Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a Viennese pianist and composer. He was a pupil of
Mozart and was known for the elegance of his playing. He considered Beethoven’s
pedalling to be too profuse and abundantly used. Hummel’s own pedalling was
reportedly restrained and placed emphasis on clarity.
Schubert (1797-1827)
Schubert’s piano music seems often to call for fairly continual, carefully changed
pedalling in keeping with the melodic nature of much of his piano writing. In particular
it seems that the pedal should usually sustain single bass notes marked staccato as it
seems these markings are physiological. If this is so, then this would be in line with
Chopin’s practice except that Chopin almost invariably put the matter beyond doubt by
indicating the use of the pedal.
Schubert, in fact, inserted pedal markings extremely rarely. In the slow movement of his
Sonata in B flat major he marked ‘col ped’ to make it clear that that there is to be a pedal
sonority through each bar, so that the various notes in the bass are marked staccato in a
physiological sense only. Schubert inserts no pedal markings in his ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy
but most would agree that many broadly harmonic pedal effects are called for in that
work. Liszt certainly thought so in his arrangements of the Fantasy, both for piano solo
and for piano and orchestra.
PEDALS
Every modern piano has at least two pedals, a sustaining pedal and a soft pedal. The
equivalent to the present-day sustaining pedal in late eighteenth century pianos consisted
of levers which were pressed upwards by the player’s knees.
The sustaining pedal, also called the damper pedal or, incorrectly, the loud pedal, is
usually simply called the pedal since it is the one most frequently used. It is always at the
right hand of the other pedal(s). The mechanism for each note, except in the top two
octaves, includes a damper, which is a pad that prevents the note’s strings from vibrating.
Normally the damper is raised off the strings whenever the key for that note is pressed.
When the pedal is pressed, however, all the dampers on the piano are lifted at once so
that all the piano strings are free from contact with the dampers.
Use of the pedal assists the pianist to play legato, that is, to play notes in a smooth,
connected manner, and enables the pianist to sustain notes that he or she cannot hold with
the fingers. Use of the pedal also enriches the piano’s tone because, by raising the
dampers, all the strings are left free to vibrate sympathetically with whatever notes are
being played. Pedalling is one of the techniques a pianist must master since piano music
from Chopin on benefits from, and indeed requires, extensive use of the pedal. In
contrast, the pedal was used sparingly, if at all, in the early compositions of the classical
period.
The soft pedal, or una corda pedal, is always placed at the left hand of the other pedal(s).