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Mozart without the Pedal? Author(s): Paul Badura-Skoda Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 55 (Apr., 2002), pp. 332-350 Published by: Galpin Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4149048 Accessed: 07-08-2014 16:56 UTC

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PAUL BADURA-SKODA

Mozart

without

the

Pedal?

There is one feature which distinguishes the piano from nearly all other

instruments: the removal of dampers by the pedal, allowing the continuing vibration of the strings. When Cristofori invented the piano, called by him 'Cembalo che fa il piano e forte', the possibility of prolonging the sound by other means than keeping the keys pressed down, had not yet occurred to him. But soon his followers and imitators discovered this possibility to enrich the sound. Probably the first one to build the damper raising device into his pianos was Gottfried Silbermann in Potsdam. His inspiration might have been the pantaloneand instruments like the Lautendavierwhich had no dampers at all. His fortepianos built in Potsdam in the 1740s and those by his nephew Johann Heinrich Silbermann had handstops for lifting the dampers, mostly two separate ones for the low and the high register. This practice continued on square pianos during the second half of the 18'h century. However, on wing shaped pianos, Fliecl, quite early in their development, the kneelever, which functions like the modern pedal, was invented. Its advantage is obvious: the dampers can be raised and subsequently lowered while both hands remain on the keyboard. In England where the later harpsichords often had had two pedals (one for changing registers and one to operate the swell), the early piano makers followed this tradition, mainly on wingshaped pianos, but with a different function, identical with our modern pedals. One of the earliest surviving pianos with pedals is the Broadwood grand No. 203 (formerly, and possibly still, in the Colt Clavier collection, Ashford, Kent), dated 1787'. Pedals have the advantage over knee levers in that any person, short or tall, can operate them easily. Knee levers are usually at a height of 22 to 23 inches above the ground. Thus players with short legs sometimes have trouble in reaching them, and need to place a wooden block or a book under their feet in order to avoid the 'tip-toe' position for raising the dampers. D)uring more than fifty years of my fascination with 18th-century fortepianos with Viennese action, I have come across more than forty instruments of this period prior to 18002, all of them with knee levers. A few of them might have been originally conceived with hand levers, later I owe this informationto my friend Dr.John Henry van der Meer, Fiirth, (;ernany. I wasthe firstmodernpianistwho recordedfor a WestminsterLPin 1953 some of Mozart'ssolo works for piano on a Walter grand piano, belonging to the Museumin Vienna. Kunsthistorische 332

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altered, but most of them had knee levers from the outset. The most precious among these was Mozart's own Anton Walter pianoforte in Salzburg. Until recentlyit hadgenerallybeen assumedthatits knee levershadbeen used by Mozart.Yet Dr. Michael Latcham,the last person to have made carefulinvestigationof this instrument,is convinced that this fortepiano was builtwith handleversonly, and thatthe knee leverswere addedmuch later. He publishedhis findings in the article 'Mozartand the pianos of GabrielAnton Walter',EarlyMusic,August 1997, pp. 382-400. There he proves, supportedby photos of the action, thatmany alterationshad been made on Mozart'spiano. includingthe laterinstalmentof the knee levers. So far there is nothing unusual in his discovery. Many pianistsask for modificationsin theirpianos.I myselfhad the action of my B6sendorferof 1962 rebuilt severaltimes and a sostenuto pedal installedduring my life time. Similarly,MalcolmBilson reportsfrequentreworkingon his Walter copy by Philip Belt.3But there is a 'bombshell'in Dr. Latcham'stheory: accordingto him allthese alterationswere made only afterMozart'sdeath. Thatmeansthatwe would have to forego our assumptionthatMozarthad used the knee leversin his concerts.Thus we should renounce the use of pedalin a stylisticallycorrectperformanceof his works. As to be expected, Dr. Latcham'stheory has caused a heated controversy. In contributionsand lettersto EarlyMusica numberof readershave seriouslyquestionedhis conclusions4while one of them found his account 'totallyconvincing'."In EarlyMusic,August 2000 Dr. Latchamrepliedto the firstof these criticisms.While he denies that 'any amount of evidence, gatheredby readinghis (Mozart's)music, can prove he had knee levers in his instrumentsby Walter', he admitsthat the Stein piano owned by the Countess of Thun, which Mozart often played in Vienna, 'will have had such knee levers ... The knee levers on the Walterpianosin Nuremberg (1785?)and Gdansk(dated1789) are clearlylateradditions...'6 (madeby whom and when ?) 'I have provided abundantevidence ... which shows that changes were made by the Walter firm to Mozart'spiano after his death.It is quitepossible(underlinedby PaulBadura-Skoda)thatthe knee Walterfortepiano', Letterto EarlyMusic, Bilson,'Mozart's 3 Malcolm May2001, pp.233-234. - Mozart's 'TheAntonWalterfortepiano belovedconcert 4 EvaBadura-Skoda instrument', August 2000 pp.469-473.MariusFlothuis'Mozart'sfortepiano', 2001:'Thewholeof theC-minorsonata,K 457 needskneelevers'.Also February MalcolmBilsonseefootnote3. 5 Walterfortepiano', Nov. 2000, pp.685-686 RichardMaunder,'Mozart's 6 HereLatcham is hardto understand. One paragraph laterhe citesthesetwo their original pianosas belongingto the threeWalterpianosstillrepresenting condition.But with the knee leverslateraddedthey are not in theiroriginal condition!BesidesI findit hardto digestthatpractically everyownerof a Walter pianohadit changedlater;why?WhatabouttheWalterssoldabroad? 333

