The evolution of blur: a history of early piano pedaling in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Date
2021
DOI
Authors
Schaefer, Ann
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
This study provides a historical contextualization of fortepiano pedaling trends in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A brief history of the development of the fortepiano by region illuminates the complex narrative of the evolution of fortepiano technology. The symbiotic relationship of evolving fortepiano innovation and the emergence of disparate schools of fortepianism is confirmed in the pedagogical writings of important fortepianist-composers C. P. E. Bach, Johann Peter Milchmeyer, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Carl Czerny, Louis Adam, Daniel Steibelt, and Johann Baptist Cramer. Their playing ideals and compositional techniques set the precedent for the long pedal markings of Ludwig van Beethoven. A large portion of this study is devoted to the influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven was seen as Mozart’s successor, both as a composer and on the public stage of Vienna’s lively concert scene, but undamped textures in Mozart’s post-Salzburg piano concertos deserve greater recognition as an influence on Beethoven’s style. The final chapter of this study provides an in-depth analysis of undamped effects in Beethoven’s fortepiano and orchestral music.
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