Große Trommel

As Printed on a Score

The German name on bass-drum staves (Große Trommel, Grosse Trommel; Gr. Tr. later). It often shares a staff with the cymbals (Becken); in Mahler, von Einem geschlagen (struck by one player) means a single player handles both, with a cymbal mounted on the drum.

Abbreviations: Gr. Tr., Gr. Tromm., Gr. Trommel, Gr.Tr.

Also spelled: Grosse Trommel

How Composers Use It

The German name changes nothing about the instrument: a deep, unpitched boom that adds weight to tuttis and, rolled softly, a distant thunder. Mahler’s funeral march revives the military-band pairing of bass drum and attached cymbal struck by one player. Specify beaters — a soft beater, a hard one, or a Rute of twigs — and, for short strokes, how the drum should be damped.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement (Trauermarsch), cymbal staff, m. 268: “Gr. Tr.” beside “von Einem geschlagen.” (struck by one player); Mahler’s footnote at m. 111 has the cymbal fixed to the drum “nach militärischer Art”.

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