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    Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach: Timpani Tone and The Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

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    The document discusses the use of single and double stroke rolls on timpani during the early 19th century, with composers sometimes notating rolls with tremolo signs or demisemiquaver/semiquaver markings. It also examines the timpani parts in works by Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel, noting that Purcell may have been among the first to integrate timpani into the orchestra and that Bach often used timpani in joyous or dramatic movements. Specific examples from The Fairy Queen, the B-Minor Mass, and Messiah are mentioned.

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    Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach: Timpani Tone and The Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

    Uploaded by

    FJRA
    35 views1 page
    The document discusses the use of single and double stroke rolls on timpani during the early 19th century, with composers sometimes notating rolls with tremolo signs or demisemiquaver/semiquaver markings. It also examines the timpani parts in works by Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel, noting that Purcell may have been among the first to integrate timpani into the orchestra and that Bach often used timpani in joyous or dramatic movements. Specific examples from The Fairy Queen, the B-Minor Mass, and Messiah are mentioned.

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    The document discusses the use of single and double stroke rolls on timpani during the early 19th century, with composers sometimes notating rolls with tremolo signs or demisemiquaver/semiquaver markings. It also examines the timpani parts in works by Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel, noting that Purcell may have been among the first to integrate timpani into the orchestra and that Bach often used timpani in joyous or dramatic movements. Specific examples from The Fairy Queen, the B-Minor Mass, and Messiah are mentioned.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    35 views1 page

    Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach: Timpani Tone and The Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

    Uploaded by

    FJRA
    The document discusses the use of single and double stroke rolls on timpani during the early 19th century, with composers sometimes notating rolls with tremolo signs or demisemiquaver/semiquaver markings. It also examines the timpani parts in works by Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel, noting that Purcell may have been among the first to integrate timpani into the orchestra and that Bach often used timpani in joyous or dramatic movements. Specific examples from The Fairy Queen, the B-Minor Mass, and Messiah are mentioned.

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    3.6.

    The problem of the demisemiquavered roll

    ing timpani encouraged timpanists to experiment with rolls. The single


    stroke roll and double stroke roll were used side by side in the early part
    of nineteenth century; although, it was left up to the timpanist to decide
    when to use the appropriate roll. Composers notated the single stroke roll
    with either a tremolo sign or demisemiquaver or semiquaver hash marks:
    the choice was the composer’s to make. Timpanists are left to their own de-
    vices in determining if a demisemiquaver or semiquaver figure is a roll or
    should be played as individual notes—a rhythmic figure different from a
    roll. By the nineteenth century, it became clear that the single stroke roll
    was preferable to the double stroke roll (Pfundt 1849, 7–8).

    Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach

    The above interpretative principles can be applied to the timpani parts of


    Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel. The
    author will discuss Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Bach’s B-Minor Mass, Han-
    del’s Messiah, and his Music to the Royal Fireworks. Henry Purcell is often
    credited for being one of the first composers to integrate the timpani into
    the orchestra. In Act IV of The Fairy Queen, Purcell writes a rhythmic part
    that doubles the organ line. The opening measure is soli with the organ:
    the timpani playing the tonic and subdominant. The timpani part also
    strengthens the base line. The part is straightforward and should be played
    with articulate sticks with no tonal or rhythmic phrasing.
    Bach used timpani in forty-nine of his orchestral works and cantatas.
    He often employed them in music that was joyous or dramatic (Pollart
    1976, 76–77). For example, Bach’s first use of the timpani in the B-Minor
    Mass, hereafter called the Mass, is in the inspiring Gloria—neglecting it in
    the preceding movement, the more somber Kyrie. He uses the timpani in
    parts of the Sanctus that are bright and cheerful. He concludes the Mass
    with a very nobly written timpani part that adds depth and drama to the
    movement. In Bach’s works, the timpani play a largely rhythmic role, and
    the timpani are freed often from their dependence on the third or fourth
    trumpet. Liberating the timpani from the trumpet occurred in other Bach
    pieces, for example, Cantata No. 31; however, by Cantata No. 91 Bach feels
    particularly free to give the timpani its own voice—linking it less and less
    to the trumpets and rhythmic figures of other instruments.8
    The Gloria of the Mass opens with the timpani playing single tonic
    and dominant notes. These should be played very legato and this gesture
    is repeated beginning in measure 77 and should be executed in the same
    manner. In the sixth bar, the sixteenth notes can be played as written or

    80 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music

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