Timpani
(It.;
Fr. timbales; Ger. Pauken).
European
kettledrums (see Drum, §I, 2(i)). The timpani are the most important
percussion instruments of the orchestra, mainly because they are capable of
producing notes of definite pitch and so can take part in the harmony of a
composition. They are tuned precisely, each to a given note, according to the
composer's directions in the score, and these notes may be altered as required
during the performance of a work (typically for a change of key), by tightening
or slackening the drumhead by means of screws or other mechanisms.
1. Construction.
2. Technique.
3. To c1600.
4. From c1600
to 1800.
5. From 1800.
6. Performing
practice.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JAMES BLADES (1–4)/EDMUND A. BOWLES (1–5)
Timpani
1. Construction.
Each
drum consists of a large bowl-shaped resonating chamber or shell, usually of
copper (sometimes fibreglass), with a drumhead of calfskin or plastic covering
the open top. The drumhead is mounted (lapped) on a hoop, over which is fitted
a metal ring, or counter-hoop, which serves, on many types of timpani, as a
means of tightening or slackening the drumhead.
Timpani
are divided into two distinct types: ‘hand-screw’ drums (fig.1)
and ‘machine’ drums. Three types of the latter have withstood the test of time:
lever- or crank-operated, with a single master screw (fig.2);
rotating, in which the entire kettle turns on a threaded screw (fig.3); and pedal-tuned drums (fig.4). In
all three the counter-hoop is lowered or raised in a single operation.
Handscrew drums (which are supported either on a quadropod stand or on three
adjustable legs, which project through sockets at the base of the shell and can
be retracted inside the drum when not in use) have threaded bolts, each with
its own T-shaped handle, fitted around the counter-hoop. These engage with
brackets on the shell. The counter-hoop conveys pressure to the wooden ‘flesh
hoop’ on which the drumhead is mounted. The screws are turned one or, more
usually, two at a time, the latter preferably on opposing sides of the
instrument in order to apply pressure on the drumhead as evenly as possible. In
no instance is correct tuning obtained by a given number of turns on the
handles, or a prescribed ‘travel’ of the foot-pedal; the amount of pressure is
variable, and is governed by the condition and thickness of the drumhead, the
size of the kettle and, in the case of skin, by atmospheric conditions.
The
main factors determining the pitch of a drum are the diameter of the bowl and
the tension of the head. The depth and contour of the bowl, which may vary
considerably from maker to maker, also influence the sound. The acoustics of
vibrating membranes and shells or bowls has been a subject of considerable
discussion and remains controversial. However, there is general agreement that
the bowl of the kettledrum magnifies certain of the overtones in the harmonic
series, rendering the note musical, and that a shallow bowl tends to clarify
the principal note of the drum, while a deep one increases the resonance and
emphasizes the lower harmonics. The deeper the bowl, however, the greater the
tendency for the pitch of the note to flatten on impact (see Acoustics,
§V, 1). Most
modern makers prescribe that the bowl should be as deep as one half of its
diameter. Some bowls are semicircular, others parabolic or with sloping
(‘cambered’) sides. No final formula for timpani has yet been agreed upon, and
a wide range of types is still encountered. Tonal differences are compensated
for in part by the performer, who can, for example, adjust the striking
position to suit the depth of the bowl: reasonably close to the rim for a
deeper bowl, and a little nearer the centre for a shallower one. While the sound
produced by drums with an inner device for tuning is arguably inferior, there
is no appreciable loss of tone in those modern machine timpani with
well-engineered outer mechanisms and bowl suspension.
To
avoid the necessity of playing a wide range of notes on each timpanum (i.e. to
avoid too taut or too slack a drumhead) and to confine each instrument to its
ideal compass (middle register), a minimum of three drums is required for
orchestral purposes. The diameters of the once popular so-called ‘symphonic set
of three’ hand-screw drums are approximately 74 cm, 66 cm and 61 cm, covering a
compass of an octave and a major 3rd: E
to B; G to d; c to g.
Modern pedal timpani range from 81·5 cm to 51 cm, giving a musical range from D
to b. The
diameters of a standard pair of timpani are 71 cm and 63·5 cm, covering a range
of over an octave. It is not unusual for a timpanist to supplement a standard
pair of machine drums with a larger and a smaller hand-screw drum. However, a
late 20th-century symphony orchestra may have a set of five or more pedal
timpani to accomodate any musical requirements, such as unusually high or low
notes or two or more timpanists playing at the same time.
A
further important factor governing the tone quality of a kettledrum is the
material, texture and condition of the drumhead. Until the introduction (c1950)
of the plastic head – made of a form of polyethylene terephthalate – timpani
heads were usually of goat- or calfskin. The best quality skins are those
prepared from the hides of young animals in prime condition when slaughtered.
Thereafter the hide is skilfully treated to preserve the skin during the
process of unhairing, after which it is strengthened by immersion in a lime
solution and stretched on a wooden frame, the ‘spine’ orientated vertically. It
is then scraped by hand or equalized by machinery to a thickness of from 0·125
to 0·175 mm (fig.5). To mount a vellum on the wooden
flesh hoop, it must first be soaked in cold water until pliable and then lapped
completely around the hoop. The lapped head is placed on the bowl and the
counter-hoop adjusted to draw the head slightly down over the rim, giving it a
‘collar’ to compensate for shrinkage in the head as it dries out, thus ensuring
the lower notes.
Opinions
remain divided regarding the relative tonal qualities of the calfskin and
plastic heads. Traditionalists argue that the notes produced by beating natural
skin are truer and more ‘musical’. All, however, agree that under extreme
atmospheric conditions the synthetic material is preferable. Animal skin is
particularly susceptible to humidity, a moisture-laden atmosphere causing the
membrane to expand and consequently to produce flatter notes. Indeed, on a damp
night high notes may be unobtainable, for the tension required to reach them
may cause the skin to split. Conversely, a cold, dry atmosphere may cause the
skin to shrink so much that high notes are sharp and low notes cannot be
reached because there is no slack. Because of these problems many players using
natural skins install heating or moisture-carrying units, fitted inside at the bottom
of the kettles. Plastic heads have a different tone quality, with less
resonance and elasticity; notes produced on them have a faster decay and more
sound, or noise, at low frequencies, thus producing uneven dynamics.
Timpani
2. Technique.
Timpani
are played with a pair of drumsticks varying in design and texture according to
the work being played, the instructions of the composer and the choice of the
performer. To meet the demands of the modern era, a timpanist is equipped with
a variety of mallets ranging from those with large ends of soft felt to those
with small ends of wood (fig.6). Increasingly, with the use of plastic heads and the
penchant for greater volume of sound, players use harder sticks to increase the
necessary ‘bounce’. The length and thickness of the shaft, which is of hickory
or similar straight-grained wood, bamboo or cane, varies according to the
player's choice and to national tradition; German players, for example,
favouring bamboo over the metal or hardwood perferred by Americans. The heads
of the mallets vary in shape from elliptical to pear-shaped, and in size,
weight and texture, depending on the tone desired. The beating end of a normal
timpani mallet consists of an inner core of hard felt, cork or soft wood, which
is covered with either one or two layers of white piano-damper felt sliced into
discs of varying thickness (the thicker the softer); the discs are formed into
a small bag closed up with drawn threads and fitting the core exactly. The
mallets are held identically in each hand, with the shaft nearly parallel with
the drumhead and gripped firmly between the tip of the thumb and the index
finger, the precise distance from the end of the shaft being governed by the
length and weight of the mallet. In normal playing, the third and fourth
fingers, which are clear of the shaft, act as a cushion. In ‘finger rolls’,
used for soft passages, these fingers help to produce the ‘bounce’. In England
and the USA especially, the mallets are usually gripped between the thumb and
the first joint of the index finger, the thumb positioned on top, while on the
Continent, particularly in Germany, the second joint of the index finger is
used and the thumb positioned to the side.
