Carillon (Glockenspiel)

The sound of the city

Carillon (Glockenspiel)

You can hear it throughout the old town and sometimes even further afield: every half hour and hour, the carillon plays a chorale – half an hour to the half hour, a full hour to the hour. At 8 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m., the chorales are played in multiple voices. The carillon is silent from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

One of the tasks of the Marienorganist is to perform two-part chorales live on the glockenspiel three times a year using a keyboard ("carillon"): on Easter Sunday, Pentecost Sunday and Christmas Day.

The carillon, with its 37 bells (C' to C''''), originally came from St Catherine's Church in Gdańsk. It was restored in 1953 and installed in the south tower of St Marien in Lübeck. The largest bell (C) was added in 2019. The old carillon in the ridge turret of St Marien, dating from 1510, was destroyed during the bombing raid on Palm Sunday 1942.

Would you like to hear a sample? Click here.

Choral sequences

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EG = Evangelisches Gesangbuch ("protestant hymnal")

1st Sunday in Advent to 23 December
on the half hour: Macht hoch die Tür (EG 1)
on the hour: Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (EG 4)

Christmas to 1 February
on the half hour: Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (EG 23)
on the hour: Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich (EG 27)

Candlemas (2 February) to the Saturday before Invokavit
on the half hour: Jesus ist kommen, Grund ewiger Freude (EG 66)
on the hour: O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht (EG72)

Invocation to Holy Saturday
on the half hour: Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld (EG 83)
on the hour: Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen (EG 81)

Easter until the Wednesday before Ascension Day
on the half hour: Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thorn (EG 103)
on the hour: Christ ist erstanden (EG 99)

Ascension Day to the Saturday before Pentecost
on the half hour: Gen Himmmel aufgefahren ist (EG 119)
on the hour: Jesus Christus herrscht als König (EG 123)

Pentecost until 23 June
on the half hour: Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott (EG 125)
on the hour: Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist (EG 124)

St John's Day (24 June) to the Saturday before the 8th Sunday after Trinity
on the half hour: Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren (EG 289)
on the hour: O daß ich tausend Zungen hätte (EG 330)

8th Sunday after Trinity until 28 September
on the half hour: Lobt Gott, den Herrn, ihr Heiden all´(EG 293)
on the hour: Lobet den Herren alle, die ihn ehren (EG 447)

Michaelmas (29 September) to 30 October
on the half hour: Nun danket alle Gott (EG 321)
on the hour: Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König (EG 317)

Reformation Day (31 October) to the Saturday before the first Sunday in Advent
on the half hour: ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (EG 362)
on the hour: Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort (EG 193)