Re: Handel's doorbell

[Jeffrey Miller/Burden of Proof Research <jefmil...>]

Josh: I suppose it's possible that there's a link between the Handel and the
pattern used for tower bells, and perhaps the number of notes used was
limited to keep down the expense and complication of a complex mechanism. 


At 12:55 PM 7/2/00 +0000, you wrote:
>
>-- Budowitz Home Page: http://www.merlinms.dircon.co.uk/budowitz/
>
>I just checked my score of Haendel's Messiah, and the notes are there as you
>describe in the intro, and many parts of the melody of the soprano do in
>fact sound like bell chimes. Hm. J.
>
>>>It is also said
>>>that the tune is based on the fifth bar of the opening of Handel's Aria ``I
>>>know that my Redeemer liveth''.
>> Josh, in case you don't have ready access to The Messiah score, I checked my
>> Novello version against what Helen found.  If I have the right bar, it at
>> least suggests the pattern, but only just.  What you're looking for seems to
>> go 3 2 1 5  5 2 3 1 (the 5ths being descending).  What I get from the "aria"
>> (air) is 3 2 1 5  3 2 1 1, but the 3 and 2 in the second part are an octave
>> lower than in the first and the last tonic note is played an octave *up*:
>> G#F#EG#  G#(octave down)F#(octave down)E E (octave up).
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> J
>>
>>
>> 
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