In
timpani playing alternate beating is the general rule. This is particularly
applicable to the roll, which consists of a succession of single strokes of
equal power. The speed of the roll is related in part to the tension on the
drumhead, a greater speed being required to keep the head vibrating when
tensioned to a high note. Conversely, a slower roll is used on large drums with
more slack to avoid a ‘belting’ sound. In orchestral performance a pair of
timpani is placed side by side, the playing areas adjacent, while three or more
drums are placed in an arc. The height and tilt of the drums are adjusted to
suit the performer. The majority of Dutch, German, central European and Russian
timpanists position the large drum(s) to the right. This tradition may go back
to cavalry drums: the mounted cavalry drummer counterbalanced the combined
weight of the ceremonial sword worn at his left and the smaller drum by placing
the larger and heavier instrument on his right. Most American, British, Italian
and French players position the large drum(s) to the left, following the layout
of keyboard instruments. Today, with the almost universal use of pedal timpani,
the instruments are usually played from a seated position, especially when
tuning during a piece is required.
The
essentials of an orchestral timpanist are an accurate sense of pitch, an
unerring sense of rhythm, a fluent technique, including the ability to produce
a fine tone, and the ability to count during extensive periods of rest or when
changing pitch. The first requirement in the tuning of a kettledrum is the
immediate recognition of the true pitch of the nominal or principal note of the
drum. This note is one octave above the fundamental. Certain upper harmonics
tend to register more strongly than the principal note until the ear is
accustomed to the pitch of the drum, particularly in view of the possibility of
confusing pitch with tone, the brighter tone on the drumhead being mistaken for
sharpness in pitch, while the duller-sounding places may be considered flat. In
the initial tuning of a hand-tuned drum the opposite pairs of handles are
turned simultaneously in succession to ensure that the pressure is applied to
the drumhead as evenly as possible. The head is then ‘trued’: the pitch
corrected by turning each handle individually. In the case of machine drums,
once the head has been ‘trued’ all successive retunings raising or lowering the
counter-hoop can be accomplished by merely turning the lever or adjusting the
pedal. The pitch of the drum is tested by flipping the drumhead at the playing
spot with the fleshy end of the middle finger, with a light touch of the
mallet, or by gently tapping it with a fingernail.
Tuning
timpani in the silence of an empty concert hall, or while the orchestra is
tuning up, is one thing; but changing the pitch of several drums while the
orchestra is playing in a foreign key is far more difficult and challenging.
Being able to ‘hear’ the proper notes in one's head thus becomes essential, as
does a sense of relative pitch – the ability to ascertain precisely the
interval between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ note. Tuning in this situation is
helped by a knowledge of when another instrument in the orchestra will be
playing the desired note; indeed, a timpanist often adds such cues to his or
her part. Although the modern timpanist is obliged to cope with considerably
more changes of pitch than were earlier players, the tuning gauges fitted to
pedal timpani (controlled by the ‘travel’ of the pedal or the movement of the
counter-hoop) allow rapid retuning to be accomplished with relative ease. In
some cases, as when the timpanist must play and tune at the same time, he or
she must rely on these pitch indicators almost exclusively.
To
produce the best possible tone the mallet must be immediately withdrawn from
the drum after the blow has been delivered. The drumhead is occasionally struck
at varying distances from the rim, near the rim for a particularly soft tone,
towards the centre for a ‘thick’ tone – the least resonant sound being produced
towards the centre. A drum with a skin head will have a ‘playing spot’ where
the sound is most resonant. In a crescendo roll the player may commence near
the rim of the drum, and with the increasing rise and fall of the sticks move
them towards the ‘playing spot’, reversing the procedure in the case of a
diminuendo roll. The careful player will ensure that the best register of each
drum is used for the more important or solo passages, the positioning of such
notes often requiring rapid changes on pedal-tuned timpani.
The
foundation of timpani technique is a fluent hand-to-hand performance, the drums
wherever possible being played with strokes from alternate hands. The double
beat on the left or right hand is used only when necessary, perhaps to avoid a
difficult crossover beat. In rapid tempo certain crossover beats are not
practicable: there is the possibility of the mallets fouling each other (or the
rim), or the danger of the drum being struck away from the correct playing
spot. In the case of a crossover beat at a fast speed between two drums some
distance apart the impetus of the movement may result in an unintended sforzando.
It is in such circumstances that the timpanist uses a double stroke, often in
the form of a ‘paradiddle’, the first two beats being struck by alternate
sticks and the last two by one alone. To prevent notes ringing on beyond their
time value and where the composer calls for sec effects, the vibrations
are checked by a process known as ‘damping’. In damping, the drumhead is
touched lightly with the flattened second, third and fourth fingers (the mallet
being held between the thumb and forefinger). Where the speed of a series of
short notes renders this method of damping impracticable, a small piece of felt
is placed on the drumhead. The practice of damping or ‘muting’ the kettledrum
is frequently met in orchestral scores. It is indicated by the words coperti
(It.), couvertes or voilé (Fr.), or Dämpfer (Ger.). Naturale
(or scoperti) is used when the muted effect is to cease. Composers
utilize this effect for clarifying certain passages, or to obtain a funereal
effect, a tradition of long standing. In contrast to the ‘shortening’ or
deadening of certain notes, two drums may occasionally be tuned to the same
note and struck simultaneously to provide greater sonority and brilliance.
Similarly, the striking of one drum with both mallets simultaneously is equally
rare but effective. The latter is indicated by giving the note two tails.
Timpani
3. To c1600.
The
invention of the kettledrum goes back to remotest antiquity. Kettle-shaped
hollow tree trunks, tortoise-shells, and clay bowls covered with hide were
among the musical instruments of ancient cultures. What may be evidence of the
early use of a kettledrum (shaped like a goblet) comes from a Mesopotamian
plaque of the early 2nd millennium bce (fig.7),
but it has also been suggested that this instrument (lilis) may have a
metal head – and thus is a Bronze drum (see Mesopotamia). A table of instructions
found in Uruk (Erech) and dating from about 300 bce
provides directions for making a lilis; at that time it was a large
bowl-shaped instrument with either a head or a cover made from the skin of a
bull. By the time of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1550–1070 bce)
small kettledrums and vase-shaped drums had appeared, possibly imitations of Sumerian
instruments, and probably made of clay, wood or metal. The instrument was
struck with the hands and was played, like most other Egyptian musical
instruments of the time, by women. Plutarch (c50–c120 ce) mentioned an instrument called the rhoptron, which
was used by the Parthians as a war drum; it made a sound like thunder mixed
with the bellowing of beasts (Life of Crassus). The rhoptron
(also known as the tumpanon) was made of hollowed out pine or fir with a
single mouth covered with oxhide (see Greece, §I, 5(i)(e)). Early references suggest that the early kettledrum was used
mainly as a ritualistic or ceremonial instrument, for signalling (rallying
troops, for example), or to supply the rhythmic underpinning for dancing: there
is no evidence that the drums were tuned to specific notes.
