Daniel Steibelt was a German pianist and composer. He lived in Paris in 1790-1796 and
thereafter in London. He inserted pedal marks in two of his piano works published in
Paris in 1793. These were apparently the first pedal markings ever inserted in piano
music.
Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven’s first markings in his published solo piano music appear in each of the three
movements of his Sonata in A flat opus 26 of 1801, although a ‘mit dem Knie’ marking
had appeared in a Beethoven piano sketch fragment in 1792. The markings in that sonata
consist mainly of fairly short washes of tonic harmony at the end of each movement. The
markings were indicated by ‘senza sordino’ (‘without dampers’) and ‘con sordino’ (‘with
dampers’). At this time the dampers were raised by levers which were operated by an
upwards movement of the pianist’s knees.
The pedals were invented and in use in England in the 1790s but only made their way
across to Europe after 1800.
Beethoven’s senza sordino and con sordino markings in his piano concertos occurred as
follows: no. 1 in 1795, no. 2 in 1793 and no. 3 in 1803. Later, Beethoven marked the use
of the pedal by the modern method ‘ped’ followed by an asterisk, indicating that by that
time he was composing for a piano with a pedal as distinct from knee levers. This was in
the Sonata in C major opus 53 ‘Waldstein’ of 1803, although in that case Beethoven’s
actual mark for depressing the pedal in his autograph manuscript was a circle.
Sudsequently he used the now normal ‘ped’ markings.
Beethoven’s usually marked the pedal to indicate special effects, such as broad washes of
harmony and interesting effects involving more than one harmony. He was not usually
concerned to prescribe pedalling for ordinary melodic phrases. As Beethoven marked the
use of the pedal, or its predecessor, about a thousand times throughout his works for or
with piano, it is clear that Beethoven took a close interest in pedal sonority.
Beethoven’s marked the use of pedal liberally in the last movement of his Sonata in C
major opus 53 ‘Walstein’. These markings called for the sustaining of a bass note
through tonic-dominant effects in the upper register and many instances of pedalling
through rests. This is a significant early example of a physiological approach to piano
notation and a move towards a modern pedalled sonority for the piano.
In every slow movement of Beethoven’s sonatas, except the Sonata in B flat major opus
106 ‘Hammerklavier’, it is possible to sustain the notes for their full notated lengths
without resort to the pedal. This indicates the influence on Beethoven of the earlier style
of writing for the piano.
Hummel (1778-1837)