Invention of the Sostenuto (and Steinway's involvement)

The Invention of the Sostenuto Pedal By Fred Sturm, RPT New Mexico Chapter Who invented the sostenuto pedal? The question is often asked, and various answers are given. Some say Albert Steinway invented it, citing his 1874-75 patents. Others give credit to the French piano maker Claude Montal, known also for his textbook on piano tuning and repair (first published in 1836) and for pioneering the idea that piano tuning and repair can be a good profession for the blind. (He was blind himself, and initiated the first training program for the blind in the 1830s in Paris.) Those are the two most commonly cited answers, but in fact neither one of them invented that third pedal in the middle that hardly anyone uses, but that seems to be a requirement for every self-respecting grand piano. The credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) for the invention of the sostenuto pedal actually belongs to the Boisselot brothers, piano makers from Marseilles in southern France. They invented this pedal at a time when many pianos already had four to seven pedals for various purposes, changing the tone by putting strips of leather between the hammers and the strings, operating drums and bells, laying parchment on the strings to produce a “bassoonlike” sound, etc. It was a time of constant experimentation and change in the world of pianos when the square piano began to be displaced by the upright, and the action of the grand was transforming from a simple jack attached to each key to the double-escapement action in use today. The Boisselot brothers received their patent for the sostenuto in 1843 or 1844.This was not their only patent of that time; they also patented a different pedal that received more attention. This particular pedal allowed one to play octaves by pressing one key, making it possible for amateurs to imitate the passagework in octaves of the virtuosi of the time. Both the octave pedal and the sostenuto were displayed at the Paris Exposition of 1844. A reporter wrote about them in detail in the June 30, 1844 edition of Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris, a weekly newspaper covering everything having to do with music (including the latest concerts by Liszt). The reporter, G. E. Anders, described with enthusiasm the possibilities of the octave pedal. It included, in fact, two different mechanisms. The first involved shifting the hammers and keyboard. Each note had five strings instead of three, but three were tuned to the standard pitch and two of them were tuned an octave lower. In rest position, the three standard strings would be struck, while in shift position the strings an octave lower would be struck along with standard strings, creating the sound of an octave.A second mechanism consisted of an intermediate lever that connected the key 24 Piano Technicians Journal / December 2011

to the hammer an octave higher and/or an octave lower at the same time. As the reporter enthused, when using both methods simultaneously, this meant one could play four keys in one hand and have sixty notes sound at once. Doing the same with both hands would mean one hundred and twenty notes at once! However, the reporter thought the other new pedal, à sons soutenus à volonté (sustaining tones at will), was more promising musically. He said that it would hold one or many dampers up as long as the pedal was depressed, while the others functioned as usual. It is unclear from the description exactly how the mechanism was designed: an escapement lever and a rocker are mentioned as holding the individual dampers up. But the reporter says he was astonished to see such a simple mechanism to serve so useful a function, and wondered that nobody had come up with it sooner. (I have been unable to gain access to the patent drawings thus far.) It seems that neither of these pedals was pursued for very long by the Boisselots, and they appear to have abandoned the sostenuto patent (It was necessary to pay an annual fee in France to keep a patent current and in effect.) In 1855, however, Claude Montal exhibited pianos, both grand and upright, with a pedal à sons prolongés (his own variant on the Boisselots’ term), described as having precisely the same function. His biography, published in 1857, states that he had first “executed” this pedal in 1844 and had later improved it. Montal had also exhibited pianos at the 1844 exposition, and no doubt he saw and heard about the pianos of the Boisselots. He was somewhat more persistent in his pursuit of this idea, exhibiting pianos with this feature again at the London exposition of 1862, though his major focus was on another pedal of his own invention, the expression pedal (It moved the hammers closer to the strings, at the same time

Zachariae’s complex damper lift system involved four pedals, each with four operating positions, requiring lifting or pressing with the toe.

Hanchett’s drawing with his patent application.

Albert Steinway’s sostenuto patent application drawing.

compensating in the keys and action so that there was no lost motion introduced.) Montal died in 1865, and the French version of the sostenuto seems to have died with him. The basic idea—sustaining certain notes while allowing the dampers of others to continue to function—was pursued in other ways by other inventors. Goudonnet and Lentz of France and Zachariae of Germany all devised complex pedal mechanisms that lifted certain small sections of dampers. They operated more or less on the principle of the bass sustain pedal of many upright pianos, but with many different combinations of smaller numbers of notes. Their complexity doomed them to failure. Zachariae patented his design in 1869 in the United States, and his description and drawings can be viewed at www.google.com/patents by searching for number 86621. We come now to the probable reinvention of this same principle in the United States, in 1874. (There seems to be no reason to suppose that the American inventors were aware of the European precedents.) The evidence is by no means complete and detailed, but there is enough of it, principally from the diary of William Steinway, to extrapolate a fairly convincing narrative. On May 9, 1874, M. Waldo Hanchett of Syracuse, NewYork filed a patent application for an “Improvement in Piano-forte Attachments.” He received patent #153766 for this invention on August 4, 1874. He proposed to call his invention a “sostenuto pedal” (apparently the first use of this name). Let us now look at some entries from William Steinway’s diary (available at www.americanhistory.si.edu/ steinwaydiary). The excerpts given below are complete as to the subject covered, as Steinway wrote in a very abbreviated style (without apostrophes and other punctuation, and with spelling errors):

