It is generally stated that Beethoven was the first to treat the
kettledrum as a solo instrument, but in _Dido_, an opera by C.
Graupner performed at the Hamburg Opera House in 1707, there is a
short solo for the kettledrum.[3]
The tuning of the kettledrum is an operation requiring time, even when
the 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 note by a single movement. The first mechanical kettledrums date
from the beginning of the 19th century. In Holland a system was
invented by J. C. N. Stumpff[4]; in France by Labbaye in 1827; in
Germany Einbigler patented a system in Frankfort-on-Main in 1836[5];
in England Cornelius Ward in 1837; in Italy C. A. Boracchi of Monza in
1839.[6]
The drawback in most of these systems is the complicated nature of the
mechanism, which soon gets out of order, and, being very cumbersome
and heavy, it renders the instrument more or less of a fixture.
Potter's kettledrum with instantaneous system of tuning, the best
known at the present day in England, and used in some military bands
with entire success, is a complete contrast to the above. There is
practically no mechanism; the system is simple, ingenious, and neither
adds to the weight nor to the bulk of the instrument. There are no
screws round the head of Potter's kettledrum; an invisible system of
cords in the interior, regulated by screws and rods in the form of a
Maltese cross, is worked from the outside by a small handle connected
to a dial, on the face of which are twenty-eight numbered notches. By
means of these the performer is able to tune the drum instantly to any
note within the compass by remembering the numbers which correspond to
each note and pointing the indicator to it on the face of the dial.
Should the cords become slightly stretched, flattening the pitch,
causing the representative numbers to change, the performer need only
give his indicator an extra turn to bring his instrument back to
pitch, each note having several notches at its service. The internal
mechanism, being of an elastic nature, has no detrimental effect on
the tone but tends to increase its volume and improve its quality.
The origin of the kettledrum is remote and must be sought in the East.
Its distinctive characteristic is a hemispherical or convex vessel,
closed by means of a single parchment or skin drawn tightly over the
aperture, whereas other drums consist of a cylinder, having one end or
both covered by the parchment, as in the side-drum and tambourine
respectively. The Romans were acquainted with the kettledrum, including
it among the _tympana_; the _tympanum leve_, like a sieve, was the
tambourine used in the rites of Bacchus and Cybele.[7] The comparatively
heavy tympanum of bronze mentioned by Catullus was probably the small
kettledrum which appears in pairs on monuments of the middle ages.[8]
Pliny[9] states that half pearls having one side round and the other
flat were called _tympania_. If the name _tympania_ (Gr. [Greek:
tympanon], from [Greek: typtein], 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 Vegetius,[10] who defines very clearly the duties of the
service instruments _buccina_, _tuba_, _cornu_ and _lituus_.
The Greeks also knew the kettledrum, but as a warlike instrument of
barbarians. Plutarch[11] mentions that the Parthians, in order to
frighten their enemies, in offering 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 Roman Empire and continued to
be included during the middle ages among the tympana has not been
definitely ascertained. Isidore of Seville gives a somewhat vague
description of tympanum, conveying the impression that his information
has been obtained second-hand: "Tympanum est pellis vel corium ligno ex
una parte extentum. Est enim pars media symphoniae in similitudinem
cribri. Tympanum autem dictum quod medium est. Unde, et margaritum
medium tympanum dicitur, et ipsum ut symphonia ad virgulam
percutitur."[12] It is clear that in this passage Isidore is referring
to Pliny.
The names given during the middle ages to the kettledrum are derived
from the East. We have _attambal_ or _attabal_ in Spain, from the
Persian _tambal_, whence is derived the modern French _timbales_;
_nacaire_, _naquaire_ or _nakeres_ (English spelling), from the Arabic
_nakkarah_ or _noqqarich_ (Bengali, _nagara_), and the German _Pauke_,
M.H.G. _Bûke_ or _Pûke_, which is probably derived from _byk_, the
Assyrian name of the instrument.
[Illustration: (Geo. Potter & Co. of Aldershot.)
FIG. 1.--Mechanical Kettledrum, showing the system of cords inside the
head.