Editing Percussion ensemble (section)

==Early literature==

[[George Antheil]]'s ''[[Ballet Mécanique]]'' (1923) is one of the earliest examples of composition for percussion, written originally as a film score and exemplifying the ideals of the Italian futurist movement.  Antheil originally called for sixteen synchronized player pianos, as well as airplane engines, alongside more traditional percussion instruments.  Another early example, Cuban composer [[Amadeo Roldán]]'s ''Rítmicas'' nos. 5 and 6 of 1930, made use of Cuban percussion instruments and rhythms.  But it was [[Edgard Varèse]]'s ''[[Ionisation (Varèse)|Ionisation]]'' that "opened the floodgates"<ref>Steven Schick, ''The Percussionist's Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams'' (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2006), 56.</ref> and truly brought the percussion ensemble into the fold of contemporary composition. Premiered in 1933 under the baton of [[Nicholas Slonimsky]], ''Ionisation'' is thematically structured and makes use of 13 performers playing over 30 different instruments, including Latin percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, sirens, a piano, chimes and glockenspiel.

Other noteworthy pieces were composed during the 1930s and 1940s, particularly on the [[West Coast school|West Coast]] of America by composers [[Henry Cowell]], [[John Cage]], [[Lou Harrison]], and [[Johanna Beyer]]. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage's ''[[Construction (Cage)|First Construction (in Metal)]]'' and Harrison's ''Canticle no. 1''.  [[Béla Bartók]]'s ''[[Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion]]'', written in 1937, was also an important piece for the development of percussion composition.  The early 1940s resulted in Cage's [[Construction (Cage)#Second Construction|second]] (1940) and [[Construction (Cage)#Third Construction|third]] (1941) Constructions, Harrison's ''Fugue for Percussion'' (1941), as well as Cage and Harrison's collaboration ''Double Music'' (1941). [[Carlos Chávez]]'s [[Toccata for Percussion Instruments (Chávez)|Toccata]] (1942) has also remained a standard work.