''Prayer Bells'' is a choral concert piece by

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

n (Australian) composer

Constantine Koukias Constantine Koukias (born 14 October 1965) is a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam, where he is known by his Greek name of Konstantin Koukias. He is the co-founder and artistic director of IHOS Music The ...

featuring dozens of

handbell A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...

s cast for the celebration of Australia's 2001 Centenary of Federation (see below). Also comprising three solo cantors and a small male choir, the one-hour work premiered at the Federation Festival of Melbourne in 2001. Since then it has been performed in Australia in Launceston, Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Wollongong and Sydney. It had its USA premiere at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Structure of the work

The work is divided into 21 prayers, some of which are performed by bells alone, the notes of the bells being used to span the Latin, Greek and Hebrew chants intoned by the soloists. ''Prayer Bells'' is based on

heterophony In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time ...

, as opposed to

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

. This means that the melody or chant is used to create a harmonic accompaniment and structure to the chant. The bells are played in a variety of ways - rung, struck, bowed, rubbed and even dipped in water.

Text

The majority of the Hebrew chants come from early parts of the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. The background of the Greek worship service is to be found in Hebrew chant, especially from the musical theory and practice of

Hellenistic Judaism Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture and religion. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellen ...

. The Old Testament had a conspicuous place in the thought and worship of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Christian Church; Old Testament quotations and illusions abound in the literature of the New Testament, and Jewish

cantors A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

were often used to teach early Christian communities chant and psalmody. The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

text used in ''Prayer Bells'' does not come from the canon of the church but is rather the joyous poetic expression of two respected medieval scholars,

Sedulius Scottus Sedulius Scotus or Scottus ( fl. 840–860) was an Irish monk, teacher, Latin grammarian, and scriptural commentator who lived in the 9th century. During the reign of the Emperor Lothair (840–855), he was one of a colony of Irish teachers at L ...

and

Paulinus of Nola Paulinus of Nola (; ; also Anglicisation, anglicized as Pauline of Nola; – 22 June 431) born Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, was a Roman Empire, Roman Roman poetry, poet, writer, and Roman senate, senator who attained the ranks of suffect ...

, from the ninth and fourth centuries respectively.

Reviews

According to Gordon Kerry, ''Prayer Bells'' is the least dramatic and "purest" of Koukias's works, both in terms of musical style and resources required. Reviewing

IHOS Music Theatre and Opera IHOS Music Theatre and Opera is a Tasmanian opera company that was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld. It specializes in creating original music-theatre ...

's production of ''Prayer Bells'' at Tasmania's 2006 Festival of Voices, Opera Opera's Kirk Hume described the effect of the bells as “intriguing and compelling – the sounds ascending like spirits into the darkness of the church’s high vaulted ceilings”. In the same review, Hume likened cantor Petros Kyriakou to a Greek

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), '' Kelly's Heroes'' (1970), '' Dilling ...

, praising him as a "true vocal magician".

The Federation Handbells

The Federation Bells Project commissioned the production of 2001 handbells by Anton Hassell and Neil McLachlan, as well as a permanent public installation now known as the

Federation Bells Federation Bells is an installation comprising 39 upturned bells. Located in Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, they were created for celebrations of the centenary of Australia's federation in 2001. They were designed by Anton Hasell and Neil McLachlan ...

at Birrarung Marr, near Melbourne's Federation Square, and a set of orchestral harmonic bells for the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on fun ...

. Kerry describes the handbells as "extraordinary instruments, an attempt to bring together the traditions of European and Asian temple bells". The handbells are believed to be the world's first harmonic bells. They produce a clear, precise note instead of the chordal sound usually associated with church bells, which means they can be fully integrated into musical compositions. Among the 1920 quarter-tone (chromatic) handbells ultimately cast was a set made especially for ''Prayer Bells'', in which Kerry says they "create a luminous haze around the deep resonance of the male voices".Kerry, Gordon 2009, ''New Classical Music: Composing Australia'', UNSW Press, Sydney

References

{{reflist

External links

IHOS Music Theatre and Opera ''Prayer Bells'' webpage

Federation Handbells

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

Choral compositions Compositions by Constantine Koukias