Sonnerie is
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
for "making sound" or "
ring
(The) Ring(s) may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV
* ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
". The term generally applies to
bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
s or
bell
A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
s in mechanical clocks or
wristwatch
A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...
es (see for example
grande sonnerie), but can equally be used, for example, for the sound produced by a telephone.
Sonnerie watches are revered by
connoisseur
A connoisseur (French language, French Reforms of French orthography, traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge ...
s for chiming the time on tiny
gong
A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...
s on the hour and the quarter "in passing", and require highly skilled watchmakers as they "cannot be made satisfactorily through purely industrial means."
[Jack Forster For whom the bell tolls; For thee if you wear a minute repeater, the most complicated watch there is page 101 December 2009 Forbes Life]
When "Sonnerie" is used as the name of a
musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...
, it bears connotations of:
* Sounds produced by bell towers, for example
Marin Marais
Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe ...
' ''
Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris'' (1723), ''Carillon'' from
Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become ...
's
L'Arlésienne or
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
's ''I Happen to Like New York'' - all three of which rely on a repeated three-note figure to convey the peal of church bells, funeral bells or ship bells.
* Sounds produced by the bells of
alarm clock
An alarm clock or alarm is a clock that is designed to alert an individual or group of people at a specified time. The primary function of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they can sometimes be used for o ...
s or
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
s sounding a
réveil The Réveil (French for "revival", "awakening") of 1814 was a revival movement within the Swiss Reformed Church of western Switzerland and some Reformed communities in southeastern France.
Origins
The supporters were also called pejoratively ''mo ...
, for example
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...
's ''
Sonnerie pour réveiller le bon gros Roi des Singes (lequel ne dort toujours que d'un oeil)'' (1921)
* Outdoor music, for example performed by
horn
Horn may refer to:
Common uses
* Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide
** Horn antenna
** Horn loudspeaker
** Vehicle horn
** Train horn
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals
* Horn (instrument), a family ...
s before a
hunt
Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...
, or a
serenade
In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honour of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Ital ...
performed in honour of a special person,...
* Any combination of the previous associations, for example Erik Satie's ''
Sonneries de la Rose+Croix
Sonneries may refer to:
* The plural of sonnerie, French for ringing, especially in a bell tower or clock
* '' Sonneries de la Rose+Croix'', a piano composition by Erik Satie
{{disambiguation ...
'' (1892)
References
{{Reflist
Classical music styles