Timpani (kettledrums)

In the 18th century, kettle drums were always used in pairs and were usually tuned to the tonic and lower fourth. They are generally paired with trumpets, a combination that survived into the symphonic music of the Viennese Classical period. It took several craftsmen to make them: the coppersmith fashioned the semi-spherical kettle out of a circular sheet of copper. For acoustic reasons there is an opening on the bottom of the kettle with a funnel directed into the interior of the drum. The fixtures attaching the skin and the legs were riveted onto the kettle by the sieve-maker. The parchment-maker was responsible for the drumhead, which was usually made of calfskin. As well as their use in a military context and on court occasions, kettle drums, mainly coupled with trumpets, were employed in concert music from the Baroque period onwards. Neither the representative orchestral works of Handel or the symphonic and sacred music of the Viennese Classics are conceivable without the stirring dynamic effect of the instrument’s beat. (rh)

Lit.: Rudolf Hopfner: Masterpieces from the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments. A Short Guide through the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Vol. 1, Vienna 2019.