Way over Jordaan, Westerkerk's bells

May 24, 2007 2:18 PM

Amsterdam: Are Westerkerk's (sub)hourly bells playing a piece of a larger melody and if so, what?
posted by Ogre Lawless to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Are you in Ams at the moment? They change the tunes every three months, so the answer varies ;-)
posted by different at 2:22 PM on May 24, 2007

I'm not sure where user different got that info; I can't reproduce it.
What I can tell you, from this link: (Dutch)
http://83.149.77.49/smartsite.shtml?id=12516
, which appear to be the minutes of a meeting of the council that governs the central part of the city, is that "Het kostte enige moeite ten stadhuize gegevens over regelingen en bepalingen omtrent het luiden van de klokken te verkrijgen. Achteraf gezien begrijpelijk, ze bestaan namelijk niet."

Translation: "it was difficult to get information about the rules and regulations of the sounding of the bells from cityhall. In hindsight understandable, as these don't exist."

Anything they do is based on habit.

It also says that the Westerkerk plays about 60 seconds every 15 minutes, which is automated.
Every Tuesday from noon until 1pm it is played manually.

Also, from more recent news publications, I can tell you that there was a fight by 'new inhabitants' (yuppie-types) of the area around the church, as well as tourists (!) to get the automated bell-ringing shut down during the night to reduce "sound-pollution". They lost, because the mayor and the original inhabitants laughed the claim away.
posted by Grensgeval at 3:08 PM on May 24, 2007

Grensgeval: the new tunes are published in the local paper every quarter.

Boudewijn Zwart is the bell-ringer (sorry, not sure what it is in English), and might also program the automated carillon? In any case there's an email addy for him on this page which might help you out.
posted by different at 3:23 PM on May 24, 2007

I just got back from there. Can you be homesick for a place you never lived? I hope you enjoy the wonderful city of Amsterdam. Oude Kerk is nice too, there might still be the photography exposition going on there.
posted by Area Control at 6:00 PM on May 24, 2007

Thanks different -- I was there a couple of weeks ago. I'm an English speaker and even I don't know what the name is. Carillionist? Interesting that it changes -- I'll have to do some more research and perhaps Mr. Zwart is my hook.

What's his job title in Dutch?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:32 AM on May 25, 2007

Mr. Zwart was incredibly nice to get a hold of! His response:

it's nice to know that people appriciate the regular sounds of the automatic drum of the Westertoren. If you want to join in sometime for a real handplayed carillonconcert, please feel free to contact me. I play each tuesday at 12.00 hr and you're welcome.
The tunes on the automatic drum are:
Full hour: Zou er in de hemel een Jordaan bestaan (dutch song, famous from the singer Johnny Jordaan)
Quarter past: Daar was laatst een meisje loos (dutch old folksong)
Half hour: In een blauw geruiten kiel (old dutch folksong about Michiel de Ruyter)
Quarter for: Est ce mars or 'Wie gaat mee over zee' (old dutch folksong about the sea)

So, probably you don't know the original versions, because it's all old Dutch material.

He was nice enough to list his job title in English which is "City-carillonneur of Amsterdam" and suggested I climb the tower to hear the tunes on Tuesdays.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:14 AM on June 5, 2007

Wow, thanks for the follow-up Ogre Lawless!

I can hear the carillon from my office on Tuesdays and it drives me nuts ;-) But I might pop in and visit sometime regardless.
posted by different at 12:09 PM on June 18, 2007