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levers were addedat the sametime.' - RichardMaunder(see footnote 5) thinksthat 'handleverswere perfectlyadequatefor damperraisingin the 18t' century ... There is no convincing evidence that any of them (the extant earlyViennese pianos)originallyhad knee levers'. Finally,a letter by David A. Sutherlandis worth mentioning.7He suggeststhatMozart's pedalpiano could explainsome of his notations(see laterexample11) and that his pedal 'made it inconvenient (perhapsimpossible) to use knee levers'.This readeris mistaken,however: a reconstructedpedal-boardfor my Walter copy, (basedon the very few extantpedal pianos)has a board above the front end of the pedal keys where the feet can rest and easily operate the knee levers:Example 11 and others could indeed be played easilyon the pedalkeys.But the sonataK 311 fromwhich thisexamplewas taken,precedesMozart'sacquisitionof the pedal-pianoby a few years! As canbe seen fromthe contrastingviews presentedhere, we aredealing with a thorny question. Apparentlythere exists no hard core proof as to whetheror not Mozartusedknee levers.Yet, when documentaryevidence is lacking, historical presentationsneed also logical and psychological deductionsto fill in the gapsin the information.If they point in the same direction, we arejustified in believing that they will lead us towardsthe historicaltruth. But firstof all, we have to look again into the evidence (incompleteas it may appear).Maybe it can yield more factsthanhitherto assumed.

Fourroadsof investigationoffer themselves: 1. Mozart's Walter pianoforte itself and the alterationsit underwent.For which purposewere they made? 2. The few relevantdocumentsand theirmeaning. 3. A brief accountof the use of the damperliftingdevicesin the late 18t' centuryin theoryand practice.Why did composersnot prescribehandlevers,knee leversor pedals? 4. Musical examples which show that Mozart and other composersprobablyrelied on 'pedalling'.For 'materialists'this method might appearto be irrelevant,but for artistsand for musiciansit might have a meaning! OBSERVATIONS REGARDING MOZART'S OWN WALTER AND EARLY VIENNESE FORTEPIANOS AlthoughI haveplayedon Mozart'sown fortepianoseveraltimes,I have never takenit apart.For this reasonI do not feel competent to enterinto discussion with Dr. Latcham regarding the mechanical parts of the instrument.ThereforeI have to resortto the opinion of a specialistin Dr. EarlyMusic,May2001p.334 'I)avidA. Sutherland, 334 This content downloaded from 193.227.1.127 on Thu, 07 Aug 2014 16:56:17 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Latcham'sfield. My main source of informationhas been Dr. Konstantin Restle, musicologistand specialistin the restorationof historicalpianos. Dr. Restle is head of the BerlinMuseum of historicalmusicalinstruments. Priorto Dr. Latchamhe had examinedMozart'spiano. He intendsto write a paperon this subjectand he authorizesme to say that he disagreeswith Dr. Latcham'sobservationsand conclusions.As an instrumentbuilderand a scholarhe has 'scientific'reasonsfor believing thatthe knee leverson this instrumentaregenuine. With regardto the other changes of mechanicalparts, I concur with Malcolm Bilson (see footnote 3). If these alterationswere made after Mozart'sdeath,for whose benefitwere they made?It is known thatMozart made the highest demands on the precision and functioning of his instruments.Apart from his letters there are the mechanical problems inherentin his piano works:subtledynamics,fastornamentson shortnotes etc. Even on modernpianosa satisfactoryperformanceof Mozartrequires a well regulatedaction. Thus it seems to be logical that the mechanical improvementswere made for him and not afterhim. When Dr. Maunder assumesthatvery few extantearlyViennesefortepianosoriginallyhadknee levers(seeabove),evidencepointsin a differentdirection.ApartfromStein (who accordingto Latchamannouncedknee leversas earlyas 1769) there was his studentSchiedmayerandtherewere Schantz,Hoffmann,Kiinecke as well as the makerof my anonymousViennese fortepiano,estimatedby expertsto datefrom 1780. It hasHolzkapseln(wooden kapsels)and a rather primitiveaction, but two genuine knee leversnevertheless.Dr. Maunder's observationthat sale advertisementsin Viennese newspapersmade no mention of knee levers, is not reallysurprisingand no argumentagainst their existence.The damper-liftingdevice was a common sound mutation and therefore belonged to the Mutationenwhich only seldom were mentioned. One may considerthe factthata 'sostenutopedal'is alsorarely mentionedin modernpiano advertisements. Strangelyenough, an importantfeatureof the knee levers in Mozart's own Walterpiano hasnot been mentioned duringthis entire controversy. Unlike the other grandpianos, Walter installedhere two knee levers for raisingthe dampers(and none for the hand-operatedmoderator stop). Thus the rightknee lever raisesthe damperson the rightside only, the left operatesall the dampers.The rightknee lever is well suited to play chords legato or to make a melody 'sing'while the notes in the bassaredetached. On the otherhand,the left lever (which correspondsto the modernpedal) is ideallysuited for arpeggiosand broken chordsin legato context. Apart from Mozart'spiano I have found only one other grandpiano by Walter with similardamperlifting devices:it is found in the collection of Signora Giulini in Italy (datedby Latchamc.1785, perhapseven earlier).I have played and recordedrepeatedlyon Mozart'sown instrumentsince 1956, and firmlybelieve that these two differentfunctions are genuine and are not the resultof a restorer'swhim. For a modernplayer,it is at firstrather inconvenientto operatethe complete damperliftingwith the left leg only.8 335

