Percussion Ensemble - Early Literature

Early Literature

George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique (1923) is one of the earliest examples of composition for percussion, written originally as a film score and exemplifying the ideals of the Italian futurist movement. Antheil originally called for sixteen synchronized player pianos, as well as airplane engines, alongside more traditional percussion instruments. Another early example, Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán’s Ritmicas nos. 5 and 6 of 1930, made use of Cuban percussion instruments and rhythms. But it was Edgard Varèse’s Ionisation that “opened the floodgates” and truly brought the percussion ensemble into the fold of contemporary composition. Premiered in 1933 under the baton of Nicholas Slonimsky, Ionisation is thematically structured and makes use of 13 performers playing over 30 different instruments, including Latin percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, sirens, a piano, chimes and glockenspiel.

Other noteworthy pieces were composed during the 1930s and 40s, particularly on the West Coast of America by composers Henry Cowell, John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Johanna Beyer. Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo of 1934 was a great contrast to the cacophony of Ionisation. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage’s First Construction (in Metal) and Harrison’s Canticle no. 1. Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, written in 1937, was also an important piece for the development of percussion composition. The early 1940s resulted in Cage’s second (1940) and third (1941) Constructions, Harrison’s Fugue for Percussion (1941), as well as Cage and Harrison’s collaboration Double Music (1941). Carlos Chávez’s Toccata (1942) has also remained a standard work. Cage’s Amores of 1943 marked the end of the initial burst of compositional activity for the percussion ensemble.