Röhrenglocken

As Printed on a Score

The German name for tubular bells (Röhrenglocken, also Roehrenglocken), though many German scores simply write Glocken. The part is on a treble-clef staff at written pitch, often with the needed pitches listed at its head.

Also spelled: Roehrenglocken

How Composers Use It

The full name specifies the orchestral instrument — hanging brass tubes struck with a rawhide hammer — rather than real church bells, which Glocken alone could mean. Use them for ceremonial or sacred bell sounds within their range of about an octave and a half from middle C; for deeper bells, as for the temple bells of Wagner’s Parsifal, composers and theatres have had to find special instruments.

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