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On manylaterWalterpianosaswell ason thoseby Schantz,Hoffmann,etc. all the dampersare raisedwith only one knee lever, while a second lever usuallyraisesa 'moderato'stop. Sometimesmore mutationpossibilitiesare activatedby handor with more knee levers. Why did Mozartchoose in Vienna a piano by Walterin 1782 and not one made by Stein, whose pianoshe had recommendedin 1781 to Grafin Thun? Obviously,becauseby 1782 he preferreda Walterto a Steinpiano and consideredthe concert grandsby Walter superior.(He was not alone with this opinion - even today the Walterpianosareconsideredto be the best in thisperiod).Walter'sgrandpianosaretriplestrungfromthe middle registerto the treble and produce a much greatervolume than Stein's double strunginstruments.But what was probablyeven more important for Mozart- they have a better singing quality.On the other hand, why shouldMozarthavebeen willing to missfor the restof his life an advantage which he had so fully appreciatedup to 1777? Why shouldhe for all of his concertshave been satisfiedwith a somewhatantiquatedinstrument?If the as l)r. Latchambelieves, alterationson his piano had been madeafter1800() would Walter then that late have left a hand stop for the 'moderator'and not installeda pedalinstead? In my modest opinion, even a thorough examinationof the wooden partsalone cannot warranta precisehistoricalresult. It still appearsmore plausiblethat the date for the addition of the knee levers is 1782, when Mozartselectedhis piano from severalinstrumentsin Walter'sworkshop. Noticing apparentlythat this piano had hand-leversonly, he probably askedWalterto replacethem by knee leverswhich he hadfound so useful on Stein'sandotherearlypianos.I admit,thisis a puretheoryandno proof. Walterbuiltpianoswith Whataboutthe factthat,accordingto Latchaim, hand levers as late as 1789? Eva Badura-Skodail her responseto this statement,makesa very significantremark:"'His (Latcham's)redatingof Walterinstrumentsknown to him is basedon an 'evolution theory'This contradicts the often observed usual procedure of all professional instrumentmakersof buildingdifferentmodels andactionssimultaneously and to oblige the personalrequestsof buyers'. In other words:It is quite justifiableto think that Walterproducedknee leversas earlyas 1782 and hand levers as late as late as 1789. However, if we believe that all his fortepianosup tol 789 had had handleversonly (in theiroriginalstate),he would have been Vienna'smost conservativepianobuilder- an absurdity! (Otherexamplesagainst'evolution'could be cited:Scarlatti'ssonatasgo up to the high g?, a note Mozartor earlyBeethoven neverwrote down). worthnotingthatthedeviceof aseparate ' Itisperhaps damper-lifting possibility wasabandonedaround1800 andsomehowre-inventedby Broadwoodaround 1815, when he introducedthe 'splitpedal'which is found in Beethoven's in Budapest), andon the one whichI concertgrand(nowpreserved lBroadwood own,alsobuiltc.1817. E" Early Music, November 2000, p.686

