from being placed on a stage or stage. So, for a sound up to the 1st octave, a bell weighing 2862 kg would be required, and for a sound an octave lower in the church of St. Paul in London, a bell weighing 22,900 kg was used. There is nothing to say about lower sounds. They would require a Novgorod bell (31,000 kg), a Moscow bell (70,500 kg) or Tsar Bell (350,800 kg). In the 4th act of the opera "Huguenots" Meyerbeer used for the alarm the lowest of the commonly used bells, emitting the sounds of f of the 1st octave and up to the 2nd. Bells are used in symphony and opera orchestras for special effects related to the plot. In the score, one part is written for bells with numbers from 1 to 3, the scales of which are indicated at the beginning of the score. The sounds of the bells of medium size have a solemn character.

From the end of the 19th century, theaters began to use bells-caps (timbres) made of cast bronze with rather thin walls, not so bulky and emitting lower sounds than a set of ordinary theater bells.

In the XX century. to imitate bell ringing, not classical bells are used, but the so-called orchestral bells, in the form of long pipes. See bells (musical instrument).

For an Orthodox person, the temple of God and the bell ringing are inseparable concepts. The ancient Russian tradition - to take off your cap when the bells ring - suggests that Orthodox people had great reverence for ringing, which, in fact, is a special kind of prayer. Only this prayer - the gospel - begins long before the divine service, and it is heard many kilometers from the temple. And as church singing intersects with the prayers of the priest, so the Orthodox ringing symbolizes important points service. And no religious procession is complete without the ringing of the bells.

From the history of bells

The bell has a very interesting history. Bells, which looked more like bells, were known even before the birth of Christ. They were worn on national costumes in many countries. For example, in ancient Israel, the high priests decorated their clothes with small bells, which were the distinctive signs of certain ranks.

The bell appeared as a musical instrument of a certain canonical form by the 3rd century. The history of its occurrence is associated with the name Saint Peacock the Merciful, bishop of Nolan, whose memory we celebrate on February 5 (January 23, O.S.). He lived in the Italian province of Campana. Once returning home after going around his flock, he became very tired, lay down in the field and saw in a dream how the Angel of God was playing the field bells. This vision struck him so much that, upon arriving in his city, he asked an artisan to make bells of iron for him, similar to those he had seen in his dream. When they were done, it turned out that they sounded very good. Since then, they began to make bells of various shapes and sizes, which subsequently increased and led to the appearance of church bells.

Initially, the bells were cast from a variety of metals, but over time, the most suitable composition has developed, which is still used today: bell bronze (80% copper and 20% tin). With this composition, the sound at the bell is voiced and melodious. The dimensions of the bell are gradually increasing. This was primarily due to the skill of the bell-makers. The casting process became more complicated and improved. It is interesting to note that when the bells overflowed, their weight necessarily increased. This is due to the fact that copper loses its properties during remelting, and tin burns out, therefore, with each remelting, pure copper and tin had to be added, which increased the weight of the bell by at least 20%.

And the bells had to be poured, since they also have their own service life - usually 100-200 years. The service life of a bell depends on many things: on the quality of the casting, on the ringing, on how carefully the bell is handled. A large number of bells shattered only because the bell ringers did not know how to ring correctly. And they broke more often than not in winter - in the cold, the metal becomes more fragile, and on a great holiday, you so want to ring louder, hit the bell harder!

Three Lives Tsar Bell

The re-casting of the bell was as significant an event as the casting of a new one. He was often given a new name, hung in a new place, and if the bell tower did not allow, a separate belfry was built. Large bells were poured right outside the temple, because their transportation was sometimes even more difficult than casting and lifting to the bell tower.

The Moscow Tsar Bell, one might say, had several lives. In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered to cast the world's largest "Assumption" bell (our first Tsar Bell) weighing 8000 poods (128 tons), which was suspended in 1654 and soon broken. In 1655, the "Big Assumption" bell (the second Tsar Bell) weighing 10,000 poods (160 tons) was cast from it. It was suspended in 1668 on a specially built belfry, but during a fire in 1701 this bell also shattered.

In 1734-1735, Anna Ioannovna completed the Tsar Bells epic by casting a bell of 12,000 poods (about 200 tons). For further cleaning, the bell was raised on a wooden saw-saw. It was supposed to build a special bell-stitch for him, since he did not climb either the Ivan the Great bell tower or the Assumption belfry.

