Walter de Odyngton treatise in bell founding
During the last half of the 13th century, Walter de Odyngton, (Walter of Evesham), wrote his treatise "De Speculatione Musicae", which is now preserved in full at the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Within, there is a short paragraph discussing how to achieve bells a whole tone apart:
Original
Original
- Ad simbola facienda tota vis et difficultas extat in appensione cerae ex qua formantur et primo sciendi quod quanto densius est tintinnabulum tanto acutius sonat tenuius vero gravius. Unam appensam ceram quantamlibet ex qua formandum primum cimbalum divides in octo partes et octavam partem addes tantae cerse sicut integra fuit, et fiet tibi cera secundi simbali. Et cetera facies ad eundem modum a gravioribus inchoando. Sed cave ne forma interior argillse cui aptanda est cera alio mutetur, ne etiam aliquid de cera appensa addat ad spiramina, proinde et ut quinta vel sexta pars metalli sit stannum purincatum a plumbo, reliquum de cupro similiter mundato propter sonoritatem. Si autem in aliquo defeceris, cum cote vel lima potest rectificari
- In making the bells, the whole skill and difficulty lies in the application of the wax from which they are formed. First, it should be understood that the thicker a bell is, the higher it sounds, while the thinner it is, the deeper it sounds. Take a quantity of wax, as much as you like, from which the first bell is to be formed, and divide it into eight parts. Then add one eighth part more of wax equal to that original amount, and this will become the wax for the second bell. You will do the same for the others in the same way, beginning from the lower-pitched ones. But take care that the inner mould of clay, to which the wax must be fitted, is not altered in any way; and also that none of the added wax increases the air vents (channels). Furthermore, let a fifth or sixth part of the metal be tin, purified from lead, and the rest copper, likewise refined, for the sake of good sound. If, however, anything turns out imperfectly, it can be corrected with a whetstone or a file.
