Dresdner Apparatebau Timpani The original Dresden drum
By Jim Atwood
I
n the spring of 1937, Oscar Schwar, timpanist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, gave gave his star timpani student at the Curtis Institute some valuable career advice: “If you want to be a success in this business, business, you
must buy the very best instruments instr uments available available.” .” So a young Cloyd Duff set about acquiring his first set of timpani, a pair of Dresdner Apparatebau pedal timpani. In addition, Duff purchased a matching pair of Anheier cable-tuned drums for the two outside drums.
Cloyd Duff’s Duff ’s Dresdner Apparatebau timpani, by Jähne & Boruvka, 1938. PERCUSSIVE NOTES
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W
ith Schwar handling all the details of correspondence to Germany, many, the instr uments were ordered and paid for, with a long wait ahead for the drums’ arrival by transatlantic steamer. Several months later, four wooden crates arrived at customs in Philadelphia. Inside, packed in straw, were all the drums—ready for final assembly! It would turn out to be the last set of these instruments shipped to the United States until long after the end of World War II. They would be the Dresden timpani that Duff would use exclusively for over over three decades. The choice of instruments was not a difficult one. The timpani, manufactured then by Jähne and Boruvka, were in use in all of the leading concert halls of Europe and many in the United States. A list of orchestras supplied as references by the company in 1938 lists over over 60 orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories using the Dresdner Apparatebau instruments, including orchestras in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Cincinnati. Heinrich Knauer, the renowned timpanist of the Dresden State Opera, writes in a testimonial letter in 1925: “Your instruments are the most perfect timpani made today.” The 1881 invention of Carl Pittrich’s ratchet and pawl pedal system, first conceived as a bolt-on device for the PfundtHoffman machine screw timpani, has been thoroughly documented by Edmund Edmund Bowles, most recently in his book The Timpani (Pendragon (Pendragon Press, 2002). What a reader might not appreciate, however, however, is that the early history of the Dresden drum and the history of the Dresdner Apparatebau timpani are practically one and the same. Pittrich’s pedal device, device, and later a complete instrument, was manufactured in Dresden by Ernst Queisser. Queisser. The machine shop of Queisser then came under the ownership of Paul Focke & Co., a major seller of percussion instruments in Dresden. Jähne and Boruvka would take over the manufacturing, turning from the manufacture of “Fliehkraftregler” for shipbuilding to full-time production of timpani and percussion instruments around 1909, ultimately using the trade name Dresdner Apparatebau. In 1945, the company changed hands, and the post-war Dresdner Apparatebau nameplate carried the name of the new owners, with the same company address: Spenke & Metzl, Dresden-N6, 27–29 Leipziger Str. Interestingly enough, in Focke’s Focke’s Orchester Schlag-Instrumente catalog catalog of 1914, there is no mention whatsoever of the
term “Dresden” to describe any of the timpani shown. Yet, Yet, in the United States in 1911, the widely used Modern School of Timpani Playing by by Fred Sietz included the now familiar engraving shown in the Focke catalog (the same one that appeared in the original edition of Saul Goodman’s Goodman’s timpani method) with a caption that read, “Portable Machine Tympani, With Pedal, Made in Dresden, Germany.” It’s likely that this was the first time in the U.S. that a pedal drum was pictured along with a reference to its manufacture in Dresden. There are many modern instruments being manufactured today that timpanists would identify as Dresden-type timpani, yet even with the innovations that have appeared over the years, all these timpani still have characteristics in common with the very earliest Dresden drums. Think of it as part of their “DNA”: a heavy cast base, cast “Y” braces holding a support ring in which hangs a suspended bowl, long tuning pins reaching down below t he bowl to the “spider” (sometimes called the “star” in Europe), a locking pedal mechanism that moves a rocker arm under the base (a mechanical engineer would describe this as a Class-2 Lever system), with head tension also adjusted by a master screw/fine tuner (the adjustable fulcrum of the lever system). During my first lesson with Cloyd Duff in the fall of 1970, I asked him, very much in the manner of a young drummer asking his rock star idol about his drumkit, “What kind of timpani do you play?” His answer was short and sweet: “Dres-