Use
of a pair of kettledrums of different sizes (one presumably giving a higher
tone than the other) appeared early on in African, Indian, Persian, Islamic and
Mongolian cultures. Nakers (small, thong-tightened kettledrums)
were adopted in Europe for martial music in consort with trumpets during the
13th-century crusades. Epic poems such as the Chanson de Roland (c1130)
mention these drums, associated above all with the raucous long trumpet (buisine,
or cor sarrazinois) of the Muslim armies. Large-sized kettledrums,
hemispherical or egg-shaped, measuring approximately 60 cm and 50 cm in
diameter and played mounted on camel or horse by Muslims (especially the
Ottoman Turks) and Mongols (see fig.8), had
reached the West by the 15th century, and inspired the European use of cavalry
kettledrums. In the earliest known report, mounted kettledrums were seen in the
magnificent entourage of a Hungarian envoy to France in 1457. The size and
sound of these instruments prompted a Father Benoît to say that he had never
before seen such drums ‘like large cauldrons … carried on horseback’. Virdung (Musica
getutscht, 1511) wrote disapprovingly of the big army kettledrums of
copper, which he called tympana, likening them to ‘rumbling barrels’. A
century later, Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, ii) called them ‘great
rattletraps’, probably on account of their indistinct tone. It was primarily by
way of princely courts in German-speaking lands that kettledrums spread
throughout Europe. Following Eastern custom, they were paired with trumpets –
usually six trumpets to a pair of drums – and soon appropriated as a symbol of
rank and power. The nobility made the possession of timpani an exclusive
prerogative, restricted to emperors, kings, dukes, electors and others of high
rank. By the 16th century timpani were found in the elite military regiments as
well as at the principal courts throughout Europe. Christoph Demartius alludes
to them in his Tympanum militaire, Ungarische Heerdrummel und Feldgeschrey
1600). Mounted kettledrums attracted the interest of Henry VIII, who ordered
the purchase of a number of Viennese kettledrums ‘in the Hungarian Fashion’ and
the hire of skilled performers. In the Holy Roman Empire various imperial
decrees led in 1623 to the establishment of the Imperial Guild of Trumpeters
and Kettledrummers. As a member of this guild, the timpanist held officer's
rank, kept himself apart from ordinary musicians and was sworn to guard the
secrets of his art. Very large kettledrums mounted on a carriage were known in
England towards the close of the 17th century; notable instruments of this type
include the kettledrums in ‘Marlborough's train of 1702’ (the great kettledrums
of the artillery, see fig.9), and those in the
Rotunda Museum, Woolwich, London (101 cm and 96 cm). Numerous paintings of
battle scenes depict a pair of military kettledrums off to the side; such
instruments were highly prized as military trophies.
During
the 16th and 17th centuries the timpani evolved from a field instrument – used
for parades and outdoor ceremonies and on manoeuvres, and providing an
improvised rhythmic music based on the lowest trumpet voice – to a supplemental
instrument in the orchestra. Improvisation and conspicuous display gave way
over time to more formalized playing, ultimately from written music, for
banquets, grand balls and other events of state. Drafted only as required,
these instruments (often together with trumpets) were loaned out for other
large-scale performances, such as operas, oratorios, Te Deums, and
festive liturgical services, especially at the imperial court in Vienna.
The
earliest illustrations indicate various systems of laced and tensioned heads,
similar to the bracing of nakers and the larger Arabic kettledrums. This method
of applying pressure to the head was still being used in the 16th century;
Mersenne (Harmonie universelle) depicted laced kettledrums as late as
1636–7 (fig.10a). However, screw-tensioning was adopted
in Germany as early as the start of the 16th century (fig.10b).
For
several centuries the construction of the timpani remained virtually unchanged
except for a gradual increase in size. Timpani of this sort are shown in Hans
Burgkmair's Der Weisskunig (c1514–18) and in the illustrations
(by Burgkmair and others) for Maximilian's Triumphal Procession (c1516–18).
Henceforth, there are numerous representations of kettledrums with threaded
tuning bolts, or ‘side screws’, distributed around the rim in varying numbers
and used to apply pressure directly to a flesh hoop or indirectly by means of a
metal counter-hoop (fig.11). Tuning was accomplished by
fitting a separate key over the square heads of the bolts and turning them one
by one in succession. A few illustrations show screws with a ring at the top,
through which a short rod was inserted and then twisted. In any case, tuning
was a laborious and time-consuming process. The diameters of the kettles
varied. Arbeau (Orchesographie) referred to a width of 30'' (76 cm),
while both Virdung and Mersenne gave measurements equivalent to 60–63 cm. The Heerpauken
illustrated by Praetorius in his Syntagma musicum are smaller – 52 cm
and 44·5 cm. Contemporary examples found in museums in Berlin, Budapest,
Copenhagen, Frankfurt, New York, Nuremberg and Washington, DC, vary in diameter
from approximately 64 cm to 58 cm.
The
mallets used on early kettledrums were fashioned from ivory or wood and came in
various lengths and styles with round, oval or curved ends. Mallets intended
for the cavalry drummer had straps for securing to the wrists, helpful with the
flamboyant style of playing then in vogue, as well as grooves around the shank
to provide a better grip. Without exception, the countless illustrations depict
a standard grip with all fingers being used, never the snare drum position with
the palm turned upwards. The musicianship demanded of a mounted drummer
included a sound knowledge of the repertory of beating patterns – learnt
through long apprenticeship – as well as a good sense of rhythm and the ability
to follow the trumpeters in their music. Display was an important part of the
timpanist's art, and he was expected to create impressive patterns with his
arms while playing. Lacking concrete evidence, it is assumed that these early
drums functioned much as their Near Eastern prototypes, the large and small
ones each producing a different, if indistinct, pitch to aid rhythmic clarity.
Later, tuning in 4ths – a plan derived from trumpet technique – became the
general rule. Precise tuning became necessary when the timpani began to
participate in ‘composed’ ensemble music.
