Theatrical thunder
Theater thunder originally referred to a device in the theater to imitate a thundering noise, for example a lightning strike . The term has been used almost exclusively as a metaphor from the very beginning and today , mostly in the sense of “just smoke and mirrors”.
etymology
The term theatrical thunder was probably coined quite late; it was not found in dictionaries until the 20th century. The term theater coup can be seen as its predecessor , which on the one hand was used synonymously with "bang effect" and on the other hand also for everything that is presented on stage in a surprising way and changes the state of affairs. The term comes from French and in this language the derivation of theatrical thunder through the relationship between coup de théatre and coup de tonnere , in German ' thunderclap ', is understandable.
History of noise generation
Even the Greeks are said to have used artificial thunder. In the late Middle Ages , in the mystery games , a stone-filled barrel was used. The baroque machine theater knew different devices for generating thunder: a thunder chute through which stones crashed down, a heavy iron ball that was tossed back and forth on the Schnürboden or the thunder cart, which was in use up to the 19th century and loaded with stones and on hexagonal ones Wheels "rolling" produced a dull rumbling noise.
Another, simpler technique for generating noise was a thunder sheet worked with fists . In addition, the use of thunder drums has been handed down, the fur of which was covered with stones, in order to let the bang roll. In addition, the stones could still be guided through a channel onto the timpani to achieve an even more realistic effect. At the turn of the 19th century at the latest, a complicated mechanism was used to imitate the rolling thunder, in which gearwheels covered with felt rolled irregularly across a soundboard.
In contrast to the rolling thunder, the devices for generating the cracking sound of the striking lightning were not quite as diverse. From the 17th to the 19th century, the impact was mostly generated by wooden and metal boards that were hung at irregular intervals and dropped from a great height at the same time. Another variant was a wooden channel leading down from the Schnürboden, which ended in an iron drum or a wooden box through which the material stored on the Schnürboden - small stones, balls, chestnuts or the like - was poured down.
Later, more sophisticated variants of this apparatus were used both to simulate the impact and for the rolling thunder. Experiments with gunpowder and cannons have been handed down as early as the 15th century , but the mechanical generation of the thunder sound remained indispensable. This can best be explained by the fact that the noise generation had to be controllable by the stage operator, on the one hand, but on the other hand it had to develop a certain dynamic of its own in order to be convincing.
literature
- Florian Nelle: Theater thunder - noise and illusion around 1800 . In: Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer (Ed.): Voices - sounds - tones . Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 978-3-8233-5230-3 , pages 493-506