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DOCUMENTS Mozart's letter of 17 October 1777 to his father is a most important document; not only with regardto its artisticviews but also becauseit is one of the rare18h'-centurydocumentswhere the damperraisingdevice is mentioned. It is obvious from thisletterin which he praisedthe pianoforte instrumentsof Stein, that Mozartknew very well how to use knee levers before he came to Augsburgin thatyear. He wrote to his father:'The last [Sonata]in D, sounds exquisiteon Stein'spianoforte... The device, too, which you work with your knee is betteron thisthanon otherinstruments. I have only to touch it and it works; and when you shift your knee the slightestbit, you do not hearthe leastreverberation'.From this statement two facts emerge: that Mozart was familiar with this damper-lifting mechanism and that Stein had made it work 'better than on other instruments'."'Why else would he have bothered to mention a device which he never used ? Yet, despite his praise for Stein, in Latcham's opinion, Mozart,when settlinga few yearslaterin Vienna, is supposedto have acquireda Walterfortepianowhich had no knee levers! A newly discovered document, recently found by Ingrid Fuchs" confirmsthe view thatin 1782 Mozartselectedhis fortepianofrom among severalothersin Walter'sshop. She quotesfrom a letterwritten in 1783 in which a Viennese agent tells a customer in Slovakia:'Walter hat viele fortepianovorrathig,die sch6n sind' ('Walterhasmanybeautifulpianosin stock').Whatis provenfor 1783 is alsovery plausiblefor 1782. At firstsight this document seems to have little bearingon our cause.Yet, if we add to this evidence Haydn's well-known letter of 4 July 1790 to Frau von Gentzinger,we get the clearimpressionthatWalter'spianoswere different one from another:Haydn criticizedAnton Walterbecausehis instruments were of differentquality.'Differentquality'meansdifferentlayout, for the craftsmanshipin all Walter pianos has alwaysbeen regardedas first rate. Thus the action, the stringingor the damperlifting deviceswere probably subjectto variation.The most importantdocumentin our query,however, is the letterof Constanze,Mozart'swidow, of 17January1810, to her son Carl,beforesendingMozart'spiano to him in Milan. '... Es ist so gut alses war, und ich m6chte sagennoch Besseralses war ... weil Waltervon dem es ist, so freundschaftlichwar mirs einmal wieder ganz neu zu Beftittern und her zu stellen'.'2Nothing in this sentence hints at an additionof knee levers.Besides,why shouldConstanzehavebotheredto have an outmoded 10We do notknowwhichwerethese'otherinstruments'. However,sinceonly one sentenceearlierMozartmentionedthe superiorityof Stein'sdampersto Spaeth's,theymightwell havebeenthe Spaethpianos.(Of coursethisis not 'a but the probability of this reasoningcannotbe shredof a proof [Maunder], denied). zuAntonWalterin derKorrespondenz eines 11SeeIngridFuchs,'Nachrichten seiner Kunden' in: MitteilungenderIniternationalen 48. Jg., p.112 StiftungMozarteumn 12

Recently Eva Badura-Skodapointed out to me that this statement of Constanzeis quitespecificandallowsa suppositionin what Walter'srepairresulted:

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device built in? In 1810 knee levers were obsolete, practicallyall pianos were alreadybuilt with pedalsinsteadof knee levers. It makeslittle sense that the rathertightfistedConstanze,a good singer,but not a professional pianist, should have ordered a costly alteration before sending the instrumentto her son in Milanwho - unlike his brotherFranzX. Mozart was not a professionalpianist either. To quote Malcolm Bilson: 'If an entirelynew actionwere being installedat thatlate date,she would hardly speakof new leatheronly. But further,Constanzeseemsto know thatthis instrument, for which (accordingto his son Carl) Wolfgang had had particularpreferenceandaffection,needed looking afterasone of the most importantartefactsof her very importantlate husband.Why would she, some yearsafterhis death, have desired,or even allowed for that matter, this instrumentto be so altered?It shouldbe stressedhere thatsuchan oldfashionedfive-octave-instrumentwould have been sadlyout of dateat that time, for whose benefit would it then have been "improved"?' DAMPER RAISING ('PEDALLING')IN THE LATE18't CENTURY. PRACTICE AND THEORY An importantquestion calls for an answer:Why did Mozart and other composersin the second halfof the 18t'centurynot indicatethe use of the damperraisingdevice, a device which in differentforms(handlever,knee lever, pedal)was built into practicallyevery piano? 1. The firstobvious answeris this: because its use was taken for granted. 'Pedalling'may be comparedwith the use of vibrato in violin playing. (Indeed,it often producesa similareffectbecauseof the Schbwelbtngen (beats) producedby sympatheticvibration).This answeris less subjectivethanit appears.Since thismechanismlwasdiscussedin severaltreatiseson the artof piano playing,it must have been used! A typical example earlierthan Mozart can be found in Haydn'spiano sonatain C minor, Hob. XVI/20 from 1771, 3'' movement, bb.107-119 where the harmoniesneed the sustainedbassnotes.

