Triangel

As Printed on a Score

The German name on triangle staves (Triangel; Triang. or Trgl. later), on a single line. Rolls are written as tremolo or tr.; single strokes ring unless damped.

Abbreviations: Triang., Trgl.

How Composers Use It

Writing Triangel rather than Triangolo is a matter of the score’s language; the instrument is the same high, penetrating ring of no definite pitch. German Romantic scores use it for brilliance at climaxes and for lighter, dance-like music; Brahms keeps it for a single symphonic movement, the third of his Fourth Symphony, where it adds glitter to the festive Allegro giocoso.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, second movement, staff label: “Triangel.”, printed in full on later systems as well.

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