dens—the original Dresdens.” Of course, I had no idea what he meant. But he made it sound like such a venerable and honored instrument that I knew they must be very special. Years later, while on tours in Europe, I had a chance to see and play on many sets of these instruments. The sound, with both calf and plastic heads, was uniquely beautiful, and so I became determined to have a set someday. someday. The oppor tunity finally came in 1993. The instruments had belonged to Jack Moore, timpanist with the Minnesota Orchestra for many years. The set is just like Duff ’s: two Dresdner Apparate bau pedal drums plus two Anheier cable drums. As much as I enjoy playing these instruments now, I can’t honestly say that it was love at first sight (first play?), but more about that later. later. Jack Moore was Duff’s first protégé— his star student at Oberlin College—and a wonderful timpanist. Moore’s choice of instruments years ago would ultimately make it possible for me to have a set. And in a quirk of luck and slick planning on Duff’s part, Moore also made it possible for Oberlin College to acquire a set; Duff wanted to have original Dresden instruments for Oberlin, but restrictions on imports from East Germany during the Cold War years had made it impossible. However, However, opportunity knocked in Moore’s junior year when he was scheduled to study abroad for a year. Duff cleverly arranged for Moore to take delivery of a set of new Spenke Dresdens in Salz burg. He used the drums there in his studies and performances for the year, and
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precision. Most timpanists using these instruments cite the uniqueness of the bowls as the key to the drums’ special sound. As beautifully made as these instruments were, there were several anomalies in the design of the mechanics. For instance, the master screw works smoothly, smoothly, but it is threaded directly through the base casting. In the most modern Dresden drums, the master screw passes through a barrel nut, which is set into the base. The barrel nut allows for some small movement of the long master screw rod towards or away from the kettle and supporting strut, and also permits some minor lateral repositioning tioning of the end of the screw rod to ensure that it mates perfectly with the end of the rocker arm below. But the old Dresden drum’s master screw, screw, with its large square-cut threads, is quite firmly From the 1914 catalog of Paul Focke & Co., Dresden, fixed in place. Germany Another curiosity is the then was allowed to bring them into the choice of mechanism to apply moving U.S. as “used instruments.” That set is force to the rocker arm; a lever-on-lever still in use at Oberlin today, today, and Mike mechanism was used instead of today’s Rosen says they’re still fantastic instrumore common cam. A rotating cam proments and sound great in the orchestra. duces smoothness of operation in addiMechanically, Mechanically, the Dresdner Apparatetion to several other advantages: the bau timpani show all the characteristics profile of the cam can be machined in one would expect from an instrument different ways to produce more or less crafted in Germany: very close tolerancmovement during different parts of the es, attention to detail, and workmanship pedal travel—for instance, spreading out and materials of the highest order. One notes in the low register or smoothing out of the most visually distinctive features of the force required for the highest notes. A the instruments is the appearance of the cam also has a damping effect against the bowl—what looks like a “leopard skin” backpressure of the head’s tension against pattern hammered into the reddish finish the pedal, contributing to the feeling of of the bowl. We’ve grown used to seeing smoothness and control. timpani with shiny, polished copper timThe pedal timpani developed by the pani bowls, but the old Dresdner Appatimpanist Hans Schnellar in Vienna at the ratebau bowls were sealed with a flat red same time as the Dresden instruments finish that matched the color of the used a cam, as shown in the photo of the frame. A final hammering done over this pedal mechanism of the Amsterdam finish left contrasting glossy hammer Concertgebouw’s Schnellar drums. The marks and gave the bowls a textured original Dresden drums used a short lever look—the “leopard skin” appearance. welded onto the end of the pedal rod, reThese three-piece bowls, thin bowls by sulting in a compound lever system that today’s today’s standards, were hand made by the had, as its primary benefit, tremendous same master coppersmith for decades. He mechanical advantage. But with no passed on the techniques and traditions damping effect in the mechanism, the so that, after his death in 1963, the bowls pedals always felt very “springy.” Also, were still made with the same care and on a cold, dry day when calf heads are
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tight, the pedal forces needed to get, say, a high F on the 26-inch drum are considerable. (Among all the old and assorted paraphernalia I found in the trunks when I acquired my instruments, were several three-inch square soft rubber pads. I quickly figured out that these were to be placed under the feet of the drums when needed to keep them from sliding under the pedals when the heads were dry and tight.) And so, on to the most obvious ques-
Spenke master screw, threaded through the base casting.
Spenke mechanism with lever working against the rocker arm.
Schnellar mechanism with machined cam pushing rocker arm.