Example1 in Germanmeansin allprobability:new leatherfor the hammers;andthe Be,/iittern means spielbarmaclihen and may have concerned the regulation.A verb lherstellen propertranslationinto Englishof Constanze'ssentencethereforemayread:'... It is as good as it was, I would sayit is even better ... becauseWalter,of whose makeit is, waskind enough to put new leatheron the hammersandmadeit playableagain' I[maymean:regulatedand tunedit]. 338

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An even earlierexamplecanbe found in the 1 ' movement of the sonata in A flatmajor,Hob. XVI/46 from 1768, bb.5-56 and73-75. This attitude 'takethe pedalwhenever it suitsyou'-continued for more thana century. Brahms,for example,wrote only a handfulof pedal marksin either of his two piano concertos,namelywhen he deemed the use of pedal absolutely necessary. 2. Another reasonfor the lack of notation in the 18th century must have with the lack of a suitable been the problemwith the nomenclatura,_namely would hardlyhave been understood expression.The Italianconginoccihiera by a Frenchor an Englishpianist,while 'pedal'would have made no sense in countrieswhere the pianoshadno pedals.So it happenedthat eitherno pedal was indicated(Mozart)or that some composersinvented their own vocabularyto prescribeits use. In the caseof Haydnit is quitepossiblethat in laterworks the word tenuteor tenutomeans 'sustainedwith the help of raiseddampers';otherwiseit would have madelittle senseto prescribeit for long notes no reasonablepianistwould havebeen temptedto shorten.This word can be found inter aliain the Sonatain E flat major,Hob. XVI/52, thirdlastbar of the Adagio, or in the Variationsin F minor, Hob.XVII/6 b. 25, bb. 201-204, bb. 213-216 andb.219. For the sonataXVI, No.50 in C major,publishedin England,he twice used the expression'open pedal' in two places, (15smovement, bb.73-74 and bb.120-125), namely where the interminglingof sounds createda special 'celestian'effect and where normallya pianistwould have refrainedfrom takinga prolongedpedal.

Example2 In my opinion it is unlikely that Haydn wanted the rest of the sonata played without pedal. This example shows also the effect hand levers would produce.They made 'changingpedals'impossible. The firstmajor composer to make an attempt to prescribe'pedalling' systematically,wasBeethoven. Startingwith his 1I"Piano Concerto, Op.15 he resortedto the somewhat clumsy expressionsenzasordiniwhich up to this day createsconfusion. It meansjust 'pedal' and definitely not 'with pedal'. (The correctItalianexpressionwould have been senzasmorzatori). Does this mean that his piano works before Op.15 have to be played without pedal?Certainlynot! We owe this knowledge to his pupil Carl Czernywho remarkedthatBeethoven madeampleuse of the pedal,much more than indicated. How much wiser would we be, had a student of Mozart made a similar remark! It would have spared us the whole discussion. 339

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There exists a widespreadopinion that the lifting of damperswas 'a specialeffect, akinto a changeof registrationon the harpsichord',andthat 'it was not well into the 19th century, that anything like the modern pedallingtechniquewas developed'." This simplydoes not correspondto the historicaltruth.Pedallingin our sense came into use at the end of the 18t'century.This canbe seen fromthe way it is describedin pianotreatises. As it is commonlyknown, thereis usuallya considerabledelaybeforea new performingpracticefinds its way into theoreticalworks. ThereforeI am also quoting from treatiseswhich were publishedafterMozart'stime. Already,by 1763 C. P. E. Bach had mentioned that 'the undamped register of the pianoforteis the most pleasing and, once the performer learnsto observethe necessaryprecautionsin the face of its reverberations, the most delightfulfor improvisation'.(see C.P.E. Bach, Versuch iiberdie das zu 1762 and fac. Clavier 1753, Art, (Berlin, 1763); spielen Repr. )l1ahre Ed. L. Hoffinann-Erbrecht(Leipzig,n.d.); trans.W. J. MitchellasEssayon the TrueArt of Instruments (London, 1949); 1763 edition, Keyboard Playingi, 4). Apparentlyhe is referringto handleversfound on chapter7, paragraph the Silbermannfortepianos. In his pianoforteschool op.42 (1801)'4 Clementi (Mozart'ssenior by fouryears)recommendsthatthe feet be firmlyplacedin frontof the pedals in order to be able to operate them without having to move. If we rememberthat the Englishpianosof that time had the pedalsattachedto the piano legs which stood aboutthree feet apart;it follows thatthe use of pedalsmusthavebeen fairlyfrequent.Otherwiseit would havebeen much more comlfortableto keep the feet togetherfor most of the time. But the most explicit explanationof the pedalin a surprisinglymodern way is found in L.Adam'sMtlod ede Pianodu Conlseratoire. pour Adapt&e dans cct Etablisseenllt.Although Adam published this serI'ir I'Elnsie(qlenienlt

