Full Description
David Rowland traces the history of piano pedalling from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to its first maturity in the middle of the nineteenth century and beyond. Pedalling technique was a major feature of nineteenth-century piano performance and, coupled with new developments in piano structure, inspired many composers to write innovative works for the literature. Rowland examines this through the technique and music of composer-pianists such as Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin. In addition, he follows the transition from harpsichord and clavichord to piano and outlines the physical properties of the various stops, levers, and pedals available at the different stages of the instrument's development. The book also includes an appendix of translated extracts from three well-known piano-pedalling tutors. It will be of interest to students and scholars of music history and performance practice, as well as to pianists.
Contents
Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: The Instruments: 1. The transition from the harpsichord and clavichord to the piano; 2. Stops, levers and pedals; Part II. Pedalling and the Early Pianists: 3. Documentary accounts of early pedalling; 4. Early technique of the pedals as described in tutors; 5. Early pedal markings; 6. Mozart and his contemporaries; Part III. Pedalling After c.1820: 7. The emergence of modern pedalling; 8. The sustaining pedal after c.1800; 9. Other pedals from c.1800; Appendix: J. P. Milchmeyer, Die wahre Art das Pianoforet zu spielen; Louis Adam: Méthode de Piano du Conservatoire; Daniel Steibelt, Méthode de Piano.
