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

While there are some counterexamples, the reason we don’t associate classical music with percussion is that it largely grew out of sacral music, which was primarily vocal in tradition — it was sung in churches. So the instrumentation used more closely reflected this, with winds and strings that could take the place of or harmonize with voice.

Percussion, on the other hand, would have been largely associated with military and folk music.