Have
you ever heard the singing of angels?
I
haven’t, but there is an account of angelic singing in the sixth chapter of
Isaiah. The prophet tells of six-winged seraphs flying over the throne of God as
they sing, ”Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of
his glory.”
We
sing the same song every Sunday!
Sometimes
a tinkling sound like delicate wind chimes accompanies the organ and the
assembly singing. That is the zimbelstern.
A
zimbelstern is a wheel (sometimes intricately carved to look like a star) that
has several small bells attached to it. When
engaged by the organist, the wheel rotates and the bells strike a rod producing
a delicate, tinkling sound. It’s a common practice to play the zimbelstern when
the assembly sings the Sanctus (“Holy, holy, holy”) to remind us that we are
singing with angels. Zimbelsterns first began to appear in pipe organs during
the 1500’s. After 1700, they began to
appear with bells tuned to specific pitches.
In
addition to the Sanctus, I like to play the zimbelstern when the text brings
images of water – particularly moving water, as in, “Wash, O God, our sons and
daughters, where your cleansing waters flow.” (Ruth Duck, ELW 445)
A
Facebook post recently suggested that it is a “Lutheran tradition” to play the
zimbelstern during hymn stanzas that address or speak of the Trinity. That’s why we heard it this past Christ the
King Sunday during the singing of “All People That on Earth Do Dwell.”
“To
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the
God whom heav’n and earth adore,
from
us and from the angel host
be
praise and glory evermore.” (William Kethe d. c. 1594, ELW 883)
The
zimbelstern almost always makes an appearance for “Silent Night, Holy Night” -
an aural representation of twinkling stars in the sky over Bethlehem.
We
have one member at St. Mark’s who is so enchanted by the zimblestern that he can
barely contain his delight every time it is played. He is so moved by the instrument that I
recently told him if I am around to play for his funeral, the prelude will be a
30-minute zimbelstern solo. He didn’t
seem to think that was a terrible idea!
It’s
not something I use every Sunday, but the zimblestern highlights the texts of
our hymns and adds beauty to worship.
Less is more with zimbelsterns.
Played too much, they become tiresomely mundane.
Just
like bagpipes.
Top photo: "God Surrounded by Seraphim" from "The Petite Heures of Jean de France" early 1400's via Wikipedia
Middle photo: one example of a modern zimbelstern
Video: the zimbelstern at St. Mark's with "Silent Night."
2 comments:
I loved your Youtube "soundbyte"! Thank you for sharing that! I miss all my folks at St. Marks!
This is really interesting stuff, Tony. Before I became part of a liturgical tradition, I might have thought things like the zimbelstern or the bells ringing during the Sanctus were simply "spice" without any real meaning. Learning the history really opens up the richness of the liturgy and makes me so thankful to be able to worship in this tradition.
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