Semantron of Petrine Time
Semantron (“bilo” in Russian) is one of the most ancient and simple but powerful music instruments. In the House of Peter I, the first museum of Vologda, there is a cast-iron semantron made in 1706. An interesting story is connected with this exhibit and its origin. Semantrons of various types were widely used in monasteries and cities. They were made of metal, wood and even stone, especially in the areas that had no other material but stone. The Russian name of the semantron – bilo – comes from the root of the Old Russian word “beat”. The sound is made with beating a stick or a special hammer on the flat surface of the bilo. The wooden semantron was a plank made of maple, ash-tree, beech, or birch. Depending on its shape, size and material, which could vary, the instrument gave different sounds. Metal semantrons (known since the 6th century) were made of iron, copper, cast iron, and bell bronze. Stone semantrons were used in the Solovetsky Monastery in the 15th century. At the beginning of the reign of Peter I, cannons were made of copper, but there was a lack of it. Peter the Great issued a decree in accordance with which the fourth part of all bells in Russia was to be melted down to make up the deficiency of the Russian artillery. Archbishop Garviil of Vologda sent about 1,000 poods of bell metal to Moscow, and the tsar, delighted with such a donation, awarded him an esteem certificate. Cast-iron beaters were made for the bell towers instead of the lost bells because services couldn’t be conducted in the churches without bell-ringing. Thus, the cast-iron semantron that is exhibited in the House of Peter I appeared in Vologda.