Hell’s Bells: as the composer intended
With every Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performance of Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, audience members are treated to a rare sonic event. Nineteenth-century French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a part in his signature work for church bells so large and heavy that most orchestras apologetically substitute some inferior instrument, such as chimes or even piano.
But, fortunately for our audiences, the Atlanta Symphony is the proud owner of a pair of bells so ridiculously large that they satisfy Berlioz’ orchestrational evocation of the gates of hell opening.
The origin of these bells is as unique as their benefactor: Gene Rehm, a 49-year veteran of the ASO percussion section, who passed away in 2010, and who might be described (with a sly wink) as “quite a character” by any of his friends and colleagues. Gene, who left no heirs, named former ASO Principal Percussionist Tom Sherwood the executor of his estate, which Tom divided between Gene’s two passions: animal welfare, and the ASO percussion section. Among his wish-list acquisitions: two enormous bells, the pair weighing in at an even ton of bronze: the precise bells called for in the Fantastique.
Watch the bells in action on January 24, 2019 — performed by ASO Principal Percussion Joseph Petrasek.
The bells were custom cast by a 350-year-old Dutch company and inscribed “In Memoriam Eugene Allen Rehm Jr. “. Until the acquisition of these gargantuan bells, the ASO would rent a pair from the Dallas Symphony anytime the Berlioz was programmed. But the Dallas bells, weighing in at a mere 900 pounds, sound an octave higher, and only half as apocalyptically menacing as the visionary composer called for.
Other orchestras have, in turn, inquired about renting Atlanta’s titanic bells, says the ASO’s Principal Percussionist Joseph Petrasek. But “Getting them out of the building, onto a truck, and shipped would be nearly impossible and crazy expensive,” Petrasek explains.
So, let other orchestras envy us; thanks to Gene’s generous bequest, Atlanta audiences are afforded the rare opportunity to hear the terrifying sound of the gates of hell opening as the composer originally intended.
Post-Script: Composers, deploy instruments this lethal at your own risk: for the 2016 performances of my piece A Thousand Words, I thought it might be exciting to add a few strikes of the mammoth bells at climactic moments. But even with the full orchestra at maximum volume, the bells’ sonic clarity and harmonic complexity proved overwhelming and had to be cut. With apologies to the stage crew for their wasted effort, the bells were carefully taken back to their basement lair, silently awaiting the next scheduled Witches’ Sabbath.
