The Eveningbell

Note from the arranger

The story of “The Eveningbell”

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a guest at the ‘Villa Roselawn’ in November 1829. His host was Thomas Attwood, a paternal friend, composer, and organist, who had five sons and a harp-playing daughter. On the day of his return journey to London, Attwood had invited a large party and Mendelssohn was improvising on the harp with Attwood’s daughter to entertain them when the gate bell suddenly rang. It was the coachman who had come to fetch Mendelssohn. However, he was not impressed by the ringing and would not stop playing. The coachman therefore repeatedly rang the bell, which sounded on A, with increasing intensity until Mendelssohn finally stopped playing and travelled home with him to London. Once back there, he wrote the duo “The Eveningbell” that very evening and sent it to Attwood the next day as a gift of thanks. The gate bell of the Villa Roselawn, which is actually tuned to B is immortalized in the composition on the note A in the harp part.