Robert Taub, in ‘Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas’ (Amadeus Press, Portland
Oregon, 2002) stated at pages 124 and 125:
‘I think the senza sordini indication is intended to create a special kind of sound –
nothing dry, but sound bathed in its own warmth with hints of the surrounding harmonies.
While I depress the pedal only slightly, just enough to raise the dampers off the strings to
allow them to vibrate freely, the character of this movement requires the pedal to be
changed discretely [sic] to avoid creating harmonic sludge. ... In Sonata Op. 27 no. 2
(“Moonlight”) senza sordini pertains to the entire first movement as a general approach
to the quality of sound, similar to the initial sempre pianissimo indication.’
Critique of Taub’s view
My comments applying to Rosen’s view apply similarly to Taub’s view.
Schiff’s view 2006
András Schiff, in 2006, gave a series of Beethoven Sonata lecture/demonstrations at
Wigmore Hall which were recorded online. In the course of that series he supported and
demonstrated the unchanged pedal theory in the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’
Sonata.
Critique of Schiff’s view
Schiff, in his demonstration of the unchanged pedal in the first movement, used a brisk
tempo which he based on the ‘alla breve’ time signature, presumably relying on Czerny’s
comment, or Schindler’s quotation of Schindler’s comment. In my view his
demonstration actually threw some doubt on the use of the unchanged pedal because it
did not produce a particularly beautiful sound especially having regard to the brisk tempo
at which he took the movement.
In Schiff’s comments on Beethoven’s Sonata in F sharp major opus 78 ‘A Therèse’, he
made a comment about Schnabel’s performance of slurred couplets in the final movement.
He made this in laudatory terms, virtually suggesting that if Schnabel did this it may be
accepted without question. Yet Schiff implicity rejected Schnabel’s acceptance in his
edition of the traditional pedalling.
Beethoven’s other pedal markings
There are many changes of harmony in the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata.
There are constant octaves in the bass and continuous moving triplet quavers in the right
hand. A crescendo and accelerando may, according to Czerny, be inserted in bars 32-35,
and, in any event, there is a crescendo marked by Beethoven in bar 58 and a piano [subito]
in bar 59. Beethoven’s piano style in the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata is
quite different from his style in the particular parts of his other compositions where he
marks the use of the pedal, or the knee levers.