largevolume aslateas 18()4,he stillstandswith one foot in the 18th-century tradition,havingcollaboratedwith LudwigLachnithon a piano methodin 1798. Of courseone can objectthatsucha latepublicationhaslittlebearing on Mozart. Yet we have to keep in mind that several of Adam's observationsare not limited to any given period or style becausethey are dealingwith acousticsas such and are thereforeapplicableeven to earlier periods. On the other hand the subtlety of Adam'sexplanationsand his repeatedwarningsagainst'overpedalling'indicate a modern approachat the verybeginningof the 19t"century.A few passagesfromthe 10th chapter (pp.218-221) areworth quoting:(Translationby PaulBadura-Skoda)

" Maunder (see note 5) quoting David Rolland, A historyofpianofortepedalling, Cambridge1994. " Muzio Clementi, Introduction to theArt of Playingon thepianoforte(London,

18()1)

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Everythingwhich may contribute to add charm and emotion of the senses to an instrument,should not be neglected; and in this context skilfullyemployedpedalsprovidegreatadvantages.The pianofortecan prolong the vibrationonly for the time intervalof one bar, and still its sound decreasesso fastthatthe earhasdifficultyin graspingand hearing it. Since the pedals remedy this defect and even help to prolong the sound with equal strength for several bars, it would be wrong to dispensewith theiruse. If some people reproachthose performerswho use the pedal only to impressmusicalignorantsor to hide the mediocrityof their talent, we shall agree; but those who use them with discretion in order to embellish and sustain the sound of a beautiful tune and a beautiful harmony,certainlydeservethe praiseof connoisseurs.... The grand pedal should be employed only for long, very slow consonantchords;if these chordsarefollowed by others which change the harmony, one has to damp (&touffer= extinguish)the preceding chord and put the pedal on the following chord again,making sure to lift it at every new harmony. One feels easilythat if one were to applythe pedal to a theme of a fast movement intermingled with scales, the sounds would confuse themselves in such a way that the main voice could not be heard. Nothing producesa worse effect than to use this pedal while playing chromaticscalesor scalesin (parallel)thirds. It is a proof of badtasteto use the pedalindiscriminatelyfor allpassages. While one canbe sureto pleasewhile usingit only occasionally,one can be likewise certainto displeaseusingit in the oppositeway. This pedalis much more agreeablein orderto expressthe soft and the sweet, but one should take care to strikethe keys with much delicacy, softer even than if one would play without the pedal. Naturallythe sound of the instrumentis louderwith the damperraised,andone single key makesthe other stringsvibrateif playedtoo loud. One should use the pedal only for singing, pure harmoniouspassages where the sounds continue for a long time, such as pastoralesand musettes,tenderandmelancholyairs,religiouspieces andin generalfor all expressive,ratherslow passages. Adam speaks also of the use of other pedals and the combination of two pedals together.

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MUSICAL EXAMPLES FROM MOZART'S WORKS WHICH MAKE THE USE OF KNEE LEVERS (PEDAL) PROBABLE OR PLAUSIBLE In the last resort it is the music itself which must lead to the answers, tentativelyor definitely.Before we enter into this musicaldiscussion,we have to returnto the initialquestion- is it possibleto playMozartwithout pedal?The answeris: Yes, it is possible,granteda few exceptions.'"But is it right, historicallyor aesthetically?The following discussionwill show thatthatit is probablywrong or atleastvery improbable.(Sincein practice, Mozart'sleft knee lever is identicalto our rightpedal,from now on I shall use for the convenience of modernreadersthe term 'pedal'in the modern senseinsteadof the clumsyexpression'damper-liftingdevice'). Let us firstdealwith the most obvious placesto use a pedal: ARPEGGIOS As the very namesuggests,the word 'arpeggio'is derivedfrom 'arpa',harp. It is commonly known thatthe harphasno dampermechanismbut thatthe harpisthas to damp the vibrationof the stringswith his hands.Broken chords can be played on it over the full tonal range and are sometimes afterwardsdampedwith the hands. There exists hardlyany 18thcentury composerwho did not write this sort of 'harpimitation'when composing works for stringedkeyboardinstruments.Since the harpsichordhas no 'pedal', arpeggioshave to be sustainedby the fingers only. The most meticulous notation of meeting this necessity was given by Johann SebastianBach, e.g. in his ChromaticFantasy,BWV 903 (bars18-31): Arpeggo

