Traditional carillons in Germany:
index by weight (pitch)

The table below is an index to the 50 existing German traditional carillons, in order by the pitch of the bourdon (heaviest bell of the main keyboard range).  Instruments with the same bourdon pitch are in descending order by number of bells, then by missing semitones, then by state.  The key to the four column headings is at the end of the table, along with some other notes.

For an explanation of our use of the tags BRD and DDR, see the long Note in the regional index overview page for this country.

    Location (City : Country)               Note Chr  Nr  Transp

bourdon in the bass octave (20000 to 3000 kg) - 4 instruments

HALLE                         : GERMANY-DDR  F    Y   76  -5
BERLIN - K                    : GERMANY-BRD  F    Z   68   -
BERLIN - F                    : GERMANY-DDR  G#   Y   60   1
MUENCHEN - MH                 : GERMANY      A#  +Y   65   0

bourdon in the middle octave (2500 to 300 kg) - 27 instruments

ERFURT                        : GERMANY-DDR  C    Y   60   0
HAMBURG - STN                 : GERMANY      C    Z   51   0
WIESBADEN                     : GERMANY-BRD  C    X   49   0
KOELN - AR                    : GERMANY-BRD  C    Y   48   0
KAISERSLAUTERN                : GERMANY      C    X   47   -
LUEBECK - 1                   : GERMANY-BRD  C    X   37   0
BERLIN - RP                   : GERMANY      D    Y   52   4
BONN-BEUEL                    : GERMANY-BRD  D#  +X   62   5
SAALFELD                      : GERMANY-DDR  D#   Z   25   3
MAGDEBURG - R                 : GERMANY-DDR  E    X   47   5
HAMBURG-ALTONA - C            : GERMANY      E    X   42   4
EPPINGEN                      : GERMANY-BRD  F    X   49   5
CHEMNITZ - NR                 : GERMANY-DDR  F    Y   48   5
FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN - N         : GERMANY-BRD  F    X   47   5
EMMERICH                      : GERMANY      F    X   43   5
WUERZBURG - N                 : GERMANY      G    X   51   9
KIEL                          : GERMANY      G    Y   50   9
MUEHLHAUSEN                   : GERMANY-DDR  G    -   41   -
DUEREN                        : GERMANY-BRD  G    X   37   7
ILLERTISSEN                   : GERMANY      A#   X   51  12
HERRENBERG - 1                : GERMANY      A#   Y   50  10
MUENCHEN - O                  : GERMANY-BRD  A#   Y   50  10
AACHEN - R                    : GERMANY-BRD  A#   X   49  12
GEISA                         : GERMANY      A#   X   49  10
HANNOVER - H                  : GERMANY-BRD  A#   X   49  12
KASSEL - K                    : GERMANY-BRD  A#   X   47  10
LOESSNITZ                     : GERMANY      A#   X   23  10

bourdon in the treble octave (250 to 60 kg) - 10 instruments

HAHNENKLEE                    : GERMANY      C    X   49  14
PASSAU - P/1/mobile           : GERMANY      C    X   49   -
ASCHAFFENBURG                 : GERMANY-BRD  C    Y   48  12
MELLE                         : GERMANY-BRD  C    X   37   -
ROCKENHAUSEN                  : GERMANY      C    X   37   -  hybrid
ROSTOCK - mobile              : GERMANY-DDR  C    X   37   -
WEILBACH                      : GERMANY      C    X   37  12
SCHIRGISWALDE                 : GERMANY      G    -   29   -
BUCHEN/ODENWALD               : GERMANY      G   +X   24  24  hybrid
BERLIN - N                    : GERMANY-DDR  G#   Z   41   -

bourdon in the "itty-bitty" octave (55 kg or less) - 8 instruments

GERA                          : GERMANY-DDR  C    Z   37  24
WECHSELBURG                   : GERMANY-DDR  C    X   36   -
HEIDELBERG                    : GERMANY-BRD  C    Y   26  24
SCHWERIN - S                  : GERMANY-DDR  C    -   26   -
POTSDAM - E                   : GERMANY-DDR  C    Y   24  36
BONN/BG                       : GERMANY-BRD  C    X   23  24
ROSTOCK - U                   : GERMANY-DDR  C#   Y   32   -
ALTENBURG                     : GERMANY-DDR  G    Y   24   -

bourdon unknown - 1 instrument

KOELN - STM                   : GERMANY      -    -   38   -

Key to column headings:

Note

pitch of the bourdon (bass bell) of the carillon.  (In rare instances there may be a heavier sub-bourdon bell; see below.)

Chr

chromatics indicator:
Z = fully chromatic (no missing semitones)
Y = missing one semitone in the bass (typically keyboard C# or B)
X = missing two semitones in the bass (typically keyboard C#,D# or B,C#)
+X = same as "X" but has an additional sub-bourdon bell, separated by at least two semitones from the one indicated under "Note".
*X = same as "X" but also has a treble semitone missing somewhere.
- = unknown

Nr

number of bells (notes) in the carillon.

Transp

transposition from the keyboard notes to the pitches of the corresponding bells, in semitones.  (Thus the number "12" reflects transposition upward one octave, while "-3" reflects transposition downward by a minor third.)

Notes:

The table is sorted first on the pitch of the bass bell, then on the number of bells, then on the chromatics indicator, then on state/province.  The actual weight of the bass bell is not used.

The weight range indicators for each octave are only gross approximations, and should not be taken to represent any specific bell.

---

Return to Indexes to traditional carillons in Germany.

---

[TowerBells Home Page] [Site data top page] [Credits and Disclaimers] [Feedback]

This index page was built from the database on 5-Feb-10 and last revised on 6-Mar-24.

Please send comments or questions about this page to csz_stl@swbell.net.