The Bell Invites Me

Year: 2012

Heading: for carillon

Movement Titles:  

     Part 1. A Dagger of the Mind

     "... or art thou but
     A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
     Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"

     Part 2. I Go, and It Is Done

     "I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
     Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
     That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

Commissioned by:
The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America

First Performance:
John Gouwens
Congress of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America
House of Hope Presbyterian Church
St Paul, MN
18 June 2013

Instrumentation: 47 bell carillon with a manual range of four octaves and a pedal range of two octaves

Duration: 6.15

Program Note:
The Bell Invites Me was commissioned by the Johan Franco Composition Fund Committee of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, chaired by John Gouwens. The note which appears on the title page of the score reads:

Macbeth has decided to kill the king of Scotland and take the crown. Duncan, the king, is asleep. Macbeth waits for Lady Macbeth to give him the signal, a ringing bell, which means she has drugged Duncan's guards, leaving the king unprotected. Macbeth agonizes over the deed he is about to commit, even hallucinating about the murder weapon:
"... or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"
Macbeth hears his cue to murder, the bell, summoning him to action.
"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell."
Macbeth (II, i)