tions: What about the sound of these instruments? What is it like to play these timpani? The individual sound of any timpani are difficult to describe in the best of circumstances, but on the written page, it’s somewhat like trying to describe the subtleties of a fragrance. But here’s a try at it. First impressions: an exceptionally warm sound; very clear and immediate pitch with a prominent fundamental; and curiously, curiously, what seems like a rather quick decay, decay, which took some getting used to. My experience has always been that a set of timpani sounds its most impressive from the player’s position; sitting at the drums basking in the wash of the sound of the timpani is an experience all timpanists love. love. So, I was surprised to find that my Spenke instruments are precisely the opposite: At the instrument, the sound is not—how to say this?—big and ringing and “rich.” But heard at a distance, the sound has a very beautiful “bloom” and a rich singing tone with a sustained cellolike warmth. (Is this beginning to sound a little like a wine tasting?) Tom Freer reports the same experience with a pair of Spenke drums during a year playing with the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm, Sweden: “They sounded okay while you were playing them, but out in the hall and on recordings they really sounded fantastic.” Peter Kogan, timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra, describes the sound of the instruments as being darker than most drums, with a lovely blending quality in the orchestra and a consistently great sound, regardless of the dynamic. Says Kogan, “You can’t overplay these drums, they just always sound pretty.” The presence of the fundamental pitch in the sound at all dynamic levels is extraordinarily strong, with so much resonance reinforcing the pitch, that producing a big, sustained roll sound seems effortless. With this big warm, singing sound, it’s hard to imagine a drum better suited for the core 19th-century Romantic repertoire. But there’s a flip side to this: articulation is always a challenge. Playing something like a Beethoven symphony requires, at most, three pairs of sticks: hard, harder, and hardest. During my studies with Duff, I remember him saying that for the recording sessions of the Haydn symphonies, symphonies, he had to use small mufflers on the heads because there just wasn’t wasn’t a stick hard enough, including wood, to produce the articulation Szell wanted. For the recording session of Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamor phosis,” phosis,” he said that after the first take he had to
Dresdner Apparatebau timpani by Spenke & Metzl from late 1950’s. 1950’s.
Later Spenke drums with “Schwingpedal,” player-side player-side ne tuning and polished bowls. quickly come up with a more articulate pair of sticks for the solo passages in the “Turandot Scherzo” movement. His solution was to take his pair of Oscar Schwar’s wood mallets and sew on a very thin layer of felt in a ball covering. They turned out to be so perfect for this passage that he kept the sticks with the original, hurriedly sewn covering for the rest of his career, using them only when “Symphonic Metamorphosis” turned up on the schedule again. And there’s one other quality that, in my experience, is unique and that I can perhaps best illustrate with a story from a concert week 15 years ag o, during my first season using these drums. The conductor was Raymond Leppard and the piece was Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Symphony, the “Little Russian.” The second movement has a very nice timpani part that starts with two measures of solo timpani, just straight quarter notes on E-flat and B-flat as a bass-line ostinato introducing
the woodwind march t heme. It’s marked pp, pp, and so I played it softly, enjoying the sound of the calf heads floating out into the hall. “Too loud!” Leppard said immediately. This quarter-note timpani motif keeps returning throughout the movement, which finally ends with this quiet timpani ostinato. During the first rehearsal, I kept getting shushed at every entrance, so I f inally did what any self-respecting smartaleck timpanist would do: I proceeded to just barely touch the heads. “Perfect!” he says. Of course, I didn’t believe it for a moment; at the dynamic I was playing, it surely had to be inaudible. After the first performance, I dashed upstairs and gave a quick listen to the local NPR station’s broadcast tape, and I could hardly hardly believe my ears: that near-invisible dynamic was just right. I soon came to appreciate that these instruments always have have an extraordinary “presence” when playing softly.
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included an ingeeconomy of the German Democratic nious new caster Republic. It was expropriated by the system. Add to this government government and renamed VEB Schlaginthe fact that when strumentenbau Dresden. the Ringer instruIn addition to manufacturing manufacturing timpani, ments began ap both pedal and machine machine drums, Spenke pearing, most of & Metzl also produced a full line of the original Dresorchestral percussion instruments that den drums had carried the Dresdner Apparatebau name been in use for plate, including orchestral snare drums twenty years or (with a seamless shell, still very highly more. Comparing regarded instruments), field dr ums, the instruments concert bass drums, xylophones, bells, side by side, Ringer chimes, and glockenspiels. After the drums with their government government expropriation, a completely deep, polished new model of timpani was introduced, bowls and chrome chrome which, in look and feel seemed to be plating everysomething of a synthesis of Ringer, Ringer, where, next to a Ludwig, and Premier instruments rather decades-old Dresthan what one would recognize as a new den drum with generation of Dresden timpani. This Dresdner Apparatebau yer, 1925 painted bowls and redesigned instrument was never really The ever-present strong fundamental in aging nickel plate, accepted by timpanists. Like so many of the sound