THE ROLE OF TURKISH PERCUSSION IN THE HISTORY AND ...

Early works that precede the use of a full Turkish percussion section, 5 yet set the stage
for compositions to be more fully discussed in this study include Strungk’s opera Esther (bass
drum, cymbals, 1680), Freschi’s opera Berenice (cymbals, 1680), André Modeste Grétry’s
operas La fausse magie (cymbals, triangle, 1775), Lucille (triangle, 1783) and La Caravane
du Caire (triangle, tambourine, 1783), Christopher Gluck’s opera Echo and Narcissus
(tambourine, 1779), Wolfgang A. Mozart’s “Turkish March” from Piano Sonata in A, K331
(bass drum, cymbals, 1778) and German Dances, K571 (cymbals, tambourine, sleigh bells,
1787), and Francois Boieldieu’s opera Le Calife de Bagdad (triangles, 1800). Each of these
compositions uses one or more Turkish percussion instruments. Most notable within these
compositions is Strungk’s experimental use of Turkish cymbals and Freschi’s use of the bass
drum and cymbals in their opera orchestras, both in 1680. Further distinctions include
Grétry’s first orchestral use of the triangle in operas such as La fausse magie and Lucile.
Christoph Willibald Gluck, in Echo and Narcissus (1779), and Grétry, in La Caravane du
Caire, included an improvised part for tambourine.
Composers maintained a consistent usage of Turkish percussion instruments during
the initial period of their use: a strongly marked downbeat, fast, repeated-note pulsations on
the triangle, and cymbals that reinforced the strong tonic accent, along with the bass drum.
When the Turkish crescent was used, it also reinforced the tonic accent. Composers generally
reserved the use of percussion (and trumpets) for the loudest movement in a composition,
meaning the first and last movements of a symphony, or the overture and finale of an opera. 6
5 bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and sometimes the tambourine.
6 Carse, The Orchestra in the XVIIIth Century (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons Ltd., 1940), 139.
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