David Rowland traces the history of piano pedaling from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to its first maturity in the middle of the nineteenth century and beyond. Pedaling technique was a major feature of nineteenth-century piano performance and, coupled with new developments in piano structure, inspired many composers to write innovative works for the literature. Rowland examines this through the technique and music of composer-pianists such as Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin and follows the transition from harpsichord and clavichord to piano. The book also includes an appendix of translated extracts from three well-known piano-pedaling tutors.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: The Instruments: 1. The transition from the harpsichord and clavichord to the piano; 2. Stops, levers and pedals; Part II. Pedalling and the Early Pianists: 3. Documentary accounts of early pedalling; 4. Early technique of the pedals as described in tutors; 5. Early pedal markings; 6. Mozart and his contemporaries; Part III. Pedalling After c.1820: 7. The emergence of modern pedalling; 8. The sustaining pedal after c.1800; 9. Other pedals from c.1800; Appendix: J. P. Milchmeyer, Die wahre Art das Pianoforet zu spielen; Louis Adam: Méthode de Piano du Conservatoire; Daniel Steibelt, Méthode de Piano.