3

Example3 In the lasttwo chords,there is an unavoidablegap of one octavebetween the two hands which a real harp would have undoubtedly filled with additionalnotes. However, it we look at similararpeggiosin Mozart's pianowriting, we can notice thathe did not feel impededby suchrestraint andwrote the harmoniesout in full. Examplesarenumerous,e.g. D-minor Fantasia,K 397 (385g).Actuallythisone passagecould be playedwith hand leversaswell, becauseit is surroundedby rests. Iplayit 'with ' Infact,whenI studyaworkbyMozart(orbyearliercomposers), fingersonly', thus developinga better controlof articulationand phrasing. However,onceit soundswell, I addthe kneelevers(orthepedal)in appropriate placesto makeit evensoundbetter. 342

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)

__~-E

L

--_----'k

pp

Example4 the of C-minor In Fantasia,K 396, the firstarpeggiowould opening the still be playedwith handlevers, though the dampingafterwardswould be difficult. Adagio

Example 5

But frombar8 on the handleversarecertainlyinsufficient.

Example616 In the Fantasiein C major, K 394, b. 46, the use of the pedal strongly commends itself to every pianist.To play all these arpeggioswithout any pedalwould sound odd, not only by modern standards. 46'

Example7 Sonatain C minor, K 457/II, Adagio, bar.16

In similarpassages with arpeggioBeethovenandlatercomposersinvariably must prescribed pedal:Althoughthisis no proofit suggeststhatMozart'sapproach havebeensimilarorelsehe wouldhavesteppedoutof thecentury-old'harpeggio' 16

tradition.

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Example8 The firstbar of this examplerefersto repeatedportatonotes, see later,ex. 13,14 NOTES WHICH CAN ONLY BE SUSTAINED WITH THE 'PEDAL' In the following example from Mozart'sSonata in A minor, K 310/II, b.83, only a very largehandcan sustainthe low note c beneaththe second trillwithout the help of a pedal.

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Example9 It is significantthatat the parallelpassagein bar49 Mozartnotatedthe low note as an appoggiatura,apparentlywith the 'pedal'in mind."7

Example1()

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Example11 Sonatain D major,K 311, second movement, Andante con espressione, bb.86-89. Dr. Maunderfeels thatEva Badura-Skoda'sexamplefrom the SonataK 311, once more reproducedhere, is not a convincing proof for Mozart's wish to use a pedal.As an argumentwhy thispassage'failsto convince', he arguesthat 'bassnotes do not need to be sustainedfor their full values (which C.P.E. Bach teachesus would be incorrect)'.To cite C.P.E. Bach as an authority for Mozart is a little far fetched, anyway. However, if Maunder mentions a sentence from C.P.E. Bach's treatise, he should considerit in its context. I rememberhaving myself quoted this C.P.E. Bach remarkin my book 'InterpretingBach at the keyboard' (Oxford UniversityPress,1993), where on p.98 I addedas a commentary:'Taken out of context, thispronouncementcan easilybe misunderstoodand often is. C.P.E. Bach's reduction of the note-value by half is an extreme case. Eighteenth-centuryFrench composersfor the organ recommend only a slightreductionof the note-value'. And then I continued, that only a few pages earlierC.P.E. Bach statedthat 'restsas well as notes must be given theirexactvalue'andremarkedalsothatone should'learnto think in terms of song', andthat 'the tendernessof adagios'is expressed'by broad,slurred notes' (see C.P.E. Bach, Versuch...trans.W. J. Mitchell, Essay...(London, 1949), pp.149-151). Mozart's father Leopold in his treatise on violin playing expresses repeatedwarnings againstthe shortening of notes. He says in the first chapter(thirdsection, end of ? 7), and then also on p.46 (in ?18): 'It may be playedthis or thatway but alwaysone mustbe atpainsnot to shortenthe second note, for this is a common fault'.WolfgangMozartwas trainedby his fatherto be precisein his notation of note values.Therefore,it is hard to imaginethatthese bassnotes in K 311 shouldbe playedshortened;they rather express 'the tenderness of adagios' of which C.P.E. Bach was speaking. But let us assume,for the sake of argument,that Mozart, ignoring his 345

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father's advice, was following C.P.E. Bach to the letter, and that he may have considered a performance of this passagewithout the 'pedal'. Alas, not even half of the note value can be sustained by the fingers only because the 5t' finger has to leave the lower key as soon as the 2nd or 3rd crosses over:

would become Example 12 Thus, the bass notes, if played without pedal, would become not half but only a quarter of their value - an absurdity, (As mentioned earlier, Mozart had not yet acquired a pedal pianoforte when he composed these works). However, there is no need to worry. If Mozart could not perform passages like these on his Walter fortepiano, all he had to do was to pay a visit to the countess of Thun who owned a Stein piano with knee levers. REPEATEI) PORTATO NOTES In certain types of passages the piano strings should not be 'beaten' by the hammers, but put into gentle continuing vibration, e.g. in Sonata in A minor, K 310/I1, bar 64.

