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History of the Viennese TimpaniHans Schnellar« back | continue history »  Hans Schnellar (1865-1945) To Prof. Hans Schnellar (1865-1945) we owe the invention of the Viennese Timpani. For a detailed description of the principle of construction please follow this link to the description of product. Schnellar who sought to find the ideal sound of the timpani sounding similar to the timpani used during Viennese classical period and romanticism cooperated closely with the professors for acoustics of the technical university and designed a completely new principle of the skin tension. The material of his extensive researches was lost with the bombardment of his apartment in the Heinrichshof vis-à-vis the Viennese State Opera. His instruments, however were preserved and are in the possession of the Viennese State Opera, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam which owns the worldwide biggest collection of Schnellar timpani. Schnellar was a solo timpanist of the Zurich Tonhalle orchestra during the 1889-1893 years which resided at that time still in the old concert hall on the Sechseläute place in Zurich.
After one guest's year in the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam…  Concertgebouw Amsterdam ...he came to Vienna at invitation of Hans Richters where he remained a solo timpanist of the Viennese State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic until 1932.
Above all, it's because of Gustav Mahler´s predilection for Schnellar´s timpani that they became world famous. ;) Gustav Mahler symphony No. 7 - Rondo Finale (Click to hear sound sample)
At the start of his chief place with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Mahler insisted on the purchase of two pair of Schnellar timpani. Also he tried to get Schnellar as a solo timpanist to New York. The relevant correspondence is located in the New York Philharmonic Library. « back | continue history » |
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