The Timpani’s Developments and their Impacts in the 19th Century

The timpani were one of the first melodic percussion instruments to be commonly used

by composers due to its large span of versatile effects, in that they were able to support rhythm,

melody, and harmony in ways that a drum-style percussion instrument never had before. This

unique nature of the timpani allowed for some massive changes over time, and with the addition

and technological evolution of rapid tuning mechanisms, composers like Haydn, Beethoven,

Schumann, and Berlioz were able to expand on the capabilities of the timpani like never before.

Analyzing these changes should allow us to understand the significant impact they have had on

the physical structure of the timpani, its playing style, and its instrumentation, and why the

implementation of the tuning clutch was vital to the development of the timpani.

The first form of timpani were referred to as Nakers or Nakirs. They were introduced in

the 13th century and were used for religious ceremonies and by the military, often in pairs. 1 They

usually consisted of a metal or wood structure with an animal skin head stretched directly over

the top of the bowl and were typically small sized compared to the larger drums you see today.

Because the head of the drum was connected directly to the body of the drum, the head could not

be manipulated in any sort of way, meaning that tuning these drums to multiple pitches was not

an option.2 This form of timpani remained consistent up to the 15th century, when the Ottoman

Turks, Mongols, and Muslims began to mount drums similar to the timpani to the side of a horse.

These drums were bigger than past timpani, and more resembled what would be used later in the

orchestra setting.3 The purpose of the horse-mounted timpani was to signify the arrival of your

1 Edmund A. Bowles. "The Double, Double, Double Beat of the Thundering Drum: The Timpani in Early Music."
Early Music. 19, no. 3: August 1991, pp. 419–435
2 G. Finger. "The history of the timpani." Percussionist. 11, no. 3: Spring, 1974: pp. 101–111
3 James Blades. Percussion Instruments and Their History. London @ Boston: Faber and Faber, 1984, pp. 226–230
own army.4 Europeans saw this tradition and decided to use it for their own calvaries. The

timpani were often paired with trumpets in this setting as well and would keep this relationship

in various kinds of ensembles such as calvaries, royal courts, and fanfares. Moving the timpani to

other more indoor types of ensembles marked the beginnings of the concert timpani we know

today.

The timpani were often considered an outdoor instrument, but after the 17th century they

were moved inside to be played in a concert setting. The timpani would first be used in places

such as court orchestras, opera ensembles, and larger church works.5 During this time, the

timpani were only able to be tuned by hand. You could do this by adjusting the tuning screws

that lined the rim of the instrument. This was a manageable task, but it came with its

disadvantages as well. It was a lengthy process to tune a drum to its correct pitch, and it was also

difficult to achieve a consistent clean tone from each drum, due to each tuning screw needing to

be at the exact right tension in correlation to every other tuning screw across the head. With the

timpani becoming increasingly common in these more formal settings, composers also found it

necessary to have written parts, instead of teaching and learning the timpani part by rote, which

was common practice for timpani in its early concert stages. One reason for the need for written

timpani parts was the composers asking for an increasing number of pitches per piece. With

these new written parts, composers would often ask for more than one or two notes like they had

used in the past, and having each note have its own corresponding drum was often not an option

due to spatial constraints of the areas where they often played. 6 So, a system was needed to

easily change the pitch of the drum in the middle of the piece.

4 Henry W. Taylor. The Timpani. London: John Baker Publishers Ltd., 1964, pp. 22–24
5 P.A. Browne. "The Orchestral Treatment of the Timpani." Music & Letters. October 1923, pp. 335–336
6 P.A. Browne, pp. 338–339
 Heading into the 19th century, Europe was starting to enter the beginning of its industrial

revolution, which would allow for many variations of tuning mechanisms to be implemented and

improved on each other in the years to come. The first of these ‘rapid tuning’ additions to be

implemented is credited to Gerhard Cramer. He created a system of levers that would end up

raising and lowering the bowl, causing the drum to be pitched higher when raised, and pitched

lower when lowered. Cramer developed this design with an armorer and locksmith which

involved a wooden base, with curved support rods running along the side of the instrument,

down towards the counter hoop at the bottom of the drum.7

The next major development was brought in 1815 by Johann Stumptff. He designed a

system of rotating the instrument to raise and lower the pitch of the drum. When rotating the

counter hoop, it would cause a second hoop to be raised or lowered while the bowl remained in

its position without moving, allowing for certain levels of tension to be brought to the counter

hoop, changing its pitch.8 This method of tuning was very similar to the tuning style of modern-

day roto-toms and had major benefits, as the drums were easy to manufacture and were easy to

transport.9 But one of the major drawbacks was the way it interrupted the flow of playing to the

timpanist. You would usually have to put aside your mallets before attempting to properly tune

the drum, forcing composers to give timpanists sizeable portions of time to retune the drum

before they could begin playing again, causing large gaps in the timpani’s sound within the

ensemble.

