Beethoven according to Moscheles

A film by Aurélien Poidevin about Pierre Goy's research project.

The use of the pedal in Beethoven's sonatas raises a number of questions. Very few pedal indications were written by Beethoven. Yet we know from Czerny (Méthode op. 500) that Beethoven used the pedal much more often. In 1858, Ignaz Moscheles published Beethoven's sonatas for the second time. In the preface he indicated that he wished to pass on the performance instructions, particularly those concerning the pedal.

The aim of the project was to explore Moscheles' edition of the Beethoven sonatas. With six students from the HEMU in Lausanne and the HEM in Geneva-Neuchâtel, this edition was put into practice on instruments from Beethoven's time, contemporary with it, and then on modern instruments. This research has made it possible to highlight the various stylistic and organological aspects of pedal playing and to deduce from the Moscheles edition rules for the use of the pedal in Beethoven's works.