of the technical advances in stick production, head and bowl construction,
playing style, and the availability of appropriate sized drums, composers
in the eighteenth century could effectively use the timpani in their compo-
sitions. The development of the timpani in these periods suggests that tim-
panists should treat their instruments as tonal as well as rhythmical in-
struments. Using covered mallets is certainly permissible in the proper
orchestral context.
Technical Considerations in Interpreting Baroque Music
The author does not purpose to engage in a discussion of the relative bene-
fits of performing with period instruments or modern-day timpani. Con-
ductors bring with them predilections about how Baroque music should
be played. Their understanding of the Baroque style and performance
practices of the day shape their conception of the music to be performed.
For that reason, it is helpful for timpanists to be conversant with advances
in Baroque musical notation and performance practices.
Timpanists are aware that there are a number of musical issues in Ba-
roque music deserving careful thought: double-dotting, articulation, phras-
ing, dynamics, accents, and the treatment of mood or emotion. More nar-
rowly, timpanists are concerned with the notation of rolls, writing parts,
and improvisation. Double-dotting notes was not uncommon in the Ba-
roque. Double-dotting simply extended the length of the note by one-half.
The purpose of the double-dotting was to provide a degree of exhilaration
that could not be obtained by playing the part as written. Where com-
posers did not double-dot their parts, it was left to the musicians to
double-dot in the appropriate circumstance (Quantz 1966, 67; L. Mozart
1951, 157–158). Most dotted notes were not lengthened by “adding an-
other dot,” according to musical scholar, Robert Donington. Notes could
be double-dotted if there were enough dotted notes in a consistent rhyth-
mic pattern, and if the double-dotting would not make the music sluggish.
For the timpanist, the opening movement of Handel’s Royal Fireworks pro-
vides a good example of the appropriate use of double-dotting. In the first
forty-three measures of this movement, double-dotting the quarter note
can lengthen it. This example meets Donington’s three double-dotting cri-
teria. First, there are enough dotted quarter notes to establish a consistent
rhythmic pattern. Second, the notes are part of a distinctive rhythmic pat-
tern. In fact, this pattern dominates the first forty-three measures of this
movement. Finally, while it might be argued that double-dotting these
notes might slow the piece down, double-dotting them definitely gives the
part the nobility that Handel desires. But a double-dot would not be added
to measures 9 and 10 of the La Rejouissance. Donington’s second condi-
tion is not satisfied: these two measures are not part of a distinctive rhyth-
mic pattern characterizing the music (Donington 1974, 380–381, 386).
Related to double-dotting is the issue of two against three rhythms.
During the Baroque it is not unusual to find two against three rhythms.
Interpretation of Baroque Music 69
