(Fr. piano à pédalier, clavier de pédales; Ger. Pedalflügel, Pedalklavier; It. pianoforte organistico).
A piano equipped with a pedal-board like that of an organ. Four types are known: those in which the pedals operate separate hammers to strike the same strings as the keys; those in which a separate set of strings with its own soundboard is installed below the main soundboard; those with a separate box containing pedals, action and strings, on which the piano itself is set; and uprights, where wire pull-downs on the keys are activated by the pedals. The pedal notes usually sound at the 16' pitch over a two-octave range. Some 18th-century instruments have a Short octave arrangement, such as the Johann Schmidt piano of the first type, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The third type was also known in the 18th century; Mozart had such an instrument, made probably by Anton Walter, and his father reported to Nannerl that the box was extremely heavy.
Some pedal pianos may have been used, like the Pedal clavichord and Pedal harpsichord, as practice instruments for organists. Mozart, however, improvised on his instrument in public, and perhaps performed the Piano Concerto in D minor k466 on it. A large number of pedal pianos, mostly of the third type, were made in the 19th and early 20th centuries; a few American examples exist, as well as European makes. In Paris, an instrument of the third type was invented by Pleyel, Wolff & Cie; the Viennese maker Joseph Brodmann also built instruments of this type (see illustration).
Schumann persuaded Mendelssohn to institute classes in pedal piano playing at the Leipzig Conservatory and wrote two works for the instrument: the Studien op.56 and Skizzen op.58. Other 19th-century composers who wrote music specially for the instrument include Alkan (Benedictus op.54, 11 grands préludes et une transcription op.66, Impromptu sur le choral de Luther op.69 and some études and fugues) and Gounod (Fantaisie sur l’hymne national russe and Suite concertante, both with orchestra).
J. Handschin: ‘Das Pedalklavier’, ZMw, xvii (1935), 418–19
E. and P. Badura-Skoda: Mozart-Interpretation (Vienna, 1957; Eng. trans., 1962/R, as Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard)
EDWIN M. RIPIN/EDWIN M. GOOD