7 Edmund A. Bowles. "Nineteenth-Century innovations in the Use and Construction of the Timpani" Percussionist.
Vol 19 n2, Official Publication of The Percussive Arts Society. 1982 pp. 38–41
8 Edmund A. Bowles. "Innovations", pp. 41–44
9 Bowles, "Timpani", pp. 42–43
 Johann Kasper Einbigler designed a drum in 1836 that implemented aspects of both of its

predecessors and continued to advance on making improvements to where the other two designs

fell short. This new design was easier to tune and allowed for much improved quality of tone. 10

This new tuning process involved a system in the middle of the base of the timpani that would

tighten the head of the drum using a vertical tuning crank. This system was much quieter than the

earlier attempts of tuning mechanisms as well, allowing for the timpanist to be able to change the

drums pitches in quieter parts of a performance, instead of finding time in a louder section where

they would not be heard.11 This design also showed an increase in tone quality which can be

attributed to its new suspended form factor. Previous models had the rods attached to the sides of

the timpani, but now that the support system was only attached to the top of the drum, it left the

bowl of the timpani suspended, allowing for a greater amount of resonance and better tone to fit

into the ensemble’s sound.

Up to this point, all the timpani’s tuning mechanisms were operated using the players’

hands, which is not ideal for an instrument that also requires the use of your hands to hold

mallets. So, in 1840 August Knocke designed a timpani drum that utilized a tuning system to be

controlled by the players’ foot instead of hands. 12 This allowed the timpanist’s flow of playing to

be hardly interrupted at all when a tuning change was needed and allowed the instrument to be

able to play larger passages with many more notes than drums available. This design used the

preexisting system of two rings, with one remaining stationary and one moving up and down

based on the tuning pedal’s placement, causing the head to tighten and loosen and create

different pitches. These new drums received an honorable mention at The Great Exhibition in

10 James Blades. Percussion Instruments and Their History. London & Boston: Faber and Faber, 1984, p. 277
11 Robert Bridge. "Timpani Construction paper." Retrieved 12 February 2010
12 Blades, Percussion History, p. 278
1851 in London and were awarded a medal of honor at the German Industrial Exhibition in

Munich in 1854.13

Over time, slight modifications were made to the timpani by different people in order to

improve easiness in playing and overall build quality of the instrument. Some of these people

included Ernst Gotthold Pfundt, Carl Hoffmann, and Friedrich Hentschel. One of these

modifications included using forked rods attached to the top of the timpani, which allowed for

much more support than the previous design. 14 Another improvement was a new crank

mechanism near the base of the timpani that increased the force sent to the base by the tuning

pedal, allowing for further efficiency and a much easier way of playing.15

One of the last additions to the timpani in the 19th century was made by Carl Pittrich in

1881. This last modification brought a more refined pedal that had some major improvements to

previous models. The new pedal used a clutch system that allowed timpanist to lock the pedal

into place with a latch that could be lifted and lowered by moving the player’s heel to the side,

while the rest of the foot could maintain its role in pushing the pedal forward and backward to

control the drum’s pitch.16 This new timpani model was referred to as the ‘Dresden Model’ for

its place of origin and it made changing pitches faster and more accurate, allowing for the

timpani’s playing standard to reach new heights and be where it is today.

One way we can see the evolution of different timpani techniques and playing styles is by

looking at scores that had been influenced by new advancements at the time. Up to the 18th

century, timpani parts consisted of undemanding rhythms at larger arrival points. They would

13 Bridge. "Timpani Construction." Retrieved 12 February 2010

14 Edmund A. Bowles. "Innovations”. pp. 55–58
15 Bowles, Timpani, pp. 53–56
16 Bridge. "Timpani Construction," Retrieved 12 February 2010
also often play along with the trumpets and add emphasis to brass chords, but Joseph Haydn

would begin to utilize the timpani in a more innovative way. He had learned and performed the

instrument and had maintained his interest in the timpani throughout his career by continuing to

explore the new sounds and effects he could create. One of the first examples of a pitch change

in the middle of a symphonic movement can be found in Haydn’s Symphony No. 94. In

measures 131-134, Haydn calls for the lower drum to be pitched up from G to A, then pitched

back down shortly after. 17 Haydn, being a timpanist himself, gave the player ample amount of

time to return the drum so all pitches could be accurate. In the “Military Symphony” or

