It may be argued that Liszt supported the traditional pedalling. If he did, we do not know
on what basis.
Anton Rubinstein’s view 1880s
Liszt’s pupil Alexander Siloti also commented in his memoir that Liszt’s private
performance of the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata at the Hofgärtnerei,
Weimar in 1885 was even more wonderful than the performance by Anton Rubinstein
(1829-1894). It may be argued that if Rubinstein had used such an unusual pedalling as
the unchanged pedalling, or anything like it, surely Siloti would have also included a
comment about that. Yet nothing has come down to us from Siloti as to this. Rubinstein
refused to record for the Edison wax cylinder and otherwise did not survive into the
recording age.
Critique of Anton Rubinstein view
It may be argued that Anton Rubinstein supported the traditional pedalling. If he did, we
do not know on what basis.
Bülow & Lebert’s view 1894
The Bülow-Lebert edition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas was published (reprinted) by
Schirmer in 1894. Hans von Bülow (1830-1894) was an early pupil and lifelong friend
and musical colleague of Franz Liszt.
The editors stated at volume 1, page 254:
‘A more frequent use of the pedal than is marked by the editors, and limited here to the
most essential passages, is allowable; it is not advisable, however, to take the original
directions sempre senza sordini (i.e. without dampers) too literally.’
Critique of Bülow & Lebert’s view
The injunction by Bülow & Lebert is not to take the original directions ‘too literally’.
The piano of the second half of the nineteenth century with which Bülow and Lebert
were familiar was more similar in sonority to the modern piano than to the Beethoven
piano. The playing of the whole movement with unchanged pedal on that piano would
have been such a striking and unusual thing to do that, it may be argued, they would have
specifically referred to the unchanged pedal if they believed this was the intention of
Beethoven’s directions. If this was so, it may be argued that they would have written
something more assertive than ‘not ... too literally’ and would have added something like
the following: ‘as keeping the pedal unchanged throughout the entire first movement,
while it may have been possible on the Beethoven piano, creates too much of a blur on
the modern piano.’