Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 248
Scan 248
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
14 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 228. See the scan on archive.org.
1XII.
3CLASS—INSTRUMENTS OF PERCUSSION.
5THE employment of instruments of percussion appears to date from very remote times. Instruments of this kind are now usually classified as follows:—
7(1) Those of definite sonorousness, such as harmonica and kettledrums.
9(2) Those of indefinite sonorousness, such as the large drum (grosse caisse) and the side drum (caisse claire) used in the orchestra, or in military bands; also cymbals, triangles, sistra, &c.
11The introduction of the drum to Europe has frequently been attributed to the Moors, who are said to have brought it from the East with other musical instruments. Whether this idea can be accepted as correct is extremely doubtful. It is, nevertheless, certain that the drum was used in Germany from very early times, and it seems more than probable that the use of this instrument was first adopted by the Romans, from the East, and carried by their conquests into different countries of Europe, whence it became generally adopted. That we must look to the East for the real origin of the drum appears absolutely certain; for the earliest civilization was of course Eastern, and the old sculptures—Assyrian, Egyptian, and Indian—prove beyond doubt the ancient popularity of the instrument, and many varieties of drums are described in Sanskrit musical treatises of early date.
13In England the drum appears to have been early adopted, and it had different forms. The earliest reference to the use of the "big drum" in this country appears in Froissart, who states that it was used at the entry of King Edward III. into Calais in 1347, and subsequent to this year its use seems to have been adopted in France. Upon the stalls of the Cathedral at Rouen, which date from 1467, is an interesting representation of the instrument. Froissart mentions another variety of drum which he calls nacaire. Now naqqareh is the word still employed in Arabia, Persia, and India for drums,
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