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KETTLEDRUM 1 (Fr. timbales; Ger. Pauken; Ital. timpani; Sp. timbal) , the only See also:kind of See also:drum (q.v.) having a definite musical See also:pitch . The kettledrum consists of a hemispherical See also:pan of See also:copper, See also:brass or See also:silver, over which a piece of vellum is stretched tightly by means of screws working on an See also:iron See also:ring, which fits closely See also:round the See also:head of the drum . In the bottom of the pan is a small vent-hole, which prevents the head being See also:rent by the concussion of See also:air . The vellum head may thus be slackened or tightened at will to produce any one of the notes within its See also:compass of See also:half an See also:octave . Each kettledrum gives but one See also:note at a See also:time, and as it takes some little time to alter all the screws, two or three kettledrums, sometimes more, each tuned to a different note, are used in an See also:orchestra or See also:band . For centuries kettledrums have been made and used in See also:Europe in pairs, one large and one small; the relative proportions of the two See also:instruments being well defined and invariable . Even when eight pairs of drums, all tuned to different notes, are used, as by See also:Berlioz in his " See also:Grand See also:Requiem," there are still but the two sizes of drums to produce all the notes . Various mechanisms have been tried with the See also:object of facilitating the See also:change of pitch, but the See also:simple old-fashioned See also:model is still the most frequently used in See also:England . Two sticks, of which there are several kinds, are employed to See also:play the kettledrum; the best of these are made of See also:whalebone for See also:elasticity, and have a small wooden knob at one end, covered with a thin piece of See also:fine sponge . Others have the See also:button covered with See also:felt or See also:india-See also:rubber . The kettledrum is struck at about a See also:quarter of the See also:diameter from the ring . The compass of kettledrums collectively is not much more than an octave, between ----sna _ the larger instruments, —Th .
which it is inadvisable to tune below F, take any one of the following notes:
and the smaller are tuned to one of the notes completing the See also:chromatic and enharmonic See also:scale from =
E@7--- These
limits comprise all the notes of See also:artistic value that can be obtained from kettledrums
.
When there are but two drums—the See also:term " drum " used by musicians always denotes the kettledrum—they are generally tuned to the tonic and dominant or to the tonic and subdominant, these notes entering into the See also:composition of most of the harmonies of the See also:
764
renowned during the 17th and 18th centuries, borrowing the terms from the trumpets with which the kettledrums were See also:long associated, recognized the following beats:
Single tonguing (Einfache Zungen)
etc=
See also:Double tonguing
(Doppel See also:oder gerissene Zungen)
r ~ —
Legato tonguing (Tragende Zungen)
Whole double-tonguing (Ganze Doppel-Zungen)
Double See also:cross-See also:beat 1 (Doppel Kreuzschkige)
The See also:roll (Wirbel)
. etc=
The double roll (Doppel Wirbel)
_, _
It is generally stated that See also:Beethoven was the first to treat the kettledrum as a See also:solo See also:instrument, but in See also:Dido, an See also:opera by C
.
Graupner performed at the See also:Hamburg Opera See also:House in 1707, there is a See also:short solo for the kettledrum
?
The tuning of the kettledrum is an operation requiring time, even when the See also:screw-heads, as is now usual, are T-shaped; to expedite the change, therefore, efforts have been made in all countries to invent some mechanism which would enable the performer to tune the drum to a fixed ,cote by a single See also:movement
.
The first See also:mechanical kettledrums date from the beginning of the 19th See also:century
.
In See also:
278 (See also:Leipzig, 1899)
.
' See J
.
Georges Kastner, Methode See also:complete et raisonnee de timbales (See also:Paris), p
.
19, where several of the See also:early mechanical kettledrums are described and illustrated
.
See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main in 1836*; in England See also:Cornelius See also: The See also:internal mechanism, being of an elastic nature, has no detrimental effect on the tone but tends to increase its See also:volume and improve its quality . The origin of the kettledrum is remote and must be sought in the See also:East . Its distinctive characteristic is a hemispherical or See also:convex vessel, closed by means of a single See also:parchment or skin See also:drawn tightly over the See also:aperture, whereas other drums consist of a See also:cylinder, having one end or both covered by the parchment, as in the side-drum and See also:tambourine respectively . The See also:Romans were acquainted with the kettledrum, including it among the tympana; the tympanum leve, like a See also:sieve, was the tambourine used in the See also:rites of Bacchus and See also:Cybele.6 The comparatively heavy tympanum of See also:bronze mentioned by See also:Catullus was probably the small kettledrum which appears in pairs on monuments of the middle ages .7 Pliny8 states that half pearls having one side round and the other See also:flat were called tympania . If the name tympania (Gr. ruµ1ravov, from zb7rrety, to strike) was given to pearls of a certain shape because they resembled the kettledrum, this argues that the instrument was well known among the Romans . It is doubtful, however, if it was adopted by them as a military instrument, since it is not mentioned by See also:Vegetius,9 who defines very clearly the duties of the service instruments See also:buccina, See also:tuba, See also:cornu and See also:lituus . The Greeks also knew the kettledrum, but as a warlike instrument of barbarians . See also:Plutarch '° mentions that the Parthians, in order to frighten their enemies, in offering See also:battle used not the horn or tuba, but hollow vessels covered with a skin, on which they beat, making a terrifying noise with these tympana . Whether the kettledrum penetrated into western Europe before the fall of the See also:Roman See also:Empire and continued to be included during the middle ages among the tympana has not been definitely ascertained . Isidore of See also:Seville gives a some-what vague description of tympanum, conveying the impression that his See also:information has been obtained second-See also:hand: "Tympanum est pellis vel corium ligno ex una parte extentum . Est enim pars See also:media symphoniae in similitudinem cribri . Tympanum autem dictum quod See also:medium est . Unde, et margaritum medium tympanum dicitur, et ipsum ut See also:symphonia ad virgulam percutitur." 11 It is clear that in this passage Isidore is referring to See also:Pliny . The names given during the middle ages to the kettledrum are derived from the East . We have attambal or attabal in See also:Spain, ' See Gustav Schilling's Encyklopddie der gesammten musikal . Wissenschaften (See also:Stuttgart, 1840), vol. v., See also:art . " Pauke." See Manuale pel Timpanista (See also:Milan, 1842), where Boracchi describes and illustrates his invention . 6 Catullus, lxiii . 8—to; Claud . De cons . Stilich. iii . 365; Lucret. ii . 618; Virg . Aen. ix .
