Song of the Bells - Jaan Whitehead

Song of the Bells

The Art, Music, Politics, and Culture

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
292 Seiten
2022
Girl Friday Productions (Verlag)
978-1-954854-73-4 (ISBN)
31,15 inkl. MwSt
Discover the magic and mysticism of bells around the world, including their political and religious power, their musicality, and their familiarity in daily life.  

We live in a world of bells but seldom notice them. However, bells have existed in all cultures since earliest times and are one of the world’s most remarkable artifacts. They have been the “voice” of God and Buddha, a talisman for early monastics, a source of glorious music, and part of many sacred rituals. Yet, they have also been the clocks, school bells, fire bells, and shop bells of daily life. The Song of the Bells brings together seventeen stories that explore the magic and mysticism of these bells, their political and religious power, their wide-ranging musicality, and their familiarity in our everyday lives.  

The stories range from the recently discovered chimes of Ancient China to the music of carillons and change ringing to reindeer bells in Arctic Norway to the surprising bell that is on the International Space Station. Other stories explore Buddhist bells in Japan and Tibet, the famous African bells of Benin, Russian bells, early Christian bells in Scotland, the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, bells on trains, cable cars, and circus wagons, and two bells brought up from lost ships to serve as memorials for their crews.  Illustrated with 130 photographs, this beautiful book brings bells out from the background of our days to create a living history of this amazing musical instrument.  

The book is inspired by her great-grandmother’s trip around the world where she collected small bells almost one hundred years ago. Whitehead inherited these bells, which led to her own journeys that included crossing the Pacific to see the famous bells of China, finding peace in the Buddhist temples of Kyoto, interviewing the Sami reindeer herders in Arctic Norway, visiting with master bell ringers in London and Florida, and attending the launch of a space shuttle and conversations with the astronaut who suggested putting a bell in the International Space Station.  

The book will interest bell collectors, musicians, and fans of musical instruments, as well as museums, universities, and libraries that have musical instrument collections. It will also appeal to general readers interested in cultural history, particularly the popular field of “commodity history,” similar to Mark Kurlansky’s books Salt, Paper, and Salmon.   

Jaan Whitehead has been researching and collecting bells for over twenty-five years. She graduated from Wellesley College with a major in economics, has a M. A. in economics from the University of Michigan, and a Ph. D in political theory from Princeton University. In recent years, she has been working in the theater world and is the co-editor of The Art of Governance: Boards in the Performing Arts, as well as several articles about theater in the American culture. She lives in New York City. 

Contents 

Introduction 

Part I The World of Bells 



The History and Culture of Bells 





Bells and their Music 



Part II The Bells of Asia and Africa 



Journey to China: The Zeng Bells 





The Buddha is Calling: The Temple Bells of Kyoto 





Ringing the Mandala: The Sacred Bells of Tibet 





Turning Art into Power: The Bells of Benin 



Part III The Bells of Britain 



Visiting Iona: Scotland’s “Sacred Isle” 





Calling the Changes: St. Mary-le-Bow 





Creating an Icon: Big Ben 



Part IV The Bells of Europe and Russia 



Playing the Carillon: The “Singing Towers” 





Remembering: The Bells of War and Peace 





Ringing the Zvon: The Bells of Russia 





Following the Reindeer: Arctic Norway 



Part V The Bells of America 



Witness to History: The Liberty Bell 





America’s Bells: Trains, Cable Cars, and Circus Wagons 





Bells Beneath the Sea: The Fitzgerald and the Erebus 





Bells in Space: The International Space Station 



Afterword 

Acknowledgements 

References 

 

Erscheinungsdatum
Zusatzinfo Illustrations
Sprache englisch
Maße 169 x 243 mm
Themenwelt Kunst / Musik / Theater Musik Instrumentenkunde
ISBN-10 1-954854-73-0 / 1954854730
ISBN-13 978-1-954854-73-4 / 9781954854734
Zustand Neuware
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