"The Bells of Notre Dame" is the opening song from the 1996 Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. It is sung at the beginning of the film by the clown-like gypsy, Clopin.
The song details about Quasimodo's origin and is the film's opening credits. During the song, Clopin tells young children about the mysterious bell-ringer of Notre Dame. He then talks about a story that goes back twenty years where a group of gypsies attempted to ferry their way into Paris, but a trap had been laid and they are captured by Judge Claude Frollo and several soldiers. When Quasimodo's mother amongst gypsies is seen carrying a bundle, a guard attempts to confiscate it, prompting her to flee.
Frollo pursues her on his horse, believing her to have stolen goods, in a brutal chase that comes to a head on the steps of Notre Dame cathedral. Here, Frollo takes the bundle out of her hands but, in doing so, strikes a blow to her head with his boot, causing her to fall down onto the stone steps, breaking her neck and killing her. Frollo then learns that the bundle is actually a deformed baby. He sees a well and attempts to drown the baby, as he believes it is a demon from Hell, but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who tells Frollo that he has killed an innocent woman and that, if he wishes for the survival of his immortal soul, he must raise the child as his own. Frollo reluctantly does so and raises the baby in the bell tower of Notre Dame and gives him a cruel name; Quasimodo, which, according to Clopin, means "half-formed". It is quickly learned that Quasimodo is the mysterious bell-ringer.
It is a grand, atmospheric way to open one of Disney's darker and more dramatic animated films.
Versions
| Characters(numbered to fit singers) | Singers(numbered to fit characters) | Language | Title | Title (Translated to English) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Yasser Shaaban
2-Samir Al-Banna 3-Ali Hassanein |
Arabic | "أجراس نوتردام" | "The bells of Notre Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Cláudio Galvan
2-Leonardo José (speaking) Rodrigo Esteves (singing) 3-Lafayette Galvão |
Brazilian Portuguese | "O Sons de Notre Dame" | "The Sounds of Notre Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
??? | Cantonese | "???" | "???" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Jesús Castejón
2-Constantino Romero 3-Miguel Ángel Jenner |
Castilian Spanish (EU) | "???" | "???" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Pep Antón Muñoz
2-Constantino Romero 3-Joan Crosas |
Catalan | "Els Sons de Nôtre Dame" | "The Sounds From Notre Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
Czech | |||
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Jess Ingerslev
2-Stig Hoffmeyer (speaking) Niels Weyde (singing) 3-Bendt Reiner |
Danish | ||
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Bill van Djik
2-Edmond Classen (speaking) Ernst Daniël Smid (singing) 3-Ger Smit |
Dutch | "Klokken van de Notre Dame" | "Bells from the Notre-Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Paul Kandel
2-Tony Jay 3-David Ogden Stiers |
English | "The Bells of Notre-Dame" | "The Bells of Notre-Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Antti Pääkkönen
2-Ossi Ahlapuro 3-Matti Siitonen |
Finnish | "Notre-Damen Kellot" | "Notre-Dame's Bells" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Peter De Smet
2-François Beukelaers (speaking) Wemer Brams (singing) 3-Bert Andre (speaking) Marc Meersman (singing) |
Flemish | "De Klok van
Notre Dame" |
"The Bell From Notre Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Bernard Alane
2-Jean Piat 3-Dominique Tirmont |
French | "Les Cloches de Notre-Dame" | "The Bells of Notre-Dame" |
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Heinz Rennhack
2-Klausjürgen Wussow 3-Helmut Krauss |
German | ||
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Konstantinos Paliatsaras
2-Dimitris Kontoyiannis 3-John Modinos |
Greek | ||
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
Hebrew | |||
| 1-Clopin
2-Frollo 3-Archdeacon |
1-Maros Gábor
2-Heyley László (speaking) Szvétek László (singing) 3-Szabó Gyula (speaking) Sárkány Kázmér (singing) |
Hungarian | "Zeng a Notre-Dame" |
Trivia
- When Clopin asks, "Who is the monster, and who is the man?" this would eventually refer to Frollo and Quasimodo.
Lyrics
Chorus Olim, Olim, Deus Accelere (Once, long ago, God Accelere)
Hoc saeculum splendium (This century splendor)
Accelere fiat venire olim (Accelere may come once)
Clopin: Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city's
The toll of the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
(song stops, speaking segment begins)
Listen, they're beautiful, no?
So many colors of sound, so many changing moods
Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves
Clopin puppet: They don't?
Clopin: No, silly boy.
Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower lives the mysterious bell ringer.
Who is this creature?
Clopin puppet: Who?
Clopin: What is he?
Clopin puppet: What?
Clopin: How did he come to be there?
Clopin puppet: How?
Clopin: Hush... (bonks puppet on the head)
Clopin puppet: Ow!
