<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>RE: 2nd Try on Sostenuto Research Resources</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3132" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Oh yes, that is a good book.  This is something from the Internet that might be helpful.  To my knowledge no one disputes that the Sostenuto was invented by the blind.  I'm sure that might hurt some peoples pride but...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Sostenuto pedal</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The last pedal to be added to the modern grand was the middle pedal, the ‘<BR>Sostenuto,<BR>’ which was inspired by the French. By using this pedal, a pianist can sustain selected notes, while other notes remain unaffected. The sostenuto was first<BR>shown at the<BR>French Industrial Exposition of 1844<BR>in Paris, by<BR>Boisselot and Sons,<BR>a Marseille company. French piano builders<BR>Alexandre Francois Debain<BR>and<BR>Claude Montal<BR>built sostenuto mechanisms in 1860, and 1862, respectively. These innovative efforts did not immediately catch on with other piano builders. In 1874,<BR>Albert Steinway<BR>perfected and patented the sostenuto pedal. (Williams 2002:26). He began to advertise it publicly in 1876, and soon the<BR>Steinway<BR>company was including it on all of their grands and their higher class uprights. (Banowetz 1985:4).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Other American piano builders quickly adopted the sostenuto pedal into their piano design. The sostenuto was never well-received in Europe, however. Even<BR>German-made<BR>Hamburg Steinways<BR>only put the sostenuto on their 9 ft. grands. (Banowetz 1985:4). Today, the sostenuto is on a few more European pianos, but it remains a standard fixture<BR>primarily on American-made grands. (Good 1982:22).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The term ‘sostenuto’ is perhaps not the best descriptive term for what this pedal actually does. ‘Sostenuto’ in Italian means “sustaining”. (Siepmann 1996:17).<BR>This definition alone would make it sound as if the sostenuto pedal accomplishes the same thing as the damper, or “sustaining” pedal. The sostenuto pedal<BR>was originally called the “tone-sustaining” pedal. (Banowetz 1985:4). That name would be more accurately descriptive of what the pedal accomplishes.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It is interesting that, of all the pedals that were experimented with on the piano throughout its development, the sostenuto pedal is one that took up permanent<BR>residence on the modern grand. Most pianists can go the majority of their playing career without using the pedal; very few compositions actually call for<BR>its use. Only a handful of composers, including<BR>Debussy,<BR>Ravel<BR>(Siepmann 1996:17),<BR>Griffes,<BR>call for the use of this pedal; the sostenuto still remains the least used pedal of the three on the piano.</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=tune4u@earthlink.net href="mailto:tune4u@earthlink.net">Alan Barnard</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, July 21, 2007 10:10 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: 2nd Try on Sostenuto Research Resources</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <P>Development of the sostenuto is discussed in Emil Fries' book, "But You Can Feel It", which is, by the way, a very interesting read. As I recall, it was a person from Africa (or of African decent) and he developed it in Paris, I think. <BR><BR>Alan Barnard<BR>Salem, MO<BR><BR></P> <DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px"> <HR> Original message<BR>From: PAULREVENKOJONES <PAULREVENKOJONES@AOL.COM> </PAULREVENKOJONES@AOL.COM><BR>To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A><BR>Received: 7/21/2007 10:33:36 AM<BR>Subject: 2nd Try on Sostenuto Research Resources<BR><BR> <P align=left>All: Surely there must be some resources out there that you might refer me to--people, textual, research threads--on the development of the sostenuto and its impact on piano composition. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks, Paul Revenko-Jones "If you want to know the truth, stop having opinions" (Chinese fortune cookie) All: Surely there must be some resources out there that you might refer me to--people, textual, research threads--on the development of the sostenuto and its impact on piano composition. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks, Paul Revenko-Jones "If you want to know the truth, stop having opinions" (Chinese fortune cookie) </P> <DIV>All:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Surely there must be some resources out there that you might refer me to--people, textual, research threads--on the development of the sostenuto and its impact on piano composition. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Paul Revenko-Jones</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV><STRONG>"If you want to know the truth, stop having opinions" (Chinese fortune cookie)</STRONG></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>