Editing Triangle (musical instrument) (section)

== History ==


[[File:Lastman, Pieter - Orestes and Pylades Disputing at the Altar (detail triangle player).jpg|thumb|right|200px|A 1614 painting by [[Pieter Lastman]] depicts a musical triangle.]]
[[Iconography]] is the primary source for knowledge of the history of the triangle, and provides insight into the musical and social context in which the instrument developed.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Berry |first=Mark |url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1018405394 |title=Index of Triangle Iconography |publisher=Living Sound Publications |year=2017|oclc=1018405394 }}</ref> Some scholars{{Who|date=April 2023}} believe the triangle to be a direct descendant of the ancient Egyptian [[sistrum]]. Others{{Who|date=April 2023}} do not go quite so far, referring to the triangle as being "allied" with the sistrum throughout history, but not a direct descendant.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=James |first=Blades |url=https://archive.org/details/percussioninstru00jame |title=Percussion Instruments and Their History |date=1992 |publisher=Bold Strummer |isbn=0933224710 |edition=Rev. |location=Westport, Conn. |pages=191 |oclc=28230162 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Berry |first=Mark |date=2016 |title=from Angels to Orchestra: an iconographic history of the triangle through the 19th Century |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4RL8dxARNeFVXkzTHNXMEFKekU/view?resourcekey=0-TxH0t7xiXW0CuwOKDrboew}}</ref> Like the sistrum, the triangle, as seen in iconography, has its origins in religious settings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berry |first=Mark |url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/935161965 |title=The Triangle in Images |publisher=Living Sound Publications |year=2015 |volume=1, 2, 3 |location=Bowling Green, Kentucky|oclc=935161965 }}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The triangle is used as a liturgical instrument in the rites of the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Church]] based in Egypt and the [[Syro-Malabar Church]] based in [[Kerala|Kerala, India]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Berry |first1=Mark |title=Syro Malabar Christian Melody |url=https://triangleresearchhub.omeka.net/items/show/1290 |website=The Triangle Research Hub |publisher=Mark Berry, publisher.}}</ref>

For decades, it was thought that the first iconographic witness of a triangle came from a 9th-century manuscript held at [[Emmeram of Regensburg]], through longstanding writings by [[James Blades]] and others, although recent scholarship does not share this view.<ref name=":3" />  In the 14th century, early depictions of the triangle emerge from Western [[:Category:Christian iconography|Christian iconography]].<ref name=":3" />  From that time forward, the triangle is seen in iconography through the centuries, in a variety of sizes, and sometimes having jingling rings hanging from its rungs.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />  Triangles are depicted as having an open corner with the ends not touching, and also as having with fully closed corners; the sides are sometimes slightly curved.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Triangles are also in shapes that are not quite triangular, such as trapezoids and stirrup shapes.<ref name=":3" />  The first known use of the ''written'' term “triangle” occurs in an inventory list of the musical instruments owned by the kapelle in [[Württemberg|Wurttemberg, Germany.]]<ref name=":3" />  The list was compiled by [[Balduin Hoyoul]] in 1589, over two hundred years after the iconographic emergence of the triangle in the fourteenth century.<ref name=":3" />

Around the eighteenth century, the use of the triangle began to expand; its sound started to bring about new musical connotations and associations.  Influenced by ambassadorship, diplomacy, “''[[Turquerie]]''” and the new sounds of their own military bands, European operatic and orchestral composers began to incorporate the triangle as a means of ''emulating'' the sounds of the ''[[Ottoman military band|mehterân]]''—the metallic sounds of the ''[[Zill|zil]]'' and ''[[Turkish crescent|cevgen]]'', combined with the rhythmic pulse of the ''[[Kus|kös]]'', ''[[davul]]'', and ''[[Naqareh|nakkare]]''.<ref name=":3" /> The early use of the triangle in an operatic/orchestral setting was often not notated, and simply performed by ear.<ref name=":3" />  When a triangle part ''was'' notated, it was in steady, repetitive figures providing a march-like character.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Berry |first1=Mark |title=Marche du Pacha precede de la Garde from La caravane du Caire (1783) by Andre Gretry |url=https://triangleresearchhub.omeka.net/items/show/2310 |website=The Triangle Research Hub |publisher=Mark Berry, publisher}}</ref>  The triangle was the ''available'' instrument in Europe for composers to write rhythmically, and with a metallic color.<ref name=":3" />  However, the triangle was ''not'' used in functional ''mehter'' music, nor was it used by [[Janissary|Janissaries]] or ''mehteran'' while providing music for battle.<ref name=":3" />  In the early nineteenth century, [[Romantic music|Romantic-era]] composers began to seek new colors, and explored the sustaining qualities of the triangle.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1">Beck, J. H. (2013). Encyclopedia of Percussion. United States: Taylor & Francis. (pg. 397)</ref> Preference was given towards a long, sustaining sound that only triangles ''without'' rings could provide.<ref name=":3" />  Thus, the jingling rings associated with the triangle for five centuries prior, fell out of use.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" />