Symphony No. 100, Haydn incorporates timpani solos as a way to build up to a full ensemble

arrival point.18 These solos can be found in measures 159 of the second movement and 122 of the

last movement. Both solos involve the entire ensemble dropping out to allow the timpani to

begin its crescendo to bring the ensemble back in. He also starts his Symphony No. 103 with a

timpani solo, showing that Haydn was without a doubt one of the most important composers to

the timpani and its ability to thrive within the ensemble. 19

Beethoven was also an important figure when it came to the development of timpani

parts. In the third movement of Symphony No. 7, he asks the timpanist to play ranges between

the drums that were further than had ever been asked of by a composer, a minor sixth, from an A

to an F.20 He would later surpass this interval by asking the timpanist to play the ranges of an

octave, being an F and an F, in Symphony No. 8.21 He does this same octave range in Symphony

17 Joseph Haydn. London Symphonies Nos. 93–98 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1997, p.58
18 Joseph Haydn. London Symphonies Nos. 99–104 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc, 1999, p. 92,
p. 110
19 Joseph Haydn. London Symphonies Nos. 99–104 in Full Score Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc, 1999 p. 251
20 Ludwig van Beethoven. Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in Full Score, Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc, 1989, p.
209
21 Ludwig van Beethoven. Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 in Full Score Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc, 1989, p. 36
No. 9, but he also introduces loud timpani solo phrases, as well as double stops on octave F’s in

the third movement, where you would use both mallets to play the same rhythm on both drums.

Beethoven provided these new challenges for the timpani and allowed for further innovation in

new playing techniques and styles.

Berlioz also pushed boundaries of what people thought the traditional timpani had to be.

In Symphony Fantastique he asks that more than two drums be used, and that more than one

timpanist be utilized. In the third movement just after Marking 49, Berlioz requests four

timpanists playing two drums each. 22 And in a majority of the other movements, he asks for two

timpanists to play two drums each while utilizing much more complicated rhythms than were

common at the time, along with many pitch changes. Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and

Lacrymosa tops the amount of timpani requested previously with an unprecedented eight pairs of

timpani all at different pitches played by multiple timpanists. Berlioz explored the extreme

capabilities of the timpani within the ensemble setting and paved the way for further timpani

techniques to come.

With the revision of Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, he made a point to revisit the timpani

part especially and requested three timpani instead of the usual two. 23 This new timpani set up

combined with the recent innovation of the Dresden style foot pedal allowed for a massive

growth in the timpani's compositional capabilities and what players could expect from

composers for years to come.

The timpani began as very simplistic drum designs, but slowly over time became further

22 Hector Berlioz. Symphonie Fantastique and Harold in Italy in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc,
1984, pg. 75
23 Bowles, "Timpani. pp. 55–57
 advanced thanks to the introduction of new mechanisms. These mechanisms allowed

timpani players to be able to increase tuning change accuracy, as well as tuning change speed.

Timpanists eventually reached the point where they were able to play whole bass lines, entire

melodic passages, and much more due to the innovations of the various tuning systems brought

to the instrument, as well as the creativeness of many classical composers who were set on

reaching the timpani's full potential in the concert ensemble. If these developments of tuning

clutches had never been implemented and grown upon, the timpani would have never evolved

into the instrument it is today.

 Bibliography

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphonies Nos. 5,6, and 7 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, 1989.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, 1989.

Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie Fantastique and Harold in Italy in Full Score. From the Complete
Works Edition Edited by Charles Malherbe and Felix Weingartner. Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, 1984.

Blades, James Percussion Instruments and Their History London and Boston: Faber and Faber,
1984.

Bowles, Edmund A. "Nineteenth-Century innovations in the Use and Construction of the

Timpani." Percussionist, Official Publication of The Percussive Arts Society 1982, 19:2,
pp. 6–75

Bowles, Edmund A. "The Double, Double, Double Beat of the Thundering Drum: The Timpani
in Early Music." Early Music 19:3 (Aug. 1991): pp. 419–435.

Bowles, Edmund A. The Timpani: A History in Pictures and Documents. Hillsdale, NY:
Pendragon Press, 2002.

Bridge, Robert. "Timpani Construction paper" Retrieved 12 February 2010.

Browne, P. A. "The Orchestral Treatment of the Timpani." Music & Letters 4, no. 4 (Oct.1923):
334–339.

Finger, G. "The history of the timpani." Percussionist. 1974, 11:3, pp. 101–111.

Haydn, Joseph. London Symphonies Nos. 93–98 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, Inc. 1997.

Haydn, Joseph. London Symphonies Nos. 99–104 in Full Score. Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, Inc. 1999.
Schumann, Robert. Complete Symphonies in Full Score. From the Breitkopf & Hartel Complete
Works Edition. Edited by Clara Schumann. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. 1980.