How did Chopin play – vol. 8

‘For Thalberg plays solidly, but he’s not my sort of man. […] He renders his piano by using the pedal, not with his hand,’ young Chopin criticized the playing style of the Austrian virtuoso Sigismund Thalberg in a letter to Jan Matuszyński. The issue of pedalling remained very important to the composer in later years, as we learn from the accounts of his students. ‘In the use of the pedal he had likewise attained the greatest mastery, was uncommonly strict regarding the misuse of it, and said repeatedly to the pupil: “the correct employment of it remains a study for life”’ – said Friederike Müller-Streicher. ‘Use the pedal with the greatest economy’ – Karol Mikuli confirmed, and Auguste Franchomme quoted the words of the Master: ‘Learn to make a diminuendo without the help of the pedal; you can add it later.’

Kamila Stępień-Kutera