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

Gluck’s use of cymbals for special effects in Iphigénia en Aulide (Figure 11) excited
the often-critical Hector Berlioz. He wrote, “Never has there been a finer effect of cymbals
produced, than in the chorus of Scythians: ‘Les dieux,’ in Gluck’s Iphigénia en Aulide.” 8
Here the cymbals play a steady quarter note rhythm that accents the eighth note pattern played
by the bass drum and string basses. Gluck later scored cymbals with snare drums to create a
barbaric tone symbolic of the central character, Iphigénia, who must cut the throat of her
murderous brother. In a letter sent from Paris in 1822, Berlioz wrote to his sister, Nanci:
Short of actually fainting, I couldn’t have felt stronger emotions that I did
seeing Gluck’s masterpiece Iphigénia en Aulide. . . I defy the most insensitive
human being not to be profoundly moved . . . 9
In the above musical excerpt from Berlioz’s A Treatise Upon Modern Instrumentation
and Orchestration (1858), the bass drum part is written in notational shorthand that is still
seen today in some printed percussion parts. A slash is placed on the stem of a note, or series
of notes, denoting the composer’s intent to divide the duration of the original note into
repeated eighth notes whose composite value is equal in length to that of the printed note. A
second slash on a note’s stem would indicate repeated sixteenth notes were intended. 10 In this
instance, a single slash printed on each half note denotes a steady eighth note rhythm to be
played on the bass drum. This example marked “Allegro” shows only downward stemmed
notes, suggesting that Gluck most likely desired the use of two wooden beaters in place of a
single beater and a ruthe. Berlioz is equally impressed by Gluck’s individualistic use of the
8 Hector Berlioz, A Treatise Upon Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration, 2d ed., trans. Mary Cowden
Clarke (London: J. Alfred Novello, 1858), 226.
9
Macdonald, Hugh, ed., Selected Letters of Berlioz. Translated by Roger Nichols. (New York: W. W. Norton
and Company, 1995), 5-6.
10
A tremolo, sometimes called a trill or roll, is denoted by three slashes on a note. Such notation was not
common in this era.
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