But soon a violent fire broke out in the Kremlin, and the wooden structure on which the bell was hanging caught fire, the bell collapsed into the pit. Fearing that the burning wood falling on the bell could melt it, the people began to pour water on it. And after the fire, it was discovered that a piece weighing 11 tons had fallen off from the colo-col. It is not known what caused the bell to split - its fall into a pit (the base of which was stony) or temperature drops when it was poured with water. So never once and without ringing, the Tsar Bell lay in the ground for more than a hundred years. In 1836, under Nicholas I, the Tsar Bell was raised from the ground and placed in the Kremlin on a pedestal designed by the Italian engineer-scientist Montferrand.

Bell ringing methods

There are two ways of ringing bells characteristic of our country: eyeball and lingual. The peculiarity of the first is that the bell is firmly mounted in a movable axle, to which a lever (ochep) is attached with a rope attached to it. The bell ringer stands on the ground and pulls on it, swinging the bell evenly. At the same time, the language remains free. Small bells can be used with the usual ringing method. If the weight of the bells is large enough, the system of their fastening becomes more complicated, and heavy loads lead to rapid wear of the moving parts, as well as the destruction of the bell tower walls themselves.

When, under Tsar Boris Godunov, a bell of 1,500 poods (about 24 tons) was cast and hung on a belfry specially built for this, it took a hundred people to swing it.

Belfry

The bells on the belfry are divided into three groups: evangelists(the heaviest), which are controlled through the pedal, and when very great weight the second person shakes his tongue; half-bells(medium by weight), which are connected by a system of constrictions with the control panel and are operated with the left hand; zazvonnye(the smallest), which are usually trill with the right hand.

There are four types of Orthodox ringing: evangelism(evenly striking the largest bell), brute force(one by one, each bell is struck one time from small to large, and then all at once - a blow “in full”, and so on in several series), chime(several series of successive single beats in each bell from large to small, then - "in full"), ringing(the richest ringing in rhythm and composition, in which all three groups of bells are involved). Before the beginning of the service, the gospel is laid, then the ringing, at the end of the service - the ringing. The bell calls Christians to worship, and the ringing symbolizes the joy of the celebrated event. The busting was laid during the funeral and symbolizes the life of a person: the sound of small bells signifies the childhood of a person and, in ascending order, his growing up, after which the blow "to the whole" symbolizes the end of life. The chime (from large to small) symbolizes the exhaustion of Christ during the sufferings of the cross, the blow "to the whole" symbolizes His death on the cross. The chime is given once a year - on Maundy Thursday evening at the taking out of the shroud.

Bell ringing was used in Russia not only during the celebration church services... The bells were used to summon the people at the veche, to warn of danger or bad weather (fire, etc.), to show the way to lost travelers (at night, in a blizzard) or sailors (if the temple was near the sea), to call for the protection of the Motherland, when sending troops to war, commemoration of victories.

Falling in love with the bell ringing, the people associated all their solemn and sad events with it. It was believed that the bell has some kind of miraculous power, and it was often identified with a living being. This is indicated by the names of its main parts: tongue, ears, mother, shoulder, body(or skirt). It is interesting to note that in foreign languages ​​the main parts of the bell do not have such “living” names. For example, in English or French, the language is called a drummer (hammer), a mother with ears - a crown, a body and shoulder - a slope.

The effect of bell ringing on humans is still very little studied, but it is known for sure that ringing, even from a physical point of view, is good for health, since the ultrasound emanating from it (but inaudible) clears the air of microbes. It is not for nothing that in the old days, during epidemics and terrible morales, it was supposed to tirelessly ring the bells. And it was noticed that in those villages where there was a church and bells were constantly ringing, the pestilence was much less than in those places where there was no temple. Bell ringing can greatly affect the mental (psychological) state of a person. Scientists attribute this to the existence of biorhythms and resonant frequencies for each organ. Usually low frequencies, typical for large bells, calm a person, and high frequencies are more often exciting. Today, even special methods of using bell rings for the treatment of mental disorders have appeared. And the statement that all bell ringers are deaf is completely implausible. Talk to any experienced bell ringer, and he will surely tell you that he does not have any hearing disorders.

The Russian people found a worthy expression of the church idea of ​​the bell in their mighty, solemn ringing, in their high, peculiar bell towers; he loves the bell and worships it. This is his victorious banner, his solemn confession in the face of the whole world of his best and most cherished hopes, that which is dearer and more sacred to him than he is strong and invincible.

Based on materials from the Slavyanka magazine