Timpani
4. From c1600 to 1800.
From
the beginning of the 17th century onwards one finds a growing number of references
to kettledrums being used in a variety of contexts. For example, the stage
directions of English masques, such as Jonson's The Golden Age Restored
(1616) cite the instrument. The earliest known written part (a brief extract)
is an Auffzüge für 2 Clarinde [und] Heerpaucken (c1650)
by Nikolaus Hasse. Two works by Malachias Siebenhaar consisting of sacred vocal
music with instrumental accompaniment, Des Kirchen Jesu Christi köstlicher
Seelen Schmuck (1661) and Suaviloquium Dei Sionis mysticum (1667),
call for Heerpaucken. Both outdoor carousel and indoor polychoral
liturgical music came to include parts for one or two pairs of timpani: for
example, Schmelzer's Arie per il balletto a cavallo (1667) for the court
of Emperor Leopold I in Vienna; and the so-called Salzburger Festmesse,
thought to have been written about 1682 by Heinrich Biber, includes among its
53 parts two antiphonal wind bands, each with a pair of drums – surely one of
the first examples of music for four timpani. The true introduction of the
timpani into the orchestra took place around 1670. Lully made full and
interesting use of them in his operas, beginning with Thésée (1675); the
drums were tuned in 4ths with the dominant below the tonic. The Moravian
composer Vejvanovský scored for kettledrums (tamburini) in two serenades
(XIV/98, 1680; XIV/45, 1691). In XIV/98 they are tuned in 5ths, with the
dominant (g) above the tonic (c), a tuning employed also by
Schmelzer and others because of the higher compass of the smaller cavalry
timpani then in use. By the close of the 17th century kettledrums were firmly
established as orchestral instruments, their improvisatory role restricted to
ceremonial field music. Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum (c1690)
contains a majestic timpani part. Purcell gave them what is considered their
first solo passage in the Symphony to Act 4 of his opera The Fairy Queen
(1692). He also included the timpani in the Ode for St Cecilia's Day (1692) and
The Indian Queen (1695).
In
the first decades of the 18th century numerous festive and ceremonial
compositions including timpani were written for the French court: for example,
Lalande's Symphonies pour les soupez du roy and Mouret's Suite no.1 (c1729).
Fux's opera Costanza e Fortezza (1723), written for the Austrian imperial
court, called for two players, each with two drums. Pictorial evidence
demonstrates that timpani were widely used in both sacred and secular music.
Their tuning was generally restricted to the trumpeter's keys of D and C, and
they were tuned in 4ths: in the former to A and d, in the latter
to G and c. In rare instances they were tuned in the key of G,
the dominant above the tonic; Bach wrote for this tuning in several cantatas.
In the cantata Lobe den Herrn (formerly attributed to J.S. Bach as bwv143), in the key of B, the unknown composer called for drums with the
dominant (F) below the tonic, reaching the very limit of the larger
drum's compass. While Bach usually employed the timpani to support the brass or
full choir, on several rare occasions he gave them a solo part: the secular
cantatas Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten (1726) and Tönet
ihr Pauken! (1733). The opening solo from the latter was borrowed for the
Christmas Oratorio (1734–5), where the timpani herald the choir's motif of
rejoicing. Kettledrums are used to dramatic advantage in the B Minor Mass (c1747–9).
In several instances Bach indicated the use of a roll, but even without such an
indication custom dictated that cadential whole notes were to be executed in
this way.
Boyce,
Handel and Telemann followed the same tradition in their use of timpani: the
parts were chiefly rhythmical, the instruments generally played in consort with
trumpets as well as in major choral sections, and there were no changes of
pitch during a work. Handel adhered rigidly to the interval of a 4th between a
pair of drums; the only exception is Il Parnasso in festa (1734) in
which he used drums tuned to G and D in the key of B. He was especially fond of
‘double tonguing’ (e.g. a series of semiquavers d'–d'–A'–
A, d'–d'–A'–A – the term is borrowed from the
trumpeter's art); it is found for instance in Semele (1744) and the Ode
to St Cecilia (‘The double, double, double beat of the thundering drum’, in
‘The Trumpet's loud clangour’).
Similar
florid writing occurs in the overture to the Music for the Royal Fireworks,
where Handel prescribes ‘Tymp 3 per parte’, and the ‘Hallelujah chorus’ of Messiah.
For his oratorios Handel constantly requested (and was granted) the use of the
huge artillery train drums, also known as the Tower Drums. These instruments,
which are said to have been destroyed in a fire in 1841, are thought to have
measured 96·5 cm and 76 cm. Drums of this size would have been played an octave
lower than written.
After
the middle of the 18th century a number of compositions introduced decided
advances in the use of orchestral timpani. Francesco Barsanti called for a pair
of drums tuned to three different keys in successive movements of his Concerto
Grosso (1743). Christoph Graupner's Sinfonietta (1749) features six timpani, in
F, G, A, B, c and d, while J.M. Molter's Sinfonia
no.99 (c1750) uses five, tuned F, G, A, B and c. The most
soloistic of these works is a Sinfonia for eight obbligato timpani and
orchestra (?c1785), formerly attributed to Hertel but now thought to be
by Johann Carl Fischer in which the drums span an octave from G to g
and there is a daunting virtuoso cadenza. These, however, were considered
showpieces and did not enter the standard concert repertory. Uncommon tunings
are found in works by Salieri, whose treatment of the timpani could well have
influenced his pupil Beethoven. In his overture to La secchia rapita
(1772) Salieri wrote for three drums; in La grotta di Trofonio (1785) he
called for two, unusually tuned a diminished 5th apart (C and G), and in Tarare (1787) for
two a minor 3rd apart. Further unusual tunings are found in F.L. Gassmann's
opera Issipile (1758), where a small drum in a is used, and in
Sacchini's opera Oedipe à Colone (1786), which is scored for four drums
tuned B, F,
b, f (an
early use of octaves). J.F. Reichardt's ‘Battle’ Symphony (1781) calls for
drums in E (a first), G, B and c; his Cantus
lugubris in obitum Friderici Magni (1786) features stepwise tuning in G,
A, c, d and d. Georg
Druschetzky wrote several concertos, including some with six and eight timpani,
as well as a concert piece for violin and orchestra (‘Ungarica’, 1799) with
seven.
Haydn,
an occasional timpanist himself, graced many of his symphonies and choral works
with finely written and innovative parts for the timpani. The solo roll (on e) which opens Symphony
no.103 (1795) was an effect new to the orchestra and gave the work its name: Paukenwirbel,
or ‘Drum Roll’. In the Missa in tempore belli, or ‘Paukenmesse’ (1796)
there is a wonderfully dramatic solo, while in The Creation (1796–8)
there are seven changes of tuning. Symphony no.94 (1791) may possibly contain
the first authenticated change of pitch within a movement (in the fourth
movement, from G to A and back). In Symphony no.102 (1794) he
prescribed covered kettledrums (‘con sordini’) with muted trumpets, an effect
used earlier by Mozart and termed ‘coperti’ in Idomeneo (1781) and Die
Zauberflöte (1791). (This effect was, and is still, applied to military
kettledrums.)
Mozart,
too, made superb use of the timpani, particularly in his operas, where they
always serve to underline and enhance the dramatic impact. With only one
exception he confined the tuning of the drums (a pair) to the interval of a
4th, with the tonic in its usual position above the dominant. This interval is
so consistently observed that the timpani are omitted from works in the keys of
G and A, where, because of the compass of the drums, the interval of a 5th with
the dominant above the tonic would be necessary. A notable exception is his
Divertimento (1776) for two flutes, six trumpets and four timpani tuned G,
A, c and d, written for the Reitschule in Vienna.
