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Interpretation of Baroque Music

T he interpretation of timpani parts in the Baroque and Classical peri-

ods is, at times, shrouded in mystery. Our knowledge of the timpani,
timpani mallets, bowl shape, timpani heads, the composer’s understand-
ing of the use of the timpani in the orchestra, and scoring for the timpani
is limited. In a two-hundred-year period, the timpani underwent a trans-
formation. The size of the drums and the tonal quality of the instruments
increased. In some cases, we know the drums composers had available to
them, but in other cases we can only speculate about the kind of drums
that composers had in mind when they wrote for the timpani. We have few
documents describing the timpani sticks used in the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth centuries. Therefore, we are left to speculate about the quality of
sound production that a timpanist could produce. During the Baroque and
the early to middle Classical period, timpanists were quite secretive about
their art, and, with few exceptions, they did not leave a written record of
the drums, performance practices, techniques, and playing styles (Virdung
1993; Arbeau 1972; Speer 1697; Eisel 1738; Mersenne 1957; Altenburg
1974, 30–35; Titcomb, 1956, 56–66). The seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies witnessed the gradual introduction of the timpani into the orches-
tra. Undoubtedly, composers puzzled over how the timpani could be used
effectively in communicating musical ideas. In some cases, timpani nota-
tion was not standardized: composers did not agree on how to notate a roll.
Consequently, the interpretation of timpani parts must be a very personal
one—one informed by our limited understanding of the timpani and its
use in the Baroque and Classical eras. In this chapter, the author will ex-
amine stylistic concerns, musical notation, and phrasing issues that bear
on the interpretation of music in the Baroque. The author will leave it to
others to discuss whether or not this music is best played on original in-
struments.
The Baroque era begins around 1600 and ends in the mid-1700s. His-
torically and intellectually, this was a period of great change on the Conti-

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