A History of Pianoforte Pedalling

by David Rowland

• ISBN13: 9780521607513
• ISBN10: 0521607515
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

David Rowland traces the history of piano pedalling from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to its first maturity in the middle of the nineteenth century and beyond. Pedalling technique was a major feature of nineteenth-century piano performance and, coupled with new developments in piano structure, inspired many composers to write innovative works for the literature. Rowland examines this through the technique and music of composer-pianists such as Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin. In addition, he follows the transition from harpsichord and clavichord to piano and outlines the physical properties of the various stops, levers, and pedals available at the different stages of the instrument's development. The book also includes an appendix of translated extracts from three well-known piano-pedalling tutors. It will be of interest to students and scholars of music history and performance practice, as well as to pianists.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
List of abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
PART I The instruments
The transition from the harpsichord and clavichord to the piano	7	(7)
Stops, levers and pedals	14	(15)
PART II Pedalling and the early pianists
Documentary accounts of early pedalling	29	(13)
Early techniques of the pedals as described in tutors	42	(10)
Early pedal markings	52	(30)
Mozart and his contemporaries	82	(23)
PART III Pedalling after c. 1800
The emergence of modern pedalling	105	(5)
The sustaining pedal after c. 1800	110	(24)
Other pedals from c. 1800	134	(43)
APPENDIX Chapters on pedalling from piano tutors
Die wahre Art das Pianoforte zu spielen. Chapter 5 (Dresden 1797)	159	(11)
J. P. Milchmeyer
Methode de piano de Conservatoire, Chapter 10: The manner of using the pedals (Paris 1804)	170	(4)
Louis Adam
Methode de piano (Paris and Leipzig 1809)	174	(3)
Daniel Steibelt
Notes	177	(10)
Select bibliography	187	(4)
Index	191