Pedalling in Pianoforte Music (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 Excerpt: ...which is one of the greatest interpretative difficulties a pianist is likely to encounter, is well illustrated in the above extracts. The pedal should, if used in a legato phrase, be kept down till the conclusion of such phrase. It also should, when down, be kept down as long as the harmony remains unchanged. But it happens often that, first, the harmony changes in the course of a phrase, or, secondly, that two phrases, or two sections of the same phrase, separated by a rest or rests, have the same harmony. The opening bar of the Impromptu in A flat of Chopin supplies an example of the former, the B Major extract from the Fantaisie (No. 69) of the latter. The pedalling suggested for the Impromptu is given below. In the Fantaisie the edition quoted sacrifices the phrasing in a measure for the sake of retaining the harmony. In dealing with phrases, broken by rests that are encountered, not at the end, but during the progress of a work, the claims of the phrase against that of the harmony must be nicely weighed. The student after careful application, should not be afraid to trust his own judgment, and to ignore the pedal markings in even the best editions if he feels impelled by what seem to him adequate reasons, to adopt a contrary course. Passing Notes In The Concluding Tonic Harmony. With regard to the difference made by the presence or absence of passing notes, many illustrations spring to the mind. In Chopin's Valse in A flat (Op. 34, No. 1), the pedal should be raised before the two final bars on account of the presence of passing notes in the preceding harmony, and be put down afresh for each of the concluding chords. In the same composer's Valse in F (Op. 34, No. 3), the pedal need not be released, on account of the entire absence of passing-notes. A s...