Beethoven and the Timpani, or How to squeeze the most out of two notes

[Delirious Lab]

Anyone else have a fascination for the way B writes for the timpani? Any old music juggler can smash the kettles on I and V, but Beethoven is very creative with this instrument.

In his later symphonies he even goes away from the standard practice of tuning the drums in the tonic and dominant. Was he the first to do this?

Some examples:

In the 5th symphony's slow movement in Ab, the timpani are in C and G:
- The ABABA pattern has a soft A and a loud B - makes sense to tune the drums to the B section, which is in C rather than Ab.
- A good reminder of the symphony's overall key of C.
- The C provides a nice major third to punctuate the Ab stuff occasionally.

7th symphony, scherzo in F: Timpani are (unless my ears deceive me) in F and low A.
- Plays the repeating F-A motive (but inverted to a descending sixth instead of a rising third)
- The trio is in D, where the low A provides the huge "pa-paaa, pa-paaa" drum roll on the dominant.

9th symphony, scherzo in D minor: Timpani are in F an octave apart.
- The octave corresponds to the main motive.
- F is the relative major key, used in the second subject.
- The whole 9th is built on tension between the major and minor modes, so hammering down the minor 3rd is quite an effective way of saying who's boss.

Any other interesting examples?

[Peter]

The cadenza to the piano version (op.61a) of the Violin concerto makes highly original use of timpani. The close of the Emperor concerto where the music slows to nothing with a slow tapping of the rhythm on the timpani and the ingenious enharmonic passage in the 1st movt of the 4th symphony in the development just before the recapitulation with the strings playing an A#, but the timpani Bb.

[susanwen]

I love the use of timpani in the second movement of the Ninth.

[Delirious Lab]

(...) and the ingenious enharmonic passage in the 1st movt of the 4th symphony in the development just before the recapitulation with the strings playing an A#, but the timpani Bb.

I hadn't noticed that one...I listened to it again, and was immediately reminded of the slow movement of the 9th where he pulls away from F#7 to B flat (instead of B natural), just before the third occurrence of the main theme, but sans timpani this time. Same harmonic trick, and yet so different!

[Enrique]

You say just before the section that begins in E flat major, don't you? So, F#-A-C-E flat seems to go to B-D-F# but instead goes to B flat-D-F-A flat, V of E flat. Something marvelous will now happen and will no longer leave us until the movement ends. I could never detect both timpani playing in fifths in the last bar. I specially like those passages in the first movement with pedals on the trumpets and timpani, with ties from weak to strong on the trumpets. Best wishes,

Enrique.

[Delirious Lab]

No, I mean just after that. The E flat passage quickly modulates to C flat major***, the horn plays its big ascending scale, and the pizzicato strings exchange triplets on G-flat 7***, at last finding B-flat major and soaring into the big variation in 12/8.

(*** enharmonic with B and F#7 respectively. I wrote my previous post with my ear only. I've looked at the score since then...)

[Enrique]

Oh, I see. Your examples on the use of the kettledrums on degrees other than I and V of the fundamental key were very good. Beethoven has written a passage for solo timpano and string accompaniment in the 5th symphony (3rd mov., C). In the 9th, 2nd mov, the section in ritmo di tre battute, the descendent octaves in the timpani are heard on the first "batutta" for four consecutive times, but the next time they're heard in the second batutta, creating a curious effect.

In the passage in the 5th piano concerto mentioned in this thread (3rd, finale), the timpani make the atmosphere magic. And the beginning of the violin concerto must be highly original with respect to masterworks written before it. I don't know but it is certainly one of the most impressive openings I know, besides the two first bars of the 3rd symphony. It is impressive because it's so mysterious and immediately contrasted by the lyricism of the 1st theme.

[Hofrat]

Dragonetti's bass is on display in the British museum. Its bridge has 3 strings.