Example 13 A similarexample is found in the Adagio, VariationVIII, bar 3, of the I)uport Variations,K 573.

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Example14 Such portatonotes are alsofound in the C-minor SonataK 457/II, bar 15 and at the end of the movement. (See alsoEx. 8). Even on a modernpiano with its double escapementaction it is difficultto renderthiswell without pedal.These softlyrepeatednotes (tenute)mustbe well distinguishedfrom the 'real'staccato,where the use of the pedal is

prohibitive e.g. in the A-minor sonata, K310/II, bar 15:

Example15 BROKEN CHORDS A fine exampleof these is found in the Concerto in D minor, K 466, 2nd movement.

Example16 Here the use or non-use of the pedal makes a remarkabledifferencein soundvolume. If this Concerto is playedwith orchestraon an 18th-century piano, in my experience the passageis even more in need of achieving as much resonanceaspossiblethanwhen playedon a modern concert grand: therefore,thispassageneeds pedalling. What about the following examples from the Romance of Mozart's Concerto in D minor, K 466?

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Example17, bb. 113-116. IC12,

Example18, b.142 Whose feet would not itch to use the pedalhere? HAND CROSSINGS IN LYRICALMOVEMENTS Dr. Maunder takes issue with Eva Badura-Skoda'sexample from the Variationmovement of the Piano Sonatain A major,K 331. He did no find her argumentconvincing, thata lifting of the dampershelpsto rendei this passagesatisfactorily. Var. IV

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~P tt1P-?) 19 Example D)r.Maundercomparesthis example with the hand crossingsfound in many Scarlattisonatas.Though in the following examplethe similarityis striking, there is an importantdifference: In the Scarlattisonatasthese cross-overs'occur-as far as I know-always in fastmovemlents,e.g. in the 1)-majorSonata,Longo 415, bb.81-87 (P4

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Example20 348

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In Mozart's variation movement from K 331, however, this hand crossing passageis not found in a fast movement but in an 'Andante grazioso',and in addition,this variationfeaturesa legato touch. Here the high notes in the thirdbar sound more 'gracious'with a bell-like quality produced by pedal. Yet, if hand crossings occur in Mozart's fast movements, such asin the thirdmovement of his Piano Concerto K 450, or in variousvariationworks for piano solo K 352, K 455 and K 460, no pedaluse is necessary. SINGING QUALITY OF SUSTAINED HIGH NOTES This aspectof pianoplayingis often overlooked,yet it is of vitalimportance in performance.A singlenote playedwith pedalhasmuch more resonance than without it. This is due to the sympatheticvibrationsof other strings: not only more resonance,but a longer durationof sound is achieved.This hasbeen clearlyobservedby L. Adam,see earlierabove. A few examplesmay suffice:

Example21: Concerto, K 466/II, b.40.

Ex. 22: Concerto, K 595, 2nd movement, bb.17 and 90: Andante cantabile con esprqssione

Ex. 23: K 310, 2nd movement, beginning:

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To another kind of long notes which get more resonance through pedalling belongs the first entry of the piano in Mozart's C-minor Concerto, K 491.

Example24 Some specialistsbelieve, however, that singing tone or pedalledhigh notes hardly constitute evidence of historical practice and may be inconsistentwith the 'speaking'qualitiesof the earlyViennese fortepiano. Some of the examplesquoted here may seem to be influencedby certain conventionsof modernpianoplaying.But the singingtone of the pianois not thatmodern- repeatedlyMozartasksfor it! Severalslow movements have the indication 'Andante cantabile' (K 310, 330, 333), The slow variationNo. 11 in the SonataK 284 (which accordingto Mozartsounded so well on Stein'spiano) is marked'Adagiocantabile',and in manyof his violin sonatasthe piano hasto compete with the melodiesof the violin, not only in the 'Andantinocantabile'from K 306 but in the Andanteof K 454 as well.

Example25 On the other hand the word 'parlando'(speaking), never appearsin Mozart'spiano works. CONCLUSION To sum up: D)r.Latcham'sstatementthatMozart'sconcert pianomadeby Walterhad originallybeen conceived with handlevers only, is a valuable contributionto the historyof the fortepiano.His theory,however,thatthe knee levers were installedlong after Mozart'sdeath, is based mainly on examinationof wooden partsandconstructiondetailsandis not sufficiently supportedby documents.On the other hand,there existsampleevidence that Mozart counted on the use of knee levers in his piano music. Therefore,the occasionaluse of the pedalin Mozart'sworksis historically fuillyjustified. 350 This content downloaded from 193.227.1.127 on Thu, 07 Aug 2014 16:56:17 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions