Ever since kettledrums, or timpani, were brought to Europe in the 15th century, they have played a vital role is orchestral music that has carried through to the twenty-first century. Timpani were very important to composers, who used them to provide the orchestra with a fuller sound. Composers, who first started writing for the original form of this instrument, were frustrated with the limitations imposed on it by its inability to make rapid pitch changes. This deficit eventually led to the invention of machine timpani. The timpani of the eighteenth century, along with the repertoire written for it by orchestral composers, underwent many changes over time.
With the introduction of kettledrums to fifteenth Europe by the Ottoman Turks, kettledrums, along with military drums, became associated with the educated upper class, which included high-ranking military officers ("Timpani: An Introspective Look" by Domenico E. Zarro, Percussive Notes June 1998; 57-60). However, during the eighteenth century, it became acceptable for lower class Europeans to play them. Around this time, only 31% of European orchestras were paying percussionists as regular members of their orchestras because percussionists, as well as trumpeters, were associated more with the military than the orchestra. Orchestras infrequently played repertoire that included the military drum, timpani, or trumpet, and on those occasions highly skilled military musicians were called to sit in on the piece. Eighteenth century orchestral music usually used trumpets and the military drum for the loudest movements, usually the first and last, and were played hand in hand with each other (Hong, 115-129).
Even though using timpani as an orchestral instrument took root in the works of Bach and Handel in early eighteenth century music, the usage of timpani declined in the middle of the eighteenth century. This was largely due to the fact that many composers became frustrated with the limited usage of timpani and its tuning inabilities, and therefore chose to stop writing for it altogether.
