A number of Beethoven’s markings in his other compositions involve an intentional
blurring of two harmonies, tonic and dominant. This is often in a very soft dynamic and
usually involves the sustaining by the pedal of a bass note. The final movement of his
Sonata in C major opus 53 ‘Waldstein’ includes some well known examples but there are
a number of others.
Very occasionally, one or two further harmonies are included, as in the slow movement
of his Piano Concerto in C minor opus 37. Proponents of the unchanged pedal theory
rely on Beethoven’s markings in the slow movement of that concerto to support their
argument. There, however, they move from ‘senza sordino’ to ‘con sordino’ four times
in the pianissimo opening theme, although admittedly there are several changes of
harmony under each unchanged pedal. In addition to the dynamics being extremely soft
(and we know from Czerny that Beethoven used the una corda pedal here) the chordal
harmonic progression is also very slow.
It may be argued that there is no analogy between the sound of the unchanged pedal in
the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata and the pedalled sound in compliance with
Beethoven’s markings in his other compositions or indeed Beethoven’s markings in the
final movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata.
Beethoven’s phrase ‘e senza sordino’
The phrase ‘e senza sordino’ appears at the end of each of Beethoven’s two directions in
the first movement of the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. The thrust of the first part of each
direction is to play the movement extremely quietly, which is quite a different direction
from playing without dampers. One can play loudly without the dampers and one can
play softly without the dampers. It may be argued that the phrase ‘e senza sordino’ in
each case is not grammatically attached to ‘tutto questo pezzo’ or ‘sempre’ but is an
addition not linked with the concept of ‘throughout’. To indicate the very unusual, and
indeed hitherto unheard of, effect of playing a whole movement with unchanged dampers,
it may be argued that Beethoven would surely at the very least have repeated the word
‘sempre’, using the three words together in the phrase ‘sempre senza sordino’. It may
also be argued that ‘sempre’ clearly applies to both phrases as Schindler implied and
Bulow & Lebert also implied.
In the first edition there is an extra space before the commencement of the words ‘e senza
sordino’ where first appearing. It is perhaps arguable that this gives support to the
proposition that those words are not attached grammatically to the words ‘tutto questo
pezzo’ and thus are not linked with the concept of ‘throughout’. It may also be argued
that is purely a printer’s quirk which has nothing to do with Beethoven’s intention.
Knee levers on the Beethoven piano