Timpani
5. From 1800.
Beethoven
liberated the timpani from their purely rhythmic function, in which they were
wedded to the trumpets, as well as from the conventional tuning in 4ths and
5ths. He not only made use of other, more unusual, intervals, but occasionally
called for dramatic solo passages or chords (used by J.-P.-G. Martini in Sapho,
1794). In Fidelio (1805) he employed a pair a diminished 5th apart (A
and e) in the
dungeon scene for truly chilling effect. In the Scherzo of the Seventh Symphony
(1811–12) the drums are a minor 6th apart (A and f), and in the
Eighth (1812) and Ninth Symphonies (1822–4) they are tuned in octaves (F
and f). The final cadence of the Leonore Overture no.3 features a solo
roll, a true innovation as the drums carry the harmony. The four solo notes
that open the Violin Concerto (1806) provide an example of Beethoven's
pioneering writing for the timpani, in which the sound of the drums becomes
part of the orchestral texture; the repeated rhythmic figures during the
transition from Scherzo to Finale in the Fifth Symphony (1807–8) and
accompanying the piano solo during the Finale of the ‘Emperor’ Concerto (1809)
are further examples. While the composer remained conservative in calling for
only two drums, he chose with consummate care the particular drum to be used at
any given moment. He was equally careful in the manner by which he indicated
the true roll: always with the tremolo sign. Where Beethoven wrote a note with
its stem struck through three times (frequently used today to denote a roll) he
intended, like other composers of the period, that the demisemiquavers be
strictly observed. Neither Beethoven nor his predecessors specified the
particular type of mallet, although at that time leather- or wool-covered
mallets were coming into use alongside the traditional wooden ones. Dalayrac,
in Lina, ou Le mystère (1807) seems to have been the first operatic
composer to call for baguettes garnies in a score; he was followed by
Spontini in Fernand Cortez two years later.
By
the end of the 18th century conventional tunings on the standard pair of
timpani seemed unduly restrictive. Operas, with their frequent changes of key,
presented a special problem. Shortly before the turn of the century a French
maker of military band instruments, Rolles, invented the ‘T’ handle to replace
the system of square-topped tensioning bolts turned with a separate key; the
new handles, with one to each bolt, allowed somewhat more rapid tuning.
However, the range and the number of notes available at any one time was still
limited. While some 19th-century composers, such as Schubert, Rossini,
Donizetti and Adam, let dissonances stand or eliminated the drums when the
notes did not fit the harmony, others reacted against these limitations and
began to incorporate changes of pitch during a piece or movement and often to
add other notes as well, both of which required a third drum. Vogler, in Samori
(1804), and his student Weber, in the revised overture to Peter Schmoll
(1807) and the overture Der Beherrscher der Geister (1811) were among
the earliest to call for three drums. Other composers followed: Auber in La
muette de Portici (1828), Lachner in his Third Symphony (1834) and Halévy
in Charles VI (1843). Four timpanists, each playing a pair of drums,
were called for in Reicha's Die Harmonie der Sphären (before 1826), and
in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (1831) four drums were given a melodic
solo. Chelard's Die Hermansschlacht (1835) also required four timpani.
Spohr, in Des Heilands letzte Stunden (1834–5), used two players, each
executing rolls variously on three drums, to depict the moment of crucifixion.
In the third movement of his Historische Sinfonie (no.6, 1840) he wrote
for an orchestra of Beethoven's time, but added a third drum to the previous
pair. By the 1830s there was a general call for more timpani. Berlioz observed
that composers had ‘long complained’ of the limitations of the timpani and he
took note of the ‘audacious innovation’ of three drums newly installed at the
Paris Opéra by its timpanist, Charles Poussard. Fétis (1836) and Kastner (1937)
suggested the addition of a third or even a fourth drum to the orchestra to
free the composer from such restraints. In England Thomas Chipp used three
drums in playing with his various London orchestras. (However, the practice
continued of transposing an octave down for high notes above a drum's normal
compass and an octave up for very low notes, especially when only a pair of
instruments was available.) Around this time other European orchestras began
acquiring three and even four timpani, all machine drums capable of rapid
tuning. The instruments now came in varying sizes, with French and English
drums larger than German ones. Berlioz deplored those in the Berlin orchestra,
considering that they produced an insufficient volume of sound, while
Mendelssohn complained about the booming sound of those at the Paris Conservatoire.
During
the early 19th century new types of mallet became available. As the loud,
brittle sound produced by hard mallets was now often considered inappropriate
for orchestral music, an additional pair covered with softer material such as
chamois, flannel (introduced c1800) or, later, hat felt was introduced.
During the 1820s sponge-headed mallets appeared; they are thought to have first
been used by Jean Schneitzhoeffer, timpanist at the Paris Opéra. They soon
became the preferred vehicle for producing a more blended sound, especially for
rolls. Berlioz called for their ‘velvety’ sound in Huit scènes de Faust
(1828–9), Symphonie fantastique (1830) and Harold en Italie
(1834); he introduced them to German orchestras during his tour as conductor
(1842), and they were popularized there by the Leipzig timpanist Ernst Pfundt.
Kastner (1845) wrote that three types of mallet were ‘indispensible’:
wooden-ended for dry and loud passages; leather- or cloth-covered for ordinary
playing; and sponge-headed for a soft sound. By the 1840s piano felt began to
be used for timpani mallets. This material, first applied to piano hammers by
J.H. Pape in 1826, was much thicker and more refined than hat felt and came in
sheets that could be sliced to any thickness. Felt mallets were soon being used
by Poussard at the Opéra and by other French timpanists. Carl Gollmick in
Frankfurt acquired a pair as did Pfundt in Leipzig. English orchestras retained
wooden mallets for several more decades (it was the loud, thudding, bass-drum-like
sound produced by these mallets that the visiting Mendelssohn so objected to),
and Victor de Pontigny claimed to have introduced felt mallets there in the
1860s.
Berlioz,
among his other innovations in orchestration, began to utilize the timpani's possibilities
of dramatic effect. He was tremendously impressed with the orchestral effects
in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable and Les Huguenots (1836), the
latter including a roll for two timpanists. In his Grand traité
d'instrumentation he argued that two players, each with a pair of drums,
could provide a wider selection of notes and greater flexibility than had been
previously available: while one timpanist was playing, the other could be
re-tuning, or both could play together, sometimes with extra percussionists to
produce chords. In the manuscript of his Grande messe des morts (1837)
he called for 32 drums played by 20 timpanists, but he compromised in the
printed score, reducing his demands to 16 drums and ten players. Berlioz was
the first symphonic composer to call for both sponge- and wooden-headed mallets
in a single work: they are used for, respectively, the rumble of thunder
(played by four timpanists) and the March to the Scaffold in Symphonie
fantastique.
Around
the middle of the century skins changed also, from the thick, unyielding Kalkfell,
favouring the overtones over the fundamental, to the thinner, translucent Glasfell,
chemically treated to create a more refined, focussed and ‘pure’ sound. With
more refined, thinner heads and with mallets covered with a variety of
materials, the timpani had, by mid-century, become less dry, percussive and
invariably loud, and more responsive to dynamic changes in the music.
