There are some instruments
that are best appreciated
from a distance,
bagpipes for instance.
But I think bells also fall
into that category of faraway music.
Whether they are bicycle bells, hand bells,
jingle bells, church bells, chime bells,
or fire bells
it is wise not to get too close.
that are best appreciated
from a distance,
bagpipes for instance.
But I think bells also fall
into that category of faraway music.
Whether they are bicycle bells, hand bells,
jingle bells, church bells, chime bells,
or fire bells
it is wise not to get too close.
However once upon a time there were percussionists whose ringing talent for tintinnabulation made them stars of the music hall stage. This man, Paul Nemson ~ Meister Instrumentalist, was one of those clangorous entertainers. He is pictured here on his promotional postcard with three small bells clutched in one hand and with the other is about to set off a wall of sleigh bells. In front of him is a xylophone and a table with more hand bells and behind him are racks of various kinds of tubular bells.
The caption implies that Paul Nemson is a solo metallophone artist but it's quite possible he led a vaudeville type group of other instrumentalists too. I have postcards of other German ensembles from earlier decades that feature these same instruments, especially racks of tuned jingle bells and wine bottles. Maybe German audiences developed a novelty fad for tinkling and jingling music that people enjoyed outdoors in a beer garden. Even with a full glass of beer I would have preferred to watch Paul perform from a very long distance.
 |
| 1934 Berlin city directory |
I found Paul Nemson listed in several editions of the Berlin city directory with his address in 1934 at Kottbusser Damm 95. The word after each name in the directory describes a person's general line of work. For Paul Nemson's listing "Konzerthallen" translates as Concert Halls which I interpret as someone employed in music halls such as an entertainer. Of course I can't help feeling sorry for Paul's poor neighbors who had to listen to him practice his bells.
Paul's postcard was sent from Berlin, Germany on 14 September 1932, just four months before Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933.
The postmark includes a public service slogan:
Werdet Rundfunkteilnehmer
~
Become a radio listener (subscriber/owner)
an interesting promotion of a new modern device
that would become very popular over the next few years
for more than just the ringing of bells.
Werdet Rundfunkteilnehmer
~
Become a radio listener (subscriber/owner)
an interesting promotion of a new modern device
that would become very popular over the next few years
for more than just the ringing of bells.
4 comments:
I love this photo because it reminds me of the Christmas concerts my music-teacher mom was part of, both at church and in her community. She arranged some of her chorale's numbers, and I remember a beautiful one that featured bells. The other reference that resonated with me was sleigh bells. My parents had a set of four attached to a leather strap that hung on their rec room wall all year, but came into play during the holidays -- being rung as each person entered the room to place their gifts under the tree. My mom had German heritage on her mother's side. I wonder if her use of bells flowed from that?
This makes me recall (vaguely) once having attended a bell-ringing concert, I think probably in some church, and I think they were an American group. Bells were their only instruments and they each had a different one so it was all about syncing them right I suppose. Well I suppose that's what you do with all music really... Wish you a happy holiday season!
I'll be posting a video about the Ukranian background of Carol of the Bells soon. And I loved the electronic Tubular Bells (I think electronic) but they were used as background for a horror movie so never were popular. Glass bells are another wonderful instrument, and I have been to a concert with those as well as other metals. That's close enough for me! Happy Holidays to you and your family!
It appears Meister Nemson was quite the talented musical artist. He'd have to be to keep track of all he surveyed. Heavens. But I had to smile at your writing of the tintinnabulation. The choral group I sing with - The "Pine Cone Singers" of Groveland, CA, sang a fun number in our holiday concert last weekend called "The Bells". The words were from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe set to music:
"Hear the sledges with their bells, silver bells. What a world of merriment their melody foretells. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the icy air of night, While the stars that over sprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle in a crystalline delight. Keeping time, time, time in a sort of runic rhyme. To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells from the bells, bells, bells. bells. Bells, bells, bells. From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells." :))
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