Westminster Quarters

The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters, or Cambridge Chimes, from its place of origin, the Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge.

{| class="wikitable"

! Quarter bell

! Pitch

! Weight

! Diameter

|-

|First

|G₄

|1.1t

|1.1m

|-

|Second

|F₄

|1.3t

|1.2m

|-

|Third

|E₄

|1.7t

|1.4m

|-

|Fourth

|B₃

|4.0t

|1.8m

|}

The quarters consist of five changes, permutations of the four pitches provided by these quarter bells (G₄, F₄, E₄, B₃) in the key E major. This generates five unique changes as follows:

1. G₄, F₄, E₄, B₃
2. E₄, G₄, F₄, B₃
3. E₄, F₄, G₄, E₄
4. G₄, E₄, F₄, B₃
5. B₃, F₄, G₄, E₄

Each of the five changes is played as three crotchets (quarter notes) and a minim<!-- Disputed: Sounds like three crotchets and a NON-dotted minim to me --> (half note) and are always played in the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. This sequence of five changes is used twice every hour as follows:

The number of changes used matches the number of quarter hours passed.

Because the five changes are used twice, and in the same sequence, the mechanism that trips the hammers needs to be programmed with only five changes instead of ten, reducing its complexity.

Both the third quarter and the full hour require the fourth quarter bell, B₃, to be rung twice in quick succession (changes 4,5,1 and 2,3,4,5); too quick for the hammer to draw back for the second strike. To address this, the fourth quarter bell is equipped with two hammers on opposite sides and becomes, effectively, a fifth bell for the mechanism to play.

The first and third quarters finish on the dominant, B, while the half and full hours finish on the tonic, E, producing the satisfying musical effect that has contributed to the popularity of the chimes.

The following sounds have been recreated as MIDI electronic files and do not necessarily represent the actual sounds of the bells and that the pitch of the Big Ben clip is closer to F than E in modern concert pitch. An actual recording may be heard in the summary section above.

{| class="wikitable"

|First quarter:

|<score sound="1"> \relative c {\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"tubular bells" \time 5/4 \key e \major gis4^"1" fis e b2\bar "|."|}</score>

<!--frameless|upright=1.11-->

|-

|Half-hour:

|<score sound="1"> \relative c' {\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"tubular bells" \time 5/4 \key e \major e4^"2" gis fis b,2 | e4^"3" fis gis e2\bar "|."|}</score>

<!--frameless|upright=1.78-->

|-

|Third quarter:

|<score sound="1"> \relative c {\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"tubular bells" \time 5/4 \key e \major gis4^"4" e fis b,2 | b4^"5" fis' gis e2 | gis4^"1" fis e b2\bar "|."|}</score>

<!--frameless|upright=2.56-->

|-

|Full hour (3 o'clock example):

|<score sound="1"> \relative c' {\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"tubular bells" \time 5/4 \key e \major e4^"2" gis fis b,2 | e4^"3" fis gis e2 | gis4^"4" e fis b,2 | b4^"5" fis' gis e2 | R1*5/4\fermata \bar "||" \clef bass \time 4/4 e,1^"Big Ben" | e1| e1 \bar "|."| }</score>

<!--frameless|upright=3.17

<br />frameless|upright=0.83 ( Big Ben)-->

|}

Words associated with the melody

The prayer inscribed on a plaque in the Big Ben clock room reads:

The conventional prayer is:

An alternative prayer changes the third line:

A variation on this, to the same tune, is prayed at the end of Brownie meetings in the UK and Canada:

History

thumb|The [[Big Ben|Elizabeth Tower at the Palace of Westminster, the namesake of the chime]]

thumb| The [[Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge for which the chime was written]]

The Westminster Quarters were originally written in 1793 for a new clock in Great St Mary's, the University Church in Cambridge. There is some doubt over exactly who composed it: Joseph Jowett, Regius Professor of Civil Law, was given the job, but he was probably assisted by either John Randall (1715–1799), who was the Professor of Music from 1755, or his undergraduate pupil, William Crotch (1775–1847). This chime is traditionally, though without substantiation, believed to be a set of variations on the four notes that make up the fifth and sixth bars of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Handel's Messiah.