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Music room / Musical instruments / Four pedals on Clara Schumann's pianoforte?
Latest Post: March 11, 2010 at 6:00 AM
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Martin Karl says: (Follow this user)
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Probably Edna knows it, maybe also somebody else in this Pandalous network. I always wondered why the picture on the old 100-DM notes (German mark) with Clara Schumann on the frontside had a pianoforte with four (!) pedals on the backside. Does anyone know something about the function of the four pedals?



The picture is taken from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Mark.

 

March 10, 2010 at 3:01 PM
Penelope Rose says: (Follow this user)
7 followers

Interesting question. I don't have a theory about the pedals, but I wonder what the five tuning forks are doing on the right-hand side?

 

March 10, 2010 at 5:45 PM
Edna Stern says: (Follow this user)
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There were many different kinds of pianos in the 19th century, some with 2 and some with 4 or even more pedals. About these fours pedals, I assume that one pedal is for resonance-to hold the dampers up like today, one would be una corda (also like today, where the piano plays just one string), one could be celesta- even softer than una corda, and one could be the imitation of fagot- a different sound, much louder.

The pedals could be compared to the different registers of the organ in that they completely change the colour of the instrument. They were therefore used differently, not like we do today-which is all the time using a bit of both when we want more piano or more resonance, but more by sections. For example in variations pieces, each variation could be characterized by a different pedaling, offering another sound and atmosphere.

I have no idea about the tuning fork, but it could also be to show the multiplicity of tunings. Today all pianos are tuned at 440 (or 442?) Herz,, while at that time there were a few possibilities.

 

March 11, 2010 at 6:00 AM
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