Print Resources

Russian bells

Edward V. Williams, The Bells of Russia: History and Technology (Princeton University Press: 1985) is simply the definitive resource on Russian bells and bell-making in Russian culture. Professor Williams is the dean of the Music Department at Penn State, and has recently completed the manuscript of a second study examining and interpreting the sacred and secular roles of bells in Muscovy and Imperial Russia. In addition, he has written articles on Byzantine chant. You can read a review of Prof. Williams' book by Michele E. Prokopchak here.

See also H.J. Fletcher, The First Book of Bells (Franklin Watts, New York: 1959). "Everything you need to know about bells."

The Lutheran Book of Worship supplement, "Occasional Services", pp. 260-62 contains a brief discussion on bell ringing, tolling, and pealing in worship and preparing for worship in the Lutheran tradition.

A couple of valuable Russian-language resources:

V.G. Sharikov, V. Naumov, V.V. Zaitsev, P.G. Markelov, D.V. Smirnov, and A.L. Chebotarov, Prakticheskoe Rukovodstvo dla Zvonarei Pravoslavnykh Khramov (Moscow: 1997).

Russian Institute of the History of the Arts, Muzika Kolokolov: Sbornik Iccledovanii i Materialov, Seriya Traditionnaya Instrumentalnayua Muzyka Evropy i Azii, vyp. 2 (St. Petersburg: 1999).

Chinese bells

Lothar von Falkenhausen, Art History Department, University of California at Los Angeles

Books and Monographs

Suspended Music: Chime-Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993.

"Acoustical and Musical Studies on the Sackler Bells" (with Thomas D. Rossing). In Eastern Zhou Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Jenny F. So, editor. Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, vol. 3. New York: Abrams, 1995, pp. 431-84.

Klangvorrat fur die Nachwelt: Neun chinesische Bronzeglocken in der Sammlung Ludwig. To be published by the Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, Fall 2000.

Articles
"The Leigudun Finds in the History of Chinese Music." In Music in the Age of Confucius, Jenny F. So (ed.), pp. 101-114. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2000.

"New Evidence on yongzhong-Chimes From the Ninth to Seventh Centuries B.C." Submitted for publication to Artibus Asiae. (forthcoming 2001).

"The Use and Significance of Ritual Bronzes in the Lingnan Region During the Eastern Zhou Period." Journal of East Asian Archaeology vol. 1.3/4 (Festschrift K. C. Chang, part 3, Robert E. Murowchick et al., eds.), forthcoming.

"A South Chinese Bell in the Shumei Collection." Bulletin of the Miho Museum 2 (1999): 39-66.

"East Asian Bells After the Bronze Age: Comparisons and Reflections" (with Thomas D. Rossing). In Proceedings of the International Symposium "Chinese Archaeology Enters the Twenty-First Century" (1993), pp. 407-431, Chinese summary pp. 432-434. Beijing: Kexue, 1998.

"Sources of Taoism: Reflections on Archaeological Indicators of Religious Change in Eastern Zhou China." Taoist Resources 5.2 (1994), pp. 1-12.

"The Effect of Geometry on the Tone Separation in Chinese Two-Tone Bells" (principal author: Thomas D. Rossing). In SMAC 93: Proceedings of the Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference July 28--August 1, 1993, Anders Friberg et al., editors. Stockholm: Publications issued by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, No. 79, 1994, pp. 331-37.

"On the Early Development of Chinese Musical Theory: The Rise of Pitch Standards." Journal of the American Oriental Society 112.3 (1992), pp. 433-39.

"Zeng Hou Yi yiqian de Zhongguo gudai yuelun -- cong Nangong Hu-zhong deyongbu mingwen shuoqi" (Ancient Chinese musical theory in the time before Marquis Yi of Zeng-- a discussion of the inscription on the shank of the Nangong Hu bell). Kaogu 1992.9, pp. 854-58.

"Lun Jiangxi Xin'gan Dayangzhou chutu de qingtong yueqi" (The bells excavated at Dayangzhou, Xin'gan [Jiangxi]). Jiangxi Wenwu 1991.3, pp. 15-20, 6.

"Chu Ritual Music." In New Perspectives on Chu Culture During the Eastern Zhou Period, Thomas Lawton, editor. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and Princeton University Press, 1991, pp. 47-106.

"'Shikin-no Onsei,' To-Shu jidai-no shun, taku, do, nado-ni tsuite" (Some Eastern Zhou Bells Used for Signal-Giving in Warfare). Sen'oku Hakkokan Kiyo (Bulletin of the Sen'oku Hakkokan [Sumitomo Collection]) 6 (1989), pp. 3-26.

"Niuzhong Chime-Bells of Eastern Zhou China." Arts Asiatiques 44 (1989), pp. 68-83.

Reviews

Review of Harmony and Counterpoint: Ritual Music in Chinese Context, edited by Bell Yung, Evelyn S. Rawski, and Rubie S. Watson, Journal of Asian Studies, 56.2 (1997), pp. 496-97.

Review of Shaanxi chutu yinyue wenwu, by Fang Jianjun. Jiaoxiang, 1993.4, pp. 66-67. (In Chinese)

Review of La musique chinoise, by Francois Picard. Etudes Chinoises 12.2 (1993), 195-97.