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PARSIFAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 868 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PARSIFAL See also:

BELL-See also:INSTRUMENT . (Ger. Parsifal Klavier Instrument), a stringed instrument ingeniously constructed by Schweisgut, of Carlsruhe, from Dr See also:Mottl's See also:design, as a substitute for the See also:church bells in See also:Wagner's Parsifal. This instrument has been constructed somewhat on the principle of the See also:grand piano; the massive See also:frame is shaped like a billiard table. There are five notes, each with six strings, three in unison giving the fundamental See also:note and three an See also:octave higher. The strings are struck by large hammers, covered with See also:cotton-See also:wool, which the performer sets in See also:motion by a strong elastic See also:blow from his fist. The hammers are attached to arms 22 in. See also:long, screwed to a strong wooden span See also:bridge placed horizontally above the strings at about two-fifths of the length from the front. On the point of the See also:arm is the name of the note, and behind this the See also:felt ledge struck by the fist. Two belly See also:bridges and two wrest-See also:plank bridges, one set for each octave, determine the vibrating length of the strings, and the belly bridge, as in other stringed See also:instruments, is the See also:medium through which the vibrations of the strings are communicated to the soundboard. The arrangement of pegs and wrest-pins is much the same as on the piano. The See also:realism demanded by See also:modern dramatic See also:music taxes the resources of the See also:orchestra to the utmost when the composer aims at reproducing on the See also:stage the effect of church bells, as, for instance, in the See also:Golden See also:Legend, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, See also:Rienzi and Parsifal. The most serious difficulty of all arose in the last-mentioned See also:drama, where the solemnity of the See also:scene and its deep religious significance demand a corresponding See also:atmosphere on the stage.

Real church bells for the notes Wagner has scored in the See also:

familiar See also:chime would overpower the orchestra. All substitutes for bells were tried in vain; no other instrument, leaving aside the question of See also:pitch, gave a See also:tone in the least similar to that of the bell. Independently of the See also:rich harmonics composing the clang, the bell has two distinct simultaneous notes, first the tap tone, which gives the pitch, and the hum tone or See also:lower accompanying note. On the See also:interval separating the hum from the tap tone depend the dignity and beauty of the bell tone and the emotional atmosphere produced. A stringed instrument, similar to the one here described but with four notes only,,was used at See also:Bayreuth for the first performance of Parsifal, and with it See also:tam-tams or gongs, but after many trials the following See also:combination was adopted as the best makeshift: (1) the stringed instrument with four keys; (2) four tam-tams or gongs tuned to the pitch of the four notes composing the chime; (3) a See also:bass-See also:tuba, which plays the notes staccato in quavers to help make them more distinct; (4) a fifth tam-tam, on which a See also:roll is executed with a drumstick. The See also:special peal of hemispherical bells constructed for See also:Sir A. See also:Sullivan's Golden Legend is the only other successful substitute known to the writer; the lowest of these bells is a See also:minor tenth higher than the lowest note required for Parsifal, and the aggregate See also:weight of the four bells is 11 cwt. The bells are struck with mallets and have both tap and hum tone. (K.

End of Article: PARSIFAL

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