Clopin: and Clopin will tell you.
It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster.
(song resumes, scene changes to flashback)
Clopin: Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
Quasimodo's father: Shut it up, will you!
Male Gypsy: We'll be spotted!
Quasimodo's mother: Hush, little one.
Clopin: Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
Barge Driver: Four guilders for safe passage into Paris
Clopin: But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
Quasimodo's father: *in alarm* Judge Claude Frollo!
Clopin: The bells of Notre Dame
Chorus: Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin: Judge Claude Frollo longed to purge the world of vice and sin
Chorus: Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin: And he saw corruption everywhere, except within
Frollo: (speaking) Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice.
Guard: You there, what are you hiding?
Frollo: Stolen goods, no doubt. Take them from her
Clopin: (speaking) She ran.
Chorus: Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, that day)
Solvet saeclum in favilla (Shall consume the world in ashes)
Teste David cum sibylla (As prophesied by David and the sibyl)
Quantus tremor est futurus (What trembling is to be)
Quando Judex est venturus (When the Judge is come)
Quasimodo's mother: Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary!
Frollo: A baby? A monster!
Clopin and Archdeacon: Stop!
Clopin: Cried the Archdeacon
Frollo: This is an unholy demon.
I'm sending it back to Hell, where it belongs.
Archdeacon: (singing) See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
Frollo: (speaking) I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued.
Archdeacon: Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame?
Frollo: (speaking) My conscience is clear
Archdeacon: You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame
Chorus: Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin: And for one time in his life
Of power and control
Chorus: Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
Clopin: Frollo felt a twinge of fear
For his immortal soul
Frollo: What must I do?
Archdeacon: (speaking) Care for the child, and raise it as your own
Frollo: What? I'm to be settled with this misshapen...?
Very well. Let him live with you, in your church.
Archdeacon: Live here? Where?
Frollo: Anywhere
(singing) Just so he's kept locked away where no one else can see
(speaking) The bell tower, perhaps, and who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways
(singing resumes) Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be
Of use to me
(scene changes to puppet show)
Clopin: And Frollo gave the child a cruel name
A name that means half-formed: Quasimodo
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?
Clopin and Chorus: Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame!
CLOPIN:
Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of
The city's the toll of the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
Listen, they are beautiful, aren't they? The bells. So many colors of sound, so many changing moods. But, they do not ring all by themselves. No, there is a bellringer.
Now, to hear these bells is to be reminded of an extraordinary time, when this lowly bellringer brought Paris to its knees. And who better to tell you this story than someone who knows it best of all. But, I must warn you in advance. You are about to see an ugly monster. Just who that might be is for you to decide.
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
GYPSY MOTHER:
Hush, little one.
CLOPIN:
Four frightened Gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
GYPSY MOTHER:
Please, please be quiet.
CLOPIN
But a trap had been laid for the Gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
One of the most powerful officials in Paris was the Minister of Justice.
Justice Frollo was a man
With morals so pristine
That he swore he would make
All of Paris just as clean
FROLLO
You there! What are you hiding?
GYPSY MOTHER
Please Sir, I only come into the city seeking help for my baby!
FROLLO
A Baby? Likely story. What have you stolen? See what that gypsy has in her hands.
CLOPIN
And the poor woman ran for her life!
GYPSY MOTHER
Sanctuary! Please give us sanctuary!
FROLLO
This is a child of Satan! I shall send it back where it belongs.
CLOPIN
Stop! Cried the Archdeacon.
ARCHDEACON
What have you done? What have you in your hands?
FROLLO
An unholy demon that this woman has borne.
ARCHDEACON
Lord help us! She's dead!
FROLLO
Dead?
ARCHDEACON
See here the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
FROLLO
I was merely enforcing the law. I never meant to hurt her.
ARCHDEACON
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame?
FROLLO
This misshapen monster can have no life here!
ARCHDEACON
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame!
CLOPIN
And the saints looked down on Frollo
From their stone facade
And he knew he must do penance
In the eyes of God
FROLLO
You're right, father. God has given me this challenge. I will take this... thing and look after it. But I ask a favor of you in return.
ARCHDEACON
What is it?
FROLLO
I have no home to speak of. Let him live here, in the church.
ARCHDEACON
Live here? Where?
FROLLO
Anywhere. The bell tower, perhaps. And let us agree never to speak of what has happened here today. In return, I will raise the child as my own.
ARCHDEACON
Very well.
FROLLO
See this loathsome creature
From whom lesser men would flee
I will ennoble him.
I will keep and care for him
And teach him at my knee
To think like me
CLOPIN
And he gave the child a thoughtless name - a name that means "half-formed" - Quasimodo.
Now...
Here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?
CHORUS
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame!