Piano pedals (3) - the sostenuto pedal and the rest!

"There are three pedals on these grand pianos. Don't let that confuse you - the pedal in the middle is there to separate the other two pedals - which will be wonderful news for people with three feet." - Victor Borge
 
Having covered the sustain pedal and the various soft pedals in previous articles, a few pedal functions still remain to be covered. The most commonly found of these are the sostenuto pedal and the bass damper pedal, but there are a few others as well, many of which could fall into the category of the "weird and wonderful". The middle pedal on a grand piano is normally the sostenuto. The middle pedal on an upright is often a celeste pedal (most modern uprights, and the small number of older German uprights that have a third pedal), occasionally a sostenuto pedal (a few, mostly modern, uprights), sometimes a bass damper pedal (older American uprights) and sometimes, as I mentioned in the last article, a dummy pedal.

The sostenuto pedal

The sostenuto is a selective sustain pedal - when it is engaged it will hold off the dampers on any notes that are already pressed down at that moment, but not the others. On a grand piano, the typical mechanism for this is seen in the diagram below:

The sostenuto rail is a rotating metal strip which is mounted at the back of the action in roughly the position shown in blue. The pedal rotates the sostenuto rail as shown by the green arrow, when it catches the red protrusion on the front of the damper knuckle on any notes already pressed. The damper is actually forced upwards a little by the rail, so the other dampers can continue to function normally.

The sostenuto was first developed by French piano makers Boisselot & Fils and first displayed at the French Industrial Exposition of 1844. However, the innovation was not taken up by other European makers; it was eventually adapted by Albert Steinway and patented in the US in 1874. It was subsequently fitted to Steinways and other American-made pianos, but was accepted by European makers as a matter of course only relatively recently. Interestingly, the Steinway company themselves reflected this difference - older Steinways made at the New York factory generally have the sostenuto pedal, older Steinways made in Hamburg don't. This pedal is found on nearly all modern grands but only on a few upright models.

As sostenuto pedals are quite rare in the UK, many people will never have had the opportunity to play one, so here's pianist Frederick Hodges enthusing about the advantages:

Bass damper lift pedal (uprights only)

This is just like the sustain pedal, and works in much the same way, but instead of lifting off all the dampers, raises those in the bass section of the piano only. This is sometimes found on American uprights, but is extremely rare on pianos that are found in the UK, since (as already mentioned), most older European-made pianos only have two pedals, and the mainly modern instruments that do have three normally have a celeste as the middle pedal. For the same reason, dummy middle pedals that don't do anything at all are very rare on European-made pianos.

The bass damper lift is sometimes referred to as a "faux sostenuto" since it will allow (for example) the sound of a bass chord to be sustained independently. 

Four or more?

The pedals already described cover almost all of those found on modern instruments. A very small number of modern grand pianos have a fourth pedal which is a half-blow pedal (in the same manner as an upright) - this is found on certain models by Italian manufacturers Fazioli and Australian makers Stuart & Sons (and possibly others). Also, a few models (including some by Feurich) have a fourth pedal, located to the right of the sustain pedal, which is called the "harmonic pedal" - this seems to have the effect of raising the dampers to allow resonance of the other strings, but reapplying the damper to the note that has just been played.

...and the just plain kitsch...

On some early pianos (pre-1850), a large variety of different pedal functions can be found, some of which have a "novelty" function. These were typically found on Viennese-made instruments (e.g. British-made instruments of the period rarely have more than two pedals). Examples include:

• The lute pedal pressed a piece of leather, wool or silk against the strings to damp vibration, producing a sound supposedly like a lute.
• The moderator pedal  was a forerunner of the celeste pedal, placing material (commonly leather) between the hammer and strings.
• The bassoon pedal caused a piece of parchment or similar material to come into contact with the strings to give a buzzing sound, allegedly imitating a bassoon.
• The janissary pedal was associated with a variety of percussive effects such as a felted drumstick hitting the soundboard, or striking a cymbal or bell. As the name suggests, this was associated with the fashion for "Turkish music" that peaked around 1800 - these effects were sometimes associated with performances of Mozart's "Rondo all Turca". Sometimes there were several pedals e.g. one for a drum, one for a cymbal and one for a bell.
• The cembalo pedal was a name given to various systems with the objective of making a "harpsichord-like" sound. Certain early pianos even had a second set of wooden hammers as opposed to the normal (at this period) leather-covered ones to achieve this. Another method was a strip of cloth or leather lowered in front of the strings with metal clips on, to give a jangling or tinny effect, a bit more like the sound of a harpsichord. This survived later in the form of a "mandolin rail", a similarly designed attachment occasionally used on pianos in the 20th Century to give a "honky-tonk" effect, though this latter device was commonly lowered into place by hand rather than with a pedal.

Here's a demonstration of some of these effects on a piano from 1815 by the Viennese maker Thym:

And the "Rondo Alla Turca" on an early 19th Century Rosenberger piano:

These "novelty pedals" had largely been abandoned by the 1840s, much to the relief of music critics and many listeners as well!