| Fig. 3.—Medieval Kettledrums, 14th century. (Brit. Museum.) |
As in the case of the trumpet, the use of the kettledrum was placed under great restrictions in Germany and France and to some extent in England, but it was used in churches with the trumpet.[16] No French or German regiment was allowed kettledrums unless they had been captured from the enemy, and the timbalier or the Heerpauker on parade, in reviews and marches generally, rode at the head of the squadron; in battle his position was in the wings. In England, before the Restoration, only the Guards were allowed kettledrums, but after the accession of James II. every regiment of horse was provided with them.[17] Before the Royal Regiment of Artillery was established, the master-general of ordnance was responsible for the raising of trains of artillery. Among his retinue in time of war were a trumpeter and kettledrummer. The kettledrums were mounted on a chariot drawn by six white horses. They appeared in the field for the first time in a train of artillery during the Irish rebellion of 1689, and the charges for ordnance include the item, “large kettledrums mounted on a carriage with cloaths marked I.R. and cost £158, 9s.”[18] A model of the kettledrums with their carriage which accompanied the duke of Marlborough to Holland in 1702 is preserved in the Rotunda Museum at Woolwich. The kettledrums accompanied the Royal Artillery train in the Vigo expedition and during the campaign in Flanders in 1748. Macbean[19] states that they were mounted on a triumphal car ornamented and gilt, bearing the ordnance flag and drawn by six white horses. The position of the car on march was in front of the flag gun, and in camp in front of the quarters of the duke of Cumberland with the artillery guns packed round them. The kettledrummer had by order “to mount the kettledrum carriage every night half an hour before the sun sett and beat till gun fireing.” In 1759 the kettledrums ceased to form part of the establishment of the Royal Artillery, and they were deposited, together with their carriage, in the Tower, at the same time as a pair captured at Malplaquet in 1709. These Tower drums were frequently borrowed by Handel for performances of his oratorios.
The kettledrums still form part of the bands of the Life Guards and other cavalry regiments.
(K. S.)
[1] From “drum” and “kettle,” a covered metal vessel for boiling water or other liquid; the O.E. word is cetel, cf. Du. ketel, Ger. Kessel, borrowed from Lat. catillus, dim. of catinus, bowl.
[2] This rhythmical use of kettledrums was characteristic of the military instrument of percussion, rather than the musical member of the orchestra. During the middle ages and until the end of the 18th century, the two different notes obtainable from the pair of kettledrums were probably used more as a means of marking and varying the rhythm than as musical notes entering into the composition of the harmonies. The kettledrums, in fact, approximated to the side drums in technique. The contrast between the purely rhythmical use of kettledrums, given above, and the more modern musical use is well exemplified by the well-known solo for four kettledrums in Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable, beginning thus—
[3] See Wilhelm Kleefeld, Das Orchester der Hamburger Oper (1678-1738); Internationale Musikgesellschaft, Sammelband i. 2, p. 278 (Leipzig, 1899).
[4] See J. Georges Kastner, Méthode complète et raisonnée de timbales (Paris), p. 19, where several of the early mechanical kettledrums are described and illustrated.