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.

Milchmeyer’s 1797 treatise is the first treatise mentioned to be specifically written for the piano. He talks about the prolonged touch within his writing of the legato style of playing. Legato is signified by a slur and requires a melting touch, according to Milchmeyer. He says that passages that only contain chord tones can be used in the legato style. At the end of this passage, he explains more explicitly that the style requires “that the fingers stay down longer, and on more notes.”1 This can be interpreted as a normal legato, but it can also be seen as a prolonged touch since more notes are being held down, such as the many chord tones. Milchmeyer also gives examples for passages that work or do not work with the legato style. For the interest of the prolonged touch, examples 5, 6, 7, and 8 are most interesting since they are passages that contain chord tones that can be held until the chord changes. Milchmeyer doesn’t give any indication of the French style and does not even explain the use of the slur through it, like many treatises do.

Adam’s Méthode de piano de Conservatoire from 1804 gives very detailed examples on the use of the slur to signify the prolonged touch. Figures # are two of these. These examples are actually musical passages rather than just a few chords. He also shows more possibilities in his examples in terms of different figurations of the chords and, more significantly, multiple harmonies under one slur. In the previously shown treatises, the slurs always indicated one harmony and with Adam, there are changes of harmony under a slur. Not only that, but he even (in figure 2.8) combines harmonies through their shared tones when under a slur. None of the other treatises examined in this research demonstrate this last point. The last, very surprising detail of figure 2.8 is that Adam ties notes across bar lines and past the length of slurs.

Figure 2.7. Adam’s slurred prolonged touch in sixteenths2

Figure 2.8. Adam’s slurred prolonged touch in triplets3

The Slur

The most common notation for the prolonged touch seen in Classical treatises is the slur. A slur over separated chordal tones indicated that those notes may be held until the harmony changed rather than their notated duration. From C. P. E. Bach’s Essay of 1753 through Adam’s Méthode de piano du Conservaotoire of 1804, the slur seemed to be commonly understood and used for indicating the possible use of the prolonged touch. Moscheles in 1853 recognized the slur for meaning the prolonged touch but preferred the French style, as already mentioned. The fact that he shows the slur first for creating the possibility that the technique can be used shows how universally understood it likely was at that time, if a little old fashioned.

The following figured depicts the manner that “slurred tones of broken chords are held” according to Bach.4 C. P. E. Bach mentions this notational practice first in his treatise rather than the French style, giving the slur as his normal way to notate the prolonged touch. He states that the advantages of the slurred notation are clearly evident. The advantage has to be the clarity of both reading and printing the score. When the French style is used like Bach does, there are many more characters (slurs, rests, ties) that have to be printed in comparison to the slurred notation. This means more time and cost to make the score. In addition, reading music with this many fine details can be much more tedious.

Figure 2.4. Bach’s slurred prolonged touch example5

Rigler’s treatise of 1779 is exactly in line with C. P. E. Bach’s view on the prolonged touch. He gives the simple explanation that “sometimes harmonic arpeggiations are also signified with this arc, whereby the first notes are held out until the last has been played.”6 His notated example give three chords of arpeggiated notes that are slurred. Below this he indicates in the French style that the chord tones are to be held until the end of the chord which is also the end of the slur. This is the same in notation to that of Bach’s treatise. His phrasing also suggests that it is an option for the performer to use the prolonged touch rather than a demand.

Figure 2.4. Rigler’s slurred prolonged touch example7

Türk’s treatise has the following description of the sustained touch: “When there is a curved line over harmonies which are to be slowly arpeggiated, as in the following examples, it is customary, especially in compositions of agreeable character, and the like, to let the fingers remain on the keys until the appearance of the next harmony.” We get much more detail in this description than Bach’s or Rigler’s. We also get more rhythmical and metrical ideas from Türk’s examples. His example illustrates what the slur means by notating the prolonged touch in the next part by use of the French style.