During
the 19th century numerous inventors in almost every country, often working
hand-in-hand with mechanics, locksmiths and metalworkers, developed mechanisms
for rapidly changing the pitch of a drum. Some of the new ‘machine drums’ had
tuning mechanisms on the exterior, like an armature, while others contained a
device inside the kettle. The most successful were tuned either by means of a
single master-screw or lever, by rotating the kettle, or by using the foot to
manipulate a gear wheel or pedal device. In 1812 Gerhard Cramer, court
timpanist in Munich, invented the first tuning device with lever and crown
gears: the movement of the lever was transferred through an axle and crown gear
to a central screw, which raised and lowered (by means of an armature) the hoop
on which the skin was lapped. Johann Stumpff of Amsterdam introduced a rotary-tuned
kettledrum (patented 1821), on which tension on the head was varied by rotating
the bowl. The most significant of these early efforts was a machine drum
operated by a hand-controlled screw crank connected to a rocker arm that raised
or lowered an armature attached by rods to the counter-hoop, thus altering the
head's tension (see fig.2). Designed by Johann Einbigler in 1836, it was the
prototype for many later designs and attracted the favourable attention of
several composers, including Mendelssohn (AMZ, xxxviii (1836), 495–6).
Cornelius Ward of London patented two different mechanisms in 1837. The first
used a cable, pulleys and turnbuckles activated by a handle projecting from
inside the kettle (fig.12). The second (and far
superior) mechanism employed pairs of racked (toothed) levers, or bars. By
turning a notched pinion between them, corresponding motion was transferred to
the rim, tightening or relaxing the head. Ward's new machine drums were first
tried out in 1836–7 at Covent Garden and in the Philharmonic concerts and
gained the attention of Wagner, then conducting in Dresden. About 1840 August
Knocke, a Munich gunsmith, brought out a drum with an elaborate gear train that
raised or lowered the head. The player tuned by using one foot to turn a
notched wheel. In spite of their rather cumbersome mechanism, Knocke's drums
were adopted by a number of German orchestras; one pair was used for rehearsals
by the Staatsoper in Munich until 1963.
There
were also less successful tuning devices. The Parisian instrument-maker Darche
invented (before 1845) a drum involving several pedals operating on a series of
internal concentric rings, each reducing in succession the head's circumference
when pressed up against it, and thus raising the pitch. Carlo Boracchi,
timpanist at La Scala, invented a mechanism consisting of a lever at the base
of the drum which, when pushed to the right or left, turned a central screw
raising or lowering the head (1842). For Adolphe Sax's timbales chromatiques
(patented 1857), the normal bowl was replaced by a shallow frame to which the
head was mounted. Henry Distin (London, 1856), Max Puschmann (Chemnitz, 1880)
and George Potter (Aldershot, 1884) developed machine drums with exterior rod
tensioning; Köhler & Sons (London, 1862) and Louis Jena (Reudnitz, nr
Leipzig, 1877) used interior levers and screws or cams. None of these
inventions stood the test of time: technical shortcomings or materials lacking
the necessary tensile strength caused them all to be superseded.
The
final stage in the evolution of machine drums was reached with the so-called
‘Dresden’ model of Carl Pittrich (1881), which had a foot-operated pedal tuning
device (Stimmvorrichtung) that could either be attached to a drum of the
Einbigler type or incorporated into a new instrument during manufacture. The
device was made of strong steel and used mechanical couplings to convert the
semicircular motion of the foot pedal into the motion of a base plate, to which
struts leading to the counter-hoop were attached (fig.13).
Accuracy was aided by a tuning gauge. This mechanism was far more reliable,
rapid and powerful than other types, enabling the timpanist to tune precisely,
even while playing, and offering composers additional freedom in writing for
the instrument. Pittrich's genius extended to marketing: since his new
mechanism could be installed on existing drums, older lever-operated timpani
could be converted rather than discarded. The way was led by Otto Lange,
timpanist in the Dresden court orchestra, who had pedals attached to his pair
of drums as soon as they become available. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
acquired a pair of new timpani with this mechanism in the mid-1880s, and in
time such instruments were adopted by virtually every major orchestra in
Europe.
In
Germany writing for the timpani was influenced by both the availability of
three or four drums in the orchestra and the innovation of machine (or rapid)
tuning. Mendelssohn tried out the Einbigler lever timpani in Frankfurt, and a
set of three was acquired for the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra during his
tenure as conductor (his timpanist there was the excellent Pfundt).
Mendelssohn's St Paul (1836) required three drums. In the final version
of Die erste Walpurgisnacht (1843), written after the Leipzig orchestra
acquired the Einbigler machine drums, he added notes demanding rapid tuning: in
Elijah (1846) he included several changes of pitch that had to be made
in a few seconds. Schumann was also influenced by Pfundt, a cousin by marriage,
and on his advice wrote for three timpani instead of two in his First Symphony
(1841). His Symphony no.4 (1841, rev. 1851) calls for several changes of pitch
during the first movement: A and d to A and d to B and e and back to A
and d. In Genoveva (1847–8) re-tunings must be accomplished
rapidly, in under one minute each. Liszt called for four drums in his symphonic
poem Festklänge (1853), as well as in the last movement of his Faust-Symphonie
(1854–7), in which at one point the drums are tuned stepwise to B, B, c and c
. Wagner used two players,
each with a pair of instruments throughout the Ring (1869–76), adding
richness to the score by often having both timpanists, with their four
available notes, playing together or having one re-tune while the other was
playing. His masterly solo rhythmic passages underlined the emotional content
of the scores.
In
his use of percussion, Mahler followed in the footsteps of Berlioz and Wagner.
His symphonies usually require two timpanists, each with three drums, and the
parts are often melodic rather than merely rhythmic. For the First Symphony
(1884–8) he appears to have had machine drums in mind, but without the easily
tuned pedal mechanism: during a roll on low F in the first movement he
directed that a second percussionist lower the drum to E. However, in
discussing an upcoming performance of his Symphony no.7 (1904–5) in 1908,
Mahler wrote that ‘the timpanist must have very good pedal-tuned drums’. The
Rondo burleska of his Ninth Symphony (1908–9) contains a rapidly descending
scale-wise pattern on one drum; the succession of pitches is: f, A,
e, A, d, A, c, A. Strauss, a master
of atmospheric and dramatic orchestration, raised demands on the player to a
new level. He took for granted the availability of four pedal drums, and often
required the performer to tune while playing, count measures in changing time
signatures and watch the conductor all at the same time. His innovations
commenced with Till Eulenspiegel (1894–5) and peaked in his operas Salome
(1905) and Elektra (1909), the former including descending and ascending
scales and passages of semiquavers so rapid that the composer asked for the
drums to be ‘rearranged’ so that the player could alternately strike the two
closest instruments followed by the two outside ones. In Salome's dance,
Strauss indicated which notes could be omitted if pedal timpani were
unavailable.
Russian
composers also made full use of timpani, often writing very high notes.
Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (1837–42) includes an effective solo for
three drums (A, d and g – the third an unusually high
note). Rimsky-Korsakov also used a drum tuned to g, in his Russian
Easter Festival Overture (1888), while in his opera-ballet Mlada
(1889–90) he called for two timpanists, each with three drums, as well as a
third player with a piccolo timpano (approximately 46 cm) tuned to d'.
Tchaikovsky consistently scored for three drums, often with unusual tunings; he
occasionally called for four timpani, as in the Polonaise and Waltz in Yevgeny
Onegin (1877–8). Stravinsky, who wrote very complex, rhythmically demanding
parts for the instrument, required two drummers plus an occasional third in The
Rite of Spring (1911–13). At one point five drums, including one tuned to b,
are struck simultaneously. In Renard (1915–16), he called for a
glissando.
