The Prolonged Touch: Finger Pedaling and Legatissimo in Classical and Early Romantic Piano Music

Blake Proehl

The term prolonged touch comes from Carl Czerny and is synonymous with finger pedaling, legatissimo, overlegato, and, in some cases, legato. This was a common technique used by the early pianists who took it out of the practices of harpsichord, clavichord, and organ playing. Its use in piano music declined during the Romantic period and beyond, due to the development of the piano and its sound, the advancement of damper pedal technique, and a more "literal” reading of notation. My research aims to understand how and where in music the prolonged touch was used in Classical and early Romantic piano music. Passages describing this technique were found in treatises and works by C. P. E. Bach, Türk, Milchmeyer, Adam, Hummel, Moscheles, Czerny, and more. From these passages, I examined the ways the aforementioned composers notated or indicated the use of this technique in their compositions. Next, based on what the treatises tell, I organized categories of musical applications of the prolonged touch. And then I gave examples from piano literature to further illustrate their use within each category. Finally, I demonstrated my artistic use of the prolonged touch in Mozart’s Sonata in F major, K. 332.

Mozart K. 498

Mozart’s Trio in E-flat major K. 498, “Kegelstatt” for clarinet, viola, and piano from 1786 provides a few interesting examples of where finger pedaling can be a highly effective tool. The trio would have been performed and composed on a Viennese five-octave piano, assumedly with a knee-lever.

Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 for clarinet, viola, and piano (1786), mm.62-681

In the first movement, Andante, at mm. 64-68, all three instruments are at a greater level of volume and activity with the harmony wavering every bar between a G major chord and a C minor chord. The pianist’s right hand and the viola are passing the primary theme back and forth while the pianist’s left-hand plays arpeggios and the clarinet is in harmonic counterpoint. Throughout this passage, the left hand is giving the harmony as a slurred eighth-note arpeggio and is helping to keep intensity by creating texture and plenty of sound in the bass.

To get the most volume and harmonious sound, sustaining the chord tones in the left hand is essential and the sustain moderator can be used for that purpose in the measures with a G major harmony.2 However, due to the right hand having the theme, which contains notes out of the C minor harmony, the sustain moderator would cause too much blurring of the melodic line. If the moderator is changed as needed, notes of the harmony are lost and I think the left-hand sounds less rich and ringing compared to the previous measure despite there being no notation to suggest a change. My solution to this problem is to use finger pedaling in conjunction with clean sustain moderator use throughout this passage to maintain the clarity of the right hand and provide a continually sonorous bass part. The indication of a slur on each measure of harmony reaffirms this choice since it is in line with what C. P. E. Bach says in his treatise about the slurred tones of broken chords being held throughout the same harmony.3

Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 for clarinet, viola, and piano (1786), III. Rondeaux - Allegretto, mm. 1-4

Another good example in this work occurs in the third movement, Rondeaux - Allegretto. In the opening statement, the clarinet has the theme and the piano provides texture and harmony. During these measures, the sustain moderator would normally be used within harmonies, much like the damper pedal on the modern piano. This creates a rich harmonic sound in the background of the theme.

Because this is a rondo form, the theme comes back many times in a variety of ways that allow for comparison. Twice when it comes back (mm. 59 and 185), the piano is alone so it must both provide the theme and the full accompaniment. During these repetitions, the bass line is mostly the same, but the left-hand takes on the textured pattern, an Alberti bass, which the right hand previously had in the opening statement. Meanwhile, the right hand now has the theme. If a full harmonic sound is desired similar to the opening statement, I don’t think the sustain moderator can be solely used. During the first half of m. 59, the sustain moderator can be used without a problem; however, in the second half of m. 59 and through to m. 62, the use of sustain moderator cannot provide a consistent sound due to the number of non-chord tones in the right hand. Relying on the sustain moderator for the lush harmonic sound will result in dry areas and a loss of harmony in these places where the moderator has to be changed or not used at all. Not to mention that the articulation for some the theme will be lost if the sustain moderator is used too much. My proposal for using finger pedal can help to give a more consistently sonorous sound when used along with the sustain moderator. Note that the bass is slurred, so a legato chord is desired and finger pedaling is certainly permitted. I believe the resulting sound will be much closer to how the opening statement’s accompaniment sounded.

Trio in E-flat major, K. 498 for clarinet, viola, and piano (1786), III. Rondeaux - Allegretto, mm. 58-66

With regard to the left hand, I think the end result of the sound should be rich and sustain the harmony as much as possible. Pedaling alone is possible when only the left hand is played, but once the right hand is added, due to articulation and non-chord tones, pedaling needs to be modified. The easiest modifications are a thinner pedaling and clearing the pedaling more often. My concerns with this method are that notes will be lost and the left-hand lacks the sound it had without the right hand. I use finger pedaling to remedy this issue. In each measure, I hold the chord tones in my left hand until the note has to be struck again or until the chord changes. In conjunction with fractional pedaling and clearing the pedal more often, this allows for a rich and resonant left hand that keeps all of the chord tones sustained while the right hand's articulations and turns can be clearly heard.

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