Why does classical music (at least from the past) lack drums?

Question

I wonder why the great classical composers from history like Mozart, Beethoven, etc. didn’t make more use of drums or percussion in general?

I mean, they did write quite a lot of bombastic pieces and did all they could to make the parts that needed it to hit hard. So why did’nt they use more than one or two bangs on a kettle drum, giving the one who played them the most boring job in the orchestra?

Also I know that a drum-kit is a rather modern invention, but couldn’t they have used different guys playing different kinds of percussion?

Also maybe I’m completely mistaken and this turns out to be a list of classical music with some blasting in it..

Edit: I’m sencerely apologising to every classical percussionist, reading the answers I clearly underestimated your role

In: 4587

Answer 1

If you think that classical music only have one or two bangs on a kettle drum as the only percussion in the song you have not listened to a lot of classical music. A typical orchestra have a percussion section of at least four musicians each playing several different instruments. The problem is that because there are so many different musicians playing at once it can be hard to hear the individual instruments. It is even worse for the typically deeper instruments like most drums. But they add a lot of depth and highlights to the music and are an important part of the performance. If you hear a piece of classical music performed without pecussion you might not tell exactly what is wrong but you can tell that something is missing and the entire performance as weak and dull.

But you do have music that is written without percussion. The role that the percussion fills in music, that of rhythm and depth, can be filled by other instruments. A lot of bass instruments can fill this role when needed. And even things like piano when that became available can play a rhythm with the left hand just like a drummer. You might also have seen musicians stomping ther foot, clapping their hands, etc. to create some rhythm when there is missing or little percussion available.