Westminster Chime File
Posted on October 30, 2010 | By clockde | Leave a response
Westminster Chimes
Most chiming clocks offer the Westminster Chime as the primary chime melody on their clocks. This may include Grandfather clocks, wall clocks, and mantel clocks. This is also true for keywound clocks as well as the new battery operated quartz clocks. The chime was first installed in the Palace of Westminster in London which is now commonly known as the Elizab eth Tower. The tower was finished in 1858 and the stories of where the name Big Ben became known are numerous. No one really knows for sure how the clock tower got its name.
The 16 note melody may be broken into four note sections as the first quarter hour will play the first four notes of the melody. On the half-hour eight of the sixteen (or half) of them play. Twelve notes on the 3/4 hour and then all sixteen on the hour to complete the Westminster melody. Some believe the melody was derived from a few measures of from Handel’s Messiah.
The lyric inscribed in the tower read:
All through this hour Lord,
be my guide
And by Thy power
No foot shall slide.
You may hear the sample chime here (the sample will open as a new window you may close)
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