The History of Piano Pedals

The number and type of tone-modifying devices on 18th-century pianos varied substantially. Cristofori, the maker of the earliest pianos, used only the Una corda, which is found on two of his three surviving instruments.

The earliest extant pianos from Germany, made in the 1740s by Gottfried Silbermann, were the first to have a sustaining (damper-raising) stop. The effect produced by this stop imitates the sound of the Pantaleon, a type of large dulcimer also made by Silbermann, and was popular in mid-18th-century Germany. Silbermann also used an ivory mutation stop, which imitates the sound of the harpsichord by means of small pieces of ivory brought into contact with the strings just above the hammer's striking point. Additionally, a sustaining device was usual on later 18th-century German and Austrian grand pianos, and during the last quarter of the century the mechanism was normally operated by knee levers.

No pedal markings exist in music before the 1790s and other sources are generally reticent on the subject, although a few authors mention the use of the sustaining lever. C.P.E. Bach commented that ëthe undamped register of the fortepiano is the most pleasing and, once the performer learns to observe the necessary precautions in the face of its reverberations, the most delightful for improvisationí.

The use of pedals did not become common place as pedal use was considered gimmicky as best. Eventually, members of the London Pianoforte School began using the pedal as a serious tool Clementi, the oldest member of the School, included pedal markings in some works of the late 1790s, but they represent a much less developed approach than that of his younger contemporaries. Some German and Austrian musicians were very conservative in their use of the pedals (or levers). For example, while Beethoven's approach shared many similarities with that of members of the London Pianoforte School, Hummel was cautious: ëHummel's partisans accused Beethoven of mistreating the piano, of lacking all clearness and clarity, of creating nothing but confused noise the way he used the pedalsí.

Shortly after 1800 Viennese-style grands acquired something of a ëstandardí disposition of tone-modifying devices. The knee levers were replaced by four pedals: una corda, moderator, bassoon and sustaining. To these were sometimes added a second moderator and ëTurkish musicí (ëJanissary stopí), a stop with bells, drum and triangle or cymbal. A similar four-pedal disposition existed in France, although a Lute stop often replaced the bassoon. Pedals other than the sustaining, moderator and una corda were never highly regarded by professionals and largely died out in the 1830s. In England, the only pedals generally used were the una corda and sustaining. The latter was sometimes divided (as was the damper rail itself) to allow selective sustaining.

Refinements in pedalling technique developed quickly at the beginning of the 19th century. As 19th-century pianos became more resonant, increasingly sophisticated pedalling was called for; it is clear that Chopin, Liszt and some of their contemporaries exhibited all the essentials of a modern technique. These pianists had individual pedalling styles distinguished, for example, by the clarity of their playing and the extent to which they used the una corda. Some, including Beethoven, Kalkbrenner and Thalberg, made extensive use of the una corda, but others objected to the changes of timbre that its use caused in the middle of phrases, and reserved it for special effects in discrete sections. Extensive use of the pedals was condemned by a few writers: Friedrich Wieck lamented what he perceived as the excesses of pianists he associated particularly with Paris.

After the middle of the 19th century, the only significant development in pedalling was the invention of the selective tone-sustaining pedal ('sostenuto'). J.L. Boisselot exhibited such a device at the Paris exposition of 1844 and other mechanisms designed to achieve the same, or similar, effect followed. However, the principle of selective tone-sustaining became established only after Steinway patented the Sostenuto pedal in 1874. A few composers indicated this pedal in scores, but many others were reluctant to use it, especially in Europe, and its adoption by leading makers was a gradual process.