Mechanical
developments during the 20th century took place mainly in the USA, where few of
the heavy ‘Dresden’ pedal drums were available. Timpanists there often had to
supply their own instruments, and consequently, portability and quick assembly
were prerequisites. In 1911–13 W.F. Ludwig and his brother-in-law, R.C. Danly,
designed the first American pedal timpani, with a hydraulic foot pump that operated
an expandable rubber tube that pressed up against the skin and a calibrated
pressure gauge for tuning. However, the tendency of the tube to burst under
pressure prompted them to abandon this approach, and in 1917–20 they designed
an improved model that relied on flexible cables and a self-locking
clutch-and-pawl mechanism. Sets of three (76 cm, 71 cm and 64 cm) were
purchased by the Chicago SO, the Detroit SO and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Ludwig's pioneering efforts culminated in the ‘balanced action’ mechanism
(1923–5), which utilized a compression spring to hold the pedal in place, and a
rod linkage inside the kettle tied to the tuning screws. Cecil Strupe, factory
superintendent of the Leedy Drum Company, introduced a ratchet and pawl clutch for
locking the pedal in place (patented 1923). The copper bowls of Leedy's drums
were formed in a hydraulic press rather than hammered over wooden molds. Such
timpani were exported to Britian during the 1920s and served as the model for
the first English machine drums, manufactured by the Premier Drum Company.
In
Europe a unique type of lever timpani was invented in the early 1900s by Hans
Schnellar, timpanist of the Vienna PO. He produced several models, all based
upon a screw operating on an eccentric (rocker-arm) to raise or lower an
armature connected to the hoop. The unique shape of Schnellar's instruments
(the kettles were all the same depth, whatever their diameter) gave them a
unique, ‘tubby’ sound. In the 1980s Günter Ringer of Berlin has produced an
updated model of the ‘Dresden’ pedal timpani featuring a ‘cambered’ shape,
hand-hammered copper kettles and improved pedal mechanism (
fig.14). At the end of the 20th century these instruments were being
used in major orchestras throughout the world; in the USA they were being
manufactured by Ludwig Industries.
By
the early 20th century pedal timpani were in use in virtually all major
orchestras, except in Britain, where the pair of ‘Dresden’ timpani acquired by
Sir Henry Wood in 1905 remained the only ones until 1930. Composers soon began
to exploit further the instruments. Among the earliest and clearest examples of
the use of pedal timpani are the chromatic runs in d'Indy's Second Symphony
(1902–3) and Jour d'été à la montagne (1905), where the composer, a
former timpanist, specified timbales chromatiques. Credit for the
earliest use of a glissando may well be due to Walford Davies, who, in his Conversations
for piano and orchestra (1914) included this effect as well as chromatic
passages. Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony (1914–16) includes a passage for two
timpanists, playing a minor 3rd apart and rising chromatically from F
and A to d and f respectively. Bartók employed the glissando
frequently, for example in his Cantata profana (1930), Music for
Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936), and the Sonata for two pianos and
percussion (1937) as well as in his Concerto for Orchestra (1943–5). Roy
Harris's Symphony no.7 (1952) and Panufnik's Sinfonia sacra (1963) call
for glissandos; in the latter a solo descending from e to E and,
later, rising back up again is played by wooden mallets. Numerous composers
favoured two timpani parts of two or three drums each: Wolf-Ferrari's La
vita nuova (1901), Loeffler's La mort de Tintagiles (1900), Delius's
Song of the High Hills (1911–12), Sibelius's The Oceanides (1914)
and Holst's The Planets (1914–16). Requests for chords and for extremely
high notes requiring piccolo timpani became increasingly common. Milhaud, for
example, used d' and f' in La création du monde (1923) and Ravel's L'enfant
et les sortilèges (1920–25) calls for a d'. Slavic composers,
Janáček in particular, were fond of these sonorities. His Sinfonietta
(1926) uses small timpani tuned to g, a and b. Ives, Copland, Piston, Schuman and Hartmann also
favoured high drums tuned to g or a. Large timpani tuned to low
notes were not new: Wagner had required an E in Parsifal (1882)
and Mahler a D in his Second Symphony (1888–94). Strauss wrote for three
low drums in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1914–17), where the ‘Keikobad’
motif at one point is played by timpani in E, F and A. English composers favoured the deep, resonant
quality of big drums; they are used, for example, in Elgar's Sea Pictures
(1897–9), Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony (1903–9) and Britten's Peter
Grimes (1944–5). Elsewhere, Casella's Italia (1909), Busoni's Rondò
arlecchinesco (1915) and Hartmann's Seventh Symphony (1959) call for a low
drum tuned to E, while Berg's Wozzeck (1917–22) uses timpani in C
and D. In rare cases timpani bassi are requested. Stokowski, in
his arrangement of Bach's Komm, süsser Tod, wrote a drum in C and
in the Toccata and Fugue for one in D (a 90 cm drum was made
especially for the Philadelphia Orchestra by Ludwig). Harsányi's Suite pour
orchestre (1927) even required the note B'.
Composers
also began to call for unusual tone colours and special effects. Elgar, in his
‘Enigma’ Variations (1898–9) had asked for a roll played with side-drum
sticks, although it became the custom, with his approval, to perform this
tremolo with two coins. Stanford's Songs of the Fleet (1910) required a
fingertip roll, and Holst's The Perfect Fool (1918–22) called for
alternating a felt and wooden mallet. The Te Deum movement of Havergal
Brian's ‘Gothic’ Symphony (1919–27) requires two players and six drums in the
orchestra plus an additional four timpanists, each with three drums, to
accompany the four spatially separated brass choirs. Ottmar Gerster's Capricietto
(1932) for four timpani and orchestra requires superb technique and
considerable virtuosity. The timpani have a prominent role in Poulenc's
Concerto for organ, strings and timpani (1938), and in Martin's Concerto for
seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion and strings (1949). Henze's
Symphony no.3 (1949–50) has an extremely complex timpani part, while Britten's Nocturne
for tenor solo, seven obbligato instruments and string orchestra (1958) has
ascending and descending chromatic passages between E and g, planned carefully so
that each drum restarts on the note on which it had been halted previously.
Bliss, in his Meditations on a Theme of John Blow (1955) asked that a
cymbal be placed on one drumhead and struck with a glockenspiel mallet, while
in Britten's Death in Venice (1973) the drums are hit with a bundle of
twigs. Challenging parts for the timpani are found in Tippett's First Symphony
(1944–5) and King Priam (1962), Copland's Third Symphony (1944–6) and
Carter's Concerto for Orchestra (1968–9). Works for unaccompanied
timpani include Daniel Jones's Sonata for three unaccompanied kettledrums
(1947), Carter's Eight Pieces for Four Timpani/Recitative and
Improvisation (1950–66), Ridout's Sonatina for timpani (1967) and Graham
Whettam's Suite for four timpani (1982). Concertos for timpani and orchestra
include Donatoni's Concertino for strings, brass and timpani (1952),
with effects such as hitting the centre of the drumhead, Werner Thärichen's (1954),
demanding consummate performing skill, Harold Farberman's (1962) and William
Kraft's (1983), notable for its four-note chords and the unusual sonority
created by playing with the hands while wearing leather driving gloves with
felt or moleskin patches glued to their fingertips.