619, &c
.
7 See also: See also See also:Justin xli . 2, and Polydorus, See also:lib . I, cap. xv . ii See Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum, Iib. iii. cap . 2I, 141; See also:Migne, Pair. curs. completus, lxxxii, 167 . from the See also:Persian tambal, whence is derived the modern See also:French timbales; See also:nacaire, naquaire or nakeres (See also:English spelling), from the Arabic nakkarah or noggarich (See also:Bengali, nagard), and the German Pauke, M.H.G . Bike or Puke, which is probably derived from byk, the See also:Assyrian name of the instrument . A See also:line in the See also:chronicles of See also:Joinville definitely establishes the identity of the nakeres as a kind of drum: " Lor it fist sonner (Geo . Potter & Co. of See also:Aldershot.) of cords inside the head . This See also:regiment is now the 21st (Empress of India) Lancers . See also:les tabours que l'on appelle nacaires." The nacaire is among the instruments mentioned by See also:Froissart as having been used on the occasion of See also:Edward III.'s triumphal entry into See also:Calais in 1347: " trompes, tambours, nacaires, chalemies, See also:muses." 1 See also:Chaucer mentions them in the description of the See also:tournament in the See also:Knight's See also:Tale (line 2514): " Pipes, trompes, nakeres and clarionnes The earliest See also:European See also:illustration showing kettledrums is the See also:scene depicting See also:Pharaoh's banquet in the fine illuminated MS. See also:book of See also:Genesis of the 5th or 6th century, preserved in See also:Vienna . There are two pairs of shallow metal See also:bowls on a table, on which a woman is performing with two sticks, as an See also:accompaniment to the double pipes.2 As a See also:companion See also:illumination may be cited the picture of an Eastern banquet given in a 14th century MS. at the See also:British Museum (Add . MS . 27,695), illuminated by a skilled Genoese . The potentate is enjoying the music of various instruments, among which are two kettledrums strapped to the back of a Nubian slave . This was the earlier manner of usingthe instrument before it became inseparably associated with the See also:trumpet, sharing its position as the service instrument of the See also:cavalry . See also:Jost See also:Amman 3 gives a picture of a pair of kettledrums with See also:banners being played by an armed knight on horseback . (From Hertel u . Wickhoff's "See also:Die all ienerhGen esms"hahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Fig . 2.—Kettledrums in an early See also:Christian MS . As in the See also:case of the trumpet, the use of the kettledrum was placed under great restrictions in Germany and France and to some extent in England, but it was used in churches with the trumpet.' No French or German regiment was allowed Fig . 3.—See also:Medieval Kettledrums, 14th century . (Brit . Museum.) kettledrums unless they had been captured from the enemy, and the timbalier or the Heerpauker on See also:parade, in reviews and See also:marches generally, rode at the head of the See also:squadron; in battle his position was in the wings .
In England, before the Restoration, only the See also:Guards were allowed kettledrums, but after the See also:accession of See also:
2 Reproduced by See also:Franz Wickhoff, " Die Wiener Genesis," supple- 5 See Georges Kastner, op. cit., pp. lo and I I ; Johann See also:Ernst Altenment to the 15th and 16th volumes of the Jahrb. d. kunsthistorischen See also:burg, Versuch einer Anleitung z. heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter u
.
Sammlungen d allerhochsten Kaiserhauses (Vienna, 1895); see frontis- Paukerkunst (See also:Halle, 1795), p
.
128; and H
.
G
.
See also:Farmer, See also:Memoirs of
piece in See also:colours and See also:plate illustration XXXIV. the Royal Artillery Band p
.
23, note I (London, 1904)
.
include the See also:item, " large kettledrums mounted on a See also:carriage with cloaths marked I.R. and cost £158, 9s." 1 A model of the kettledrums with their carriage which accompanied the See also:duke of See also:Marlborough to Holland in 1702 is preserved in the Rotunda Museum at See also:Woolwich
.
The kettledrums accompanied the Royal Artillery train in the See also:Vigo expedition and during the See also:campaign in See also:Flanders in 1748
.
Macbean2 states that they were mounted on a triumphal See also:car ornamented and gilt, bearing the ordnance See also:flag and drawn by six white horses
.
The position of the car on See also: The kettledrums still form part of the bands of the See also:Life Guards and other cavalry regiments . (K . |
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