dominates even at the softest must have been like looking at a new the government’s “People-Owned Endynamics. Mercedes sitting next to an old Volkswaterprises,” the company slowly entered Dresdner Apparatebau timpani contin- gen. Ringer timpani soon became the a downward spiral from which it never ued to evolve slowly in the tumultuous German instrument of choice throughrecovered. It was closed in 1990. political and economic times following out Europe. Here in the United States, the past few the end of World War II. But the biggest Staying competitive in the years have seen a renewed interest in the threat in the near term would not be the marketplace is a challenge for any older, original Dresden instruments. I receive a vagaries of the East German economy, economy, established enterprise; but for a company steady trickle of e-mails from timpanists but a perfectionist engineer engineer in West West Berin East Germany trying to compete asking for information about my instrulin named Günter Ringer. with instrument makers in the rapidly ments and looking for sources of used Ringer’s goal was to manufacture the expanding post-war economy of West instruments in Europe. Europe. I know of several finest German timpani ever made, using Germany was a daunting task. All the original Dresden design as a starting privately owned manufacpoint. As Ringer’s instruments (and latturers in the East er, Aehnelt’s) entered the marketplace, were plagued Spenke & Metzl’s advertising slogan be by shortages came, “Often Imitated, Never Duplicatof capital and ed.” Unfortunately, this was only partly raw materitrue. The unique sound sound of the original als. Dresdner Dresden drums would never be matched Apparatebau by the newcomers, newcomers, but but the looks and the was using several mechanics were another matter. Not pieces of machinonly did Ringer imitate imitate the look of the ery that had been original Dresdens, Dresdens, but he copied them in service since 1900, with such precision that many of the and the production machined components were completely building still had damage damage interchangeable. His meticulously redefrom the war that had nevsigned instruments were aimed squarely squarely er been repaired. In 1968 at updating the old Dresdner Apparatea major, three-year mod bau timpani. His design was was built ernization of the Spenke around a pedal system that had first ap& Metzl plant was begun peared in Germany decades earlier: a under the direction of the leg-operated pedal action with playernew general manager, side fine-tuning. Ringer’s Ringer’s instruments Wolf-Dietrich Poralla. had a new, heavier spider and a cast-steel Unfortunately, the rewards base made with a channel channel that enclosed from the heroic reorganization and protected the moving parts of the efforts of Paul Spenke and PoPorocker arm, lever, and fine tuner. ralla were short-lived. In April, 1972, The range of the instrument was drathe company matically extended, there were multiple fell victim to The last model manufactured by Dresdner Apparatebau (1970s), redeadjustments for the tuning indicator link- the centralsigned with new frame, a clutch and post pedal mechanism, a solid age and the pedal position, and the drum ized, planned plate replacing the spider, and a tuning indicator connected by cable. PERCUSSIVE NOTES
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sets that have recently been brought into me, along with the U.S., U.S., and another couple of sets that several other are being completely restored in Europe. catalogs from Despite a few mechanical quirks and the pre-war Germany, overall overall “old fashioned-ness” about them, by William C. they still have an absolutely unique and Hall. Over a 25 beautiful sound. For For proof, one only only year period, Hall need listen to any of the reissued Cleveimported many land Orchestra recordings with Szell instruments from conducting and Cloyd Duff playing Europe through timpani: the perfect marriage of a master the port of New timpanist playing on a set of these clasOrleans, Orleans, including sic old German instruments. instruments. one of the first In his testimonial letter, letter, Heinrich pairs of Ringer Knauer praises the design and contimpani brought struction of the timpani and goes on to into the U.S. (price say that these drums have a “beautiful for that first pair, sound” with unlimited potential. Knauer including shipcloses his letter with the pronouncement, ping: $746!). Hall “It is the duty of my all colleagues to use was also Walter the best timpani available.” These venerLight’s first busiable instruments met that standard in ness partner in 1925, and for many, they still do today. the Denver-Dresden Tympani CREDITS Company, supI am deeply indebted to Wolf-Dietrich plying him with Poralla, the last general manager of a 26-inch Spenke Dresdner Apparatebau, for generously drum from which sharing his knowledge of the company’s to model his first history with me, and to Ingo Deul for instruments. The his help with German translations. translations. The photos of instruKnauer letter and the Dresdner Apments in this arparatebau advertising flyer came to me ticle were all taken Testimonial letter for Dresdner Apparatebau timpani from Heinrich Knauer, 1925. from William Hanley, who found them, by me, me, most while Knauer, along with a treasure trove of advertison tour, skulking ing flyers for old German instruments, instruments, around in the storage rooms and baseana Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches in the back of an old timpani trunk that ments of European concert halls when percussion at Loyola University. He is had been donated to his orchestra. Ron I should have been spending my time the director of the Cloyd Duff Timpani Carlisle was kind enough to make archisightseeing. Masterclass held every June at the Conval scans of that material for me. me. The servatory of Music, University of MisJim Atwood is timpanist of the LouisiPaul Focke & Co. catalog was given to souri at Kansas City. PN
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