the pedalled sound. Chopin never used sequences of ‘ped’ on their own without asterisks
and thus he did not avail himself of a means of clearly indicating syncopated pedalling.
Immediately preceding the final chords in D flat major at the end of the Scherzo in B flat
minor are four crotchet chords followed by two crotchet rests. A close examination of
the placement of asterisks in the facsimile edition of the autograph manuscript leads one
to believe that these rests are physiological only and that the sound of each chord is
sustained in a legato fashion through each bar into the next chord. The matter is not
beyond doubt and it is possible that Chopin intends a very small air pause between each
chord.
There are vast numbers of cases where Chopin does clearly intend the pedal to go
through staccatos and rests. In these cases the staccatos and rests are physiological not
acoustic.
On some occasions, as at the end of several of the preludes, Chopin omits the final
asterisk which may leave open the details of the pedalling at that point.
Chopin’s pedal markings typically sustain a bass note, or octave, marked with a
physiologically based staccato dot (or separated by a physiologically based rest) which
sustains through and combines with a chord or chords (or a moving line) higher up on the
keyboard providing harmonic support, and ultimately sustains through and combines with
a melodic line. Chopin is meticulous in providing these markings in virtually every case
where there is bass note or octave marked in that way.
Chopin usually avoids marking pedal in scale runs but this is not always so as witness
Chopin’s downwards scale run from the top of the keyboard of his day to the bottom of
the keyboard of his day in his Fantasy in F minor. In that case Chopin marks the pedal to
go through entire scale run down to the bottom of the keyboard. Chopin has no pedal
marking in some of the upward scale runs of his A flat polonaise, and he marks it for a
short part only of the beginning and a short part of the end of the upward scale run at the
end of his E major Scherzo. Whether this means that the pedal is not to be used at all in
parts where the marking is absent, or whether this means that pedal can be used by being
held down unchanged, held down but changed from time to time, or changed vibrato style,
is an open question.
Chopin’s pedal markings are very often harmonically based, that is while the harmony is
unchanged the pedal also remains unchanged even though there are different passing
notes in the melody, as witness the ‘Raindrop’ prelude. On occasion Chopin modifies
this conception as in the second subject of the first movement of the B minor Sonata so
the varying bass notes in the same harmony come out clearly.
This harmonic basis of pedalling occurs in the opening phrase of the slow movement of
Chopin’s Fantasy in F minor opus 49. The opening crotchet chords of B major are
clearly marked by Chopin as being sustained by the pedal through the following quaver
rest and the following quaver chord also of B major. Many pianists ignore this marking