nent and abroad.

Economically, trade during the preceding three hundred

years led to the rise of a prosperous middle class, and the English philoso-
pher, John Locke, was among the first to lay the intellectual foundation for
the rise of capitalism and modern democracy (Locke 1980). Politically,
monarchies dominated the Continent, but after the Glorious Revolution in
Britain, the Parliament gained a greater share of political power than it
had before the revolution. Despite the rise of the middle class, the landed
aristocracy remained the most efficacious force in politics and music. The
Age of Discovery enriched many nations and produced a self-confidence
and grandeur of spirit. The Reformation led to the Counter-Reformation.
Across Europe, religious differences were in part responsible for continu-
ous political conflict. For many Catholics, religious art and music was ex-
pected to inspire and instruct. Music, rooted in human sense, opened the
soul to the Holy Spirit. Rather than corrupting the soul, music could en-
noble it (Artz 1962, 158–161).
Music reflected the wealth, power, majesty, and grandeur of this era:
the Baroque. Often divided into the early (1600–1685) and late (1685–
1750) Baroque periods, music was sensuous, grandiose, glorious, ornate,
mammoth, heavy, complex, and sumptuous. Composers used massive so-
nority, ornament, movement, tone color, and dynamic contrasts to express
their musical ideas. It was not uncommon in the late Baroque for com-
posers to combine a number of smaller pieces into a sonata da camera,
suite, partita, or overture—allowing each section to speak a different mood.
Bach used particular musical gestures to represent certain moods. Draw-
ing on the doctrine of affections, sorrow and sadness were associated with
descending musical phrases, and this was effectively used in the B-Minor
Mass (Schweitzer 1966, II: 64–65). In choral music of other composers, the
choice of musical instruments and voices often reflected the libretto.
Heaven was represented by voices in the angelic boy’s choir and hell by the
growling bass voice, for example. Effort and hardship were represented by
slower rhythms, while hurry and rapture were written to quicker tempos.
The evolution of instruments, especially the violin, provided composers
with more sonorous and flexible instruments. The modern violin produced
greater tone color and dynamic contrasts, and it was more effective in ex-
pressing deeper emotional themes. Movement, tension, swelling, and the
contrast between light and dark passages were possible with improved in-
struments and larger ensembles. Baroque music became very emotional or
dramatic—and very personal as well. Thus, Baroque music became much
more sumptuous, ornate, powerful, and emotionally colored than earlier
music (Artz 1962, 204–218; Blume 1967, 111–117; Van Ess 1970, 150–154).

Timpani, Mallets, and Tone in the Baroque and Classical Eras

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the evolution of the larger drums, evolv-

ing bowl shapes, better drumheads, new mallets, and new playing style
suggests that the timpani could be treated as a tonal (as well as a rhyth-

62 Timpani Tone and the Interpretation of Baroque and Classical Music