The wonderful echoes of bells in town square at noon cause the flavor of the schnitzel to taste just right—a Munich Glockenspiel operator would say.
A few bells broken or missing, or whose sound is askew due to winter cold exposure or the Bavarian summer heat, might not bother the locals let alone the many tourists; but the operators of this 10-story cuckoo clock are deeply in tune with its inner workings. To hear it meet either of its two daily appointments slightly out of tune, to them, is unsettling.
For over 100 years, operators behind the scenes have pushed buttons, flicked levers, and tended its six melody-plucking rollers to ensure the Glockenspiel’s procession of life-size, semi-automated figures starts on time. The brightly colored copper figures ooze Munich: The courtiers and trumpet men in red and green; the mounted knights in sparkling armor jousting; the spinning coopers (or barrel makers) twirling; and, of course, the Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine, whose marriage in 1568 the works do honor.
It is a charming procession that attracts millions of tourists a year to the market, or Marienplatz, that has been the main square in Munich since 1158. The New Town Hall, or Neues Rathaus, built in 1908, made the Glockenspiel clocktower, really, its main attraction. In honor of said Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine, two colorful parades rotate along concentric carousel track mechanisms, one atop the other, perched on two balconies, twice per day: at 11 a.m. and noon.
The first begins with a procession of courtiers entering from left and right, passing by each other then exiting, followed by knights on horseback jousting as they pass by each other and exiting behind the rest. The knight in red and white is of Lothringen, and the other, in blue and white, is of Bavaria. All make a second pass, and now the knight in blue and white wins. The one in red topples over backward before leaving the scene. The duke and bride, in the back, watch on. Meanwhile, backstage, an operator resets the knight on his horse.
Then the second parade begins below, as red doublet-donning coopers in high white socking twirl in a lively dance to mechanical tunes. The cooper’s dance represents the end of the plague in 1517 that saw the people of Munich shuttered in their homes; the coopers’ guild was loyal to the duke and went to dance on the streets to cheer the people and bring them out again. Today, that dance lives on as the Cooper’s Dance, or Schäfflerstanz, and is performed (by live people) every seven years.
Then, at 9 p.m. each night, a guardian angel puts to bed the Munich child to the sounds of Johannes Brahms’s “Lullaby.”
The Marienplatz itself has always been at the heart of Munich. It was the setting of a real jousting tournament marking the two-week celebration of the duke’s wedding in spring, even as snow lingered. Today, tourists flock there to see the neo-gothic Neues Rathaus and Glockenspiel and to feast on the schnitzel.
All these years, behind the scenes, people have ensured that twice each day the show goes on; it starts on time without delay. Just two minutes late would have tourists up in arms. By hand, they operate the starting of figures and the bells with perfect timing. The techniques of getting it all moving in flawless manner are not intuitive, but rather were passed down and learned by heart. Some of its workings are even mysterious, and are learned by both experience and all too teachable breakdowns.
On 364 days of the year, the six rollers operate to pluck music with a historical carillon (an automated church keyboard) that operates automatically with clappers used to strike the 43 bells. The machine is controlled from a room on the 10th floor. The one day of the year when silence is kept is Good Friday. An additional show at 5 p.m. each day joins the regular schedule from March to October.
From time to time, the mechanism must be maintained. The tradition of the Glockenspiel also seems to be changing with the times.
“In 2007, the bells of the carillon were removed and restored by Dutch specialists in order to restore the correct pitch,” Christian Valentini, from the City of Munich, told The Epoch Times, speaking of the challenges of servicing the Glockenspiel. In 2017, the figures were repainted and restored. “The carillon is currently being automated,” Mr. Valentini said. “The electrical impulses are now sent directly from the control system to the magnetic hammers on the 43 bells.”
In the past, the changing temperatures over the year affected the sound quality, but now consistent sound will be ensured throughout the year. Historically, the carillon was serviced once every four weeks. It was cleaned, oiled, tested, and adjusted. But now the new system will require yearly servicing, which will take only two days.
