From my office and from my home I can hear the bells of York Minster; they punctuate and measure our daily lives, and they remind me when I’m late for an appointment; they can peal out in ecstasy or toll a sorrowful note of doom! These five short pieces have all, to a greater or lesser extent, been influenced by the sound of church bells, or by the change ringing patterns employed by bellringers. 

1. The first Bagatelle takes as its starting point the chromatic second movement of Purcell’s Trumpet Sonata (whose manuscript was discovered in York Minster Library). 

2. Bagatelle no. 2 is based around a single slow melodic line, dispersed around the ensemble, punctuated by tolling interjections on piano. All the musical material has been derived from change ringing sequences I spotted on the wall of All Saints, North Street, York – the church that also provided inspiration for my choral pieces Apocalypse and At the Edge of the World. 

3. The third Bagatelle is the most obviously bell-like, with a hocketing melodic line punctuated by dissonant ‘chorus’. Like the second Bagatelle, the musical material is derived from the change ringing number sequence from All Saints, North Street. 

4. Bagatelle no. 4 is a melody for clarinet based entirely on a descending musical scale, with minimal quasi-clockwork accompaniment. 

5. The final Bagatelle is constructed from very short musical fragments, arranged strictly according to a five-bell change-ringing pattern. 

Hell’s Bells Bagatelles were composed sporadically in York between 2017-2022 but brought together as a set in response to a commission for Gemini (directed by Ian Mitchell) from the Late Music concert series. 

David Lancaster, York, September 2022