A Cambridge melody
The tune that millions of clocks play every quarter hour was not written for London. It was composed in 1793 for a new clock at Great St Mary's, the university church in Cambridge, which is why it is also known as the Cambridge Chimes or the Cambridge Quarters.
Its authorship is usually credited to the Reverend Joseph Jowett, with the help of William Crotch, then a young musician. The melody grows out of a phrase from Handel's aria “I know that my Redeemer liveth”, in Messiah, reworked into short sequences for four bells.
From Cambridge to Westminster
When the Great Clock of the Palace of Westminster came into service in 1859, it took the Cambridge melody for its quarters. The chime that had been heard over a university town became the sound of the British Parliament.
The Great Bell, cast in 1858 by the Whitechapel foundry, weighs some 13.7 tonnes. People soon called it Big Ben, and the nickname spread to the clock and then to the whole tower. A crack appeared in 1859: rather than being recast, the bell was turned and given a lighter hammer, which explains its slightly imperfect voice. Long known as the Clock Tower, the tower became Elizabeth Tower in 2012.
Between 2017 and 2022 the bells fell mostly silent during a long restoration of the tower; since then the quarters and the hours ring out again over Westminster.
Four bells, five changes
The quarter chimes use four bells tuned to G♯, F♯, E and B. Five different sequences of four notes, called changes, follow one another in rotation: one change at quarter past, two at half past, three at quarter to and four on the hour, making 4, 8, 12 and then 16 notes.
On the hour, after the sixteenth note, the Great Bell, tuned to a low E, strikes once for each hour. Over a full hour the twenty notes of the five changes are each heard twice, so the melody never sounds quite the same from one quarter to the next.
The words of the chime
In the clock room of the tower a short prayer is displayed, written to the rhythm of the hour chime: “All through this hour / Lord be my guide / And by Thy power / No foot shall slide.” Each line has four syllables, one for each note of a change.
The words are not sung or played by the clock. They are simply a way of remembering the melody and of following it note by note as the bells ring.
From the tower to the living room
The melody did not stay in towers. Domestic clockmakers built it into chiming movements for longcase clocks, wall clocks and mantel clocks, and it became the melody most people expect to hear from a chiming clock at home.
You can hear it on four of the clocks of this site, from the French Comtoise to the mantel clock. Big Ben strikes the Great Bell itself, or simply listen to the Westminster chime on the clock of your choice.
Questions
Who wrote the Westminster chime?
It was composed in 1793 for Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge and is usually attributed to the Reverend Joseph Jowett, helped by William Crotch.
What notes does the Westminster chime use?
Four notes, G♯, F♯, E and B, arranged in five sequences of four notes. The hour is then struck on a lower E.
What are the words to the Westminster chime?
“All through this hour, Lord be my guide, and by Thy power no foot shall slide.” The prayer is displayed in the clock room of the tower.
Why is it called Big Ben?
Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell, the hour bell of about 13.7 tonnes. The name was later used for the clock and for the tower as well.