Timpani
6. Performing practice.
Before
the advent of written parts in the mid-17th century, the kettledrummer always
performed ad lib, his music based upon the lowest trumpet part of the
military ensemble of trumpets and drums. Kettledrummers developed a repertory
of stock formulae that were elaborations of basic note patterns; these were
used for field and ceremonial music, occasionally in other genres. Best known
by their German term Schlagmanieren, they ranged from quaver, semiquaver
and demisemiquaver figures to special rolls and crossover beatings. They were
embellishments in that they were selected from a repertory of formulae, but
improvisations in that the experienced performer was left much to his own
judgment concerning what to use and when. Both Eisel (1738) and Altenburg
(1795), the latter writing after the high piont of this practice, but before it
had disappeared, outlined the basic formulae (14 or so) which an apprentice drummer
had to perfect and commit to memory. With the development of the orchestra, the
acceptance of timpani into it and the advent of written parts for them, a new,
orchestral, style of playing emerged; as composers incorporated many of these
patterns into their scores it became less necessary for orchestral performers
to play ad lib. Numerous Schlagmanieren are to be found embedded
in the music of Bach and Handel. But although the practice of improvising Schlagmanieren
seems to have died out in France by the mid-19th century (Kastner reported in
1845 that Poussard, timpanist at the Paris Opéra, did not recognize any of
them), it remained alive elsewhere, even in the orchestra. According to Carlo
Boracchi, timpanist at La Scala, Milan, many of these stock formulae were still
being used in Italy in 1845. It was in Germany above all that such elaborations
continued; Pfundt wrote (1849) that he employed many of them, as well as
varieties of rolls and beating patterns, in playing the music of Meyerbeer and
Rossini, for example. However, in 1862 Fechner claimed that ‘today timpanists
employ only a few of these, simply playing the music the way it is written’.
Until
the 19th century mallets were gripped firmly between the thumb and the other
four fingers, which were wrapped around it. However, in order to provide more
of a recoil (far superior for rolls) and thus a clearer tone, the mallet came
to be held between the thumb and the second joint of the index finger, the
principal movement coming from the wrist rather than the forearm. In Germany
especially the thumb was turned inwards, providing more power and a faster
roll. At first, timpani were hit at or near the centre of the head. But the
loud, dull thuds proved inappropriate for indoor orchestral playing, which required
a precise, well-modulated tone. Haydn, while surely not the first to have
objected to the former sound, has been credited with having demonstrated to the
conductor George Smart in 1794 how to hold the mallets and strike the drum
(obliquely rather than straight on and, probably, nearer to the rim) to create
a ‘bounce’ and thus a better sound. With hard mallets, dynamics were controlled
by the amount of pressure and the distance from the rim (softer passages were
played very close to the edge). To add volume to a series of forte notes
the timpanist hit the drum with both mallets, one striking about 7–10 cm closer
to the centre, for greater resonance. These techniques were never notated, but
were mentioned in contemporary manuals.
By
the late 20th century the method of holding the mallets had changed, especially
in the UK and North America. In those places the mallets are usually held
between the thumb and the first, rather than the second, joint of the index
finger, with the thumb on top of the mallet rather than facing inwards, as on
the Continent. It has been argued that ‘flicking’ the mallet with the tip of
the finger produces a more instantaneous ‘bounce’ and therefore a clearer tone.
However, this thumb position places the wrist in an awkward position for rapid
flexing up and down, and most modern timpanists who have adopted it cannot
alternate their strokes as quickly as those using the so-called ‘continental’
method.
Before
the 20th century there were several types of rolls. In the so-called simple
roll the drum was struck with the right and left mallets in rapid alteration.
For the double roll the first stroke of each beat was played on the drum tuned
to the tonic, with succeeding strokes played on the drum tuned to the dominant
or subdominant, the pattern repeating itself until the final, accented stroke
on the tonic. By the 1840s this technique had been modified so that one mallet
rolled on the tonic drum while the other passed back and forth quickly between
the two instruments. For the equally impressive ‘bolt of lightning’ roll, a
fist stroke on the tonic drum was followed by a continuous roll on the other,
ending with a final stroke on the tonic again. During the first half of the
19th century rolls were often played using the side-drum technique: two strokes
with one mallet followed by two of the other (r, r, l, l, r, r etc.). By the
1840s both methods existed side by side; Pfundt claimed that the alternating
method was superior in tone quality, but noted that in long rolls with changing
dynamics it was quite acceptable to rest one hand in soft passages by playing
with a single mallet using the rebound, or repeated stroke, technique. He
further advised using the rebound technique to eliminate cross-beating, as when
playing triplets involving two strokes on one drum followed by one stroke on
the other. By the time Fechner wrote his treatise on kettledrums (1862) the
side-drum method had all but disappeared, due in part to the general use of
sponge-headed mallets providing more ‘bounce’ and capable of faster rolls.
Cadences,
particularly final ones, had always provided the timpanist with an opportunity
for playing loud rolls and for conspicuous display. This was especially true
during the Baroque, when the mounted kettledrummer was expected to end with a
flourish, demonstrating his elegance and skill. In describing just such a
procedure, Speer (1697) printed what amounts to a virtual cadenza for the
instrument, adding that the drummer should execute a long roll until the
trumpeters had played their final note, after which he should perform
improvised figures on both drums, concluding with a strong final stroke on the
tonic. During the 18th century these solo flourishes disappeared except in
field music, but a vestige of the practice remained: the timpanist always
rolled the final note of a cadence and ended with a loud single stroke. When a
drum part concluded with a crotchet or a minim, with nothing more in the
measure although the rest of the orchestra continued to the end, the timpanist
filled up the measure with notes coinciding with the rhythm or else with a
roll. The speed of the roll (as opposed to the rhythmically articulated
tremolo) was governed by both the duration of the note (the longer the faster)
and by the musical context: the more spirited, lively and heroic the music, the
faster the roll, and conversely, the slower or more stately, the slower the
roll.
The
exploitation of various tone colours and effects characterizes the use of the
timpani in much modern music: for example, glissando passages, stepwise
progressions, hitting a drum in the centre, using a different type of mallet in
each hand, or playing with wire brushes or coins. There seems to have been a
fundamental shift, particularly in North America, away from the concept of the
timpani as an ensemble instrument, supporting or underpinning the music,
towards the idea that the timpani is essentially a solo instrument. Indeed,
many timpanists add notes to their parts at will, ignoring earlier performing
practices. Whereas before the middle of the century the timpani blended into
the orchestral texture (a fact made abundantly clear in early recordings), by
the end of the century the instruments sounded more forward, louder and more
‘percussive’. There has also been a corresponding change away from the larger
and softer mallets to smaller, harder ones, in part to achieve a proper rebound
on the more resistant plastic heads, in part to match the generally louder
dynamic level. In short, earlier practice was more unobtrusive, whereas that of
the end of the century was more conspicuous. It is almost as if the timpani
have come full circle, and are again considered a virtuoso and display
instrument, as they were some 300 years ago.
Timpani
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