Tintinnabula, bells et small bells
Tintinnabula, cloches et clochettes
News of campanology, from Antiquity to the XXIth century
Actualités de la campanologie, de l’Antiquité au XXIe siècle
Published on Monday, February 12, 2024
Abstract
A flagship object of Western Christian culture and the soundscapes covered by Alain Corbin in his work on 19th century France, the bell has had a multifaceted and complex history, but always very rich. Sound object or musical instrument, it is also a highly identity and symbolic object whose tinkling or ringing echoes a variety of social and political constructions. If this conference proposes to concentrate its attention on the object “bell”, understood in the broadest possible sense in order to grasp this complexity of meaning, it also chooses to see it from a totally diachronic angle, without chronological restriction, geographical or cultural.
Announcement
Argument
A flagship object of Western Christian culture and the soundscapes covered by Alain Corbin in his work on 19th century France, the bell has had a multifaceted and complex history, but always very rich. Sound object or musical instrument, it is also a highly identity and symbolic object whose tinkling or ringing echoes a variety of social and political constructions. The very designation of the object evolves widely over time, from the most archaic Antiquity to the most contemporary uses. In addition to the terminology used to designate it, the bell becomes, from a small bronze sounding object for agricultural, domestic and religious use, a monumental artifact that can even, when placed in series, form polyphonic chimes. This transition between the end of Antiquity and the Middle Ages questioned many scholars and theologians early on, from the 8th century AD. The medieval and then modern vision of the bell, often constructed from literary but also iconographic data alone, has long conditioned and still conditions our vision of the object, among the ancient polytheists as well as among the Jews and the first Christians. In modern and contemporary times, the bell, in the Western world but also in other cultural areas, is enriched with additional meanings which add to this pre-existing polysemy. The decline, in the French landscape at least, of religious ringtones in the face of the occupation of the soundscape by civic power and its own ringtones has further modified the meaning of the object, sometimes seen as an element of resistance, an element of identity or on the contrary archaic. If this conference proposes to concentrate its attention on the object “bell”, understood in the broadest possible sense in order to grasp this complexity of meaning, it also chooses to see it from a totally diachronic angle, without chronological restriction, geographical or cultural. Several axes will thus be defined:
A literary and archaeological axis (making, uses, representations)
In what contexts are bells found, how does the object evolve in certain periods (3rd-5th century, 8th century, 19th-21st centuries) and how is it represented in different sources (iconographic, literature, symbolic)?
A historiographical axis
How is the bell named, designated, identified in ancient, medieval, modern or contemporary sources? How do scholars of the medieval and modern era treat this object in light of their own questions and the data they have about Antiquity?
An axis of reception
It will question current representations and evocations of the bell through its heritage (identification, conservation, museography), its presence in contemporary media (cinema, children's literature, exhibitions, etc.) or even its presence in the collective imagination (agency, psychology, ethnology, etc.)
This conference is aimed at both established and young researchers, whose communication proposal may fall into one or more of the following disciplinary fields: history, art history, archaeology, literature, theology, anthropology, musicology, museology, foundry without this list being restrictive.
Submission guidelines
They should include:
- a title and an abstract (1500 characters, including spaces).
- a short biographical note of the author or the authors.
After the meeting of the Scientific Committee, an answer will be given to each proposal on the 16th September 2024 by mail.
Paper proposals must be sent to arnaud.saura-ziegelmeyer@ict-toulouse.fr
before the 15th July 2024.
Conference will be hold on 6 and 7th March 2025.
Additional information
The Musée Européen d’Art Campanaire de l’Isle-Jourdain, inaugurated in 1994 under the patronage of François Mitterrand and John Paul II, today houses the largest European collection of campanary art, covering a history ranging from Antiquity to the 20th century, with elements from different continents and different cultural areas. It will host all the activities of the conference, but also mediation and exhibition works during the latter, for speakers and the general public.
Organisation
- Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer, Lecturer in Ancient History, Institut Catholique de Toulouse.
Scientific Committee
- Christophe Balagna, Lecturer in History of Medieval Art, Institut Catholique de Toulouse
- Angela Bellia, Researcher at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale, Napoli
- Régis Courtray, Lecturer in Latine Language and Literature, Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès
- Adeline Grand-Clément, Professor in Ancient Greek History, Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès
- Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer, Lecturer in Ancient History, Institut Catholique de Toulouse
Partners
- Institut Catholique de Toulouse, UR CERES, https://www.ict-toulouse.fr/presentation/#
- Conservation départementale du Patrimoine et des Musées du Gers, Musée Campanaire de l’Isle-Jourdain, https://www.patrimoine-musees-gers.fr/le-reseau/musee-de-lisle-jourdain/
- Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès, EA PLH, https://plh.univ-tlse2.fr/
Subjects
Places
- Place de l'Hôtel de Ville
L'Isle-Jourdain, France (32)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Date(s)
- Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Attached files
Keywords
- campanologie, clochette, tintinnabulum, réception, musicologie, histoire
Contact(s)
- Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer
courriel : arnaud [dot] saura-ziegelmeyer [at] ict-toulouse [dot] fr
Information source
- Arnaud Saura-Ziegelmeyer
courriel : arnaud [dot] saura-ziegelmeyer [at] ict-toulouse [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Tintinnabula, bells et small bells », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, February 12, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/vsxx
