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

triangle as seen in Figure 12. Though scored predictably to play an eighth note pattern,
Gluck’s experimental use of the triangle in combination with strings, bassoon, and horns
rather than the expected bass drum and cymbals marks a significant departure from the
triangle’s previous role in Turkish music.
Figure 12. Gluck’s use of triangle in Iphigénia en Aulide. Reprinted from Hector Berlioz,
Treatise On Instrumentation, Revised by Richard Strauss. Translated by Theodore Front.
(New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, 1948), 229
Mozart, in Die Entführung as dem Serial, and Haydn, in the “Military” Symphony,
were both careful to reproduce the performance practices of the bass drummers of the period
who struck one head of the instrument with a beater and the other head with the ruthe. 11
Downward stems denote the notes played by the beater; notes to be played by the ruthe are
shown with upward stems. In Figure 13, the parts for the bass drum and cymbals are
generally the same, scored to be played by both instruments simultaneously. When parts for
bass drum and cymbals differ, the cymbals play quarter notes to accentuate the eighth-note
11 The ruthe could be used to strike the shell of the drum rather than the head.
30