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9/23/1874 - Hanchett from Syracuse has perfected his Apparatus on a style 2 Grandpiano, it is splendid

Musical Jury, which I show to Hauff He will transmit copy to Washington

10/02/1874 - Theodore, sends a new patent to be caviated, to be sostenuto pedal

The existence of the two earlier designs by Zachariae and Montal showed that Hanchett had not in fact been the original inventor of the sostenuto, undercutting his patent claim. The Steinways later found evidence of Montal’s earlier exhibit in 1855, in the Reports of the Jury of the Paris Exposition (This is the major source of the idea that Montal was the inventor.):

10/08/1874 - Albert & I take Alberts new sustaining pedal patent to Van Santvoord & Hauff who think that it is perfectly patentable 10/24/1874 - to my joy a letter is received from Wm. Hauff, that Alberts Sustaining Pedal has been granted. I telegraph to Theodore “Alberts Patent granted at Washington”,William Steinway 10/27/1874 - Show young Hanchett Alberts Patent and tell him that we do not want to enter into an contract with his father.

05/10/75 - Receive letter from Hauff that Commißioner Spier has dissolved the interference betweeen Alberts patent and Hollenbergs and Hanchetts application, and that both of the latter have been rejected on Repports of the Jury of the Paris Exposition of 1855

Meanwhile, Albert Steinway had been busy making improvements on his design. His first design only applied From this narrative, it seems likely that Hanchett decid- to square pianos (as had Hanchett’s), holding the ends of the ed to try to license his invention to Steinway (and possibly damper levers above the strings as opposed to being inside others), sending his son to show it to them. Presumably there the action itself. On May 15, 1875 he filed for three patents: were some bugs, so he made some improvements,“perfect- 164052, 164053, and 164054, for grand, upright and square ing the apparatus” (9/23/1874). Now we must speculate pianos respectively, which were approved on June 1. The as to the following events, but it seems fairly reasonable to patent designs for grand and upright actions were much suppose that William sent word to his older brother Theo- the same as those used by Steinway today. The design for dore, in Germany, of this promising new invention. About the square was changed so that the sostenuto rod lifted the a week later, Theodore sent a patent design for such a sos- dampers by a tab in the middle of the lever rather than lifting tenuto pedal (Note that he has used the same name as the the end of the lever. (Hanchett also filed for and received one given in Hanchett’s patent abstract.) This design seems a patent for an improvement to his original design, filing to have needed some tweaking also, so Albert worked on it March 6, 1875 and receiving patent #168484 on October for a few days, and they then took it to their patent attorney 5. Again, Steinway received considerably expedited service for vetting. from the patent office, two weeks as opposed to Hanchett’s The Steinways filed for a patent on October 15, 1874, seven months). and received patent #156388 in less than two weeks, on Steinway proceeded to include this pedal in all their October 27. It seems they had clout for expedited service grand pianos, and since their pianos were so successful on in the patent office, and it seems likely that there was no the concert stage, that option became a norm rather than thorough search of prior patents, or surely Hanchett’s would simply a curiosity. Hence, composers began to take advanhave been found. William Steinway then went to young tage of it in their compositions, Claude Debussy being one Hanchett to show him that the Steinways had no need of of the most important early users. Still, the number of comhis father’s sostenuto system. It is unclear whether Steinway posers and compositions needing this pedal was not overly knew that Hanchett had obtained a patent for his invention. significant, and most piano makers did not bother to include The Hanchetts filed a protest and a subsequent lawit. Broadwood, Bechstein, and Bösendorfer are some of the suit. In the course of defending themselves, the Steinways prominent makers who ignored the middle pedal in the late found Zachariae’s design, and also learned of Montal’s 19th and early 20th centuries, and prominent large-volume makers like Yamaha only made it standard for their grand exhibits: pianos in the late 20th century. It is clear that Steinway is responsible for the fact that most grand pianos today include 04/05/1875 - Albert in ev’g with Hauff to Washington for opposing Patent Interference. Albert takes Zacharia Pedal along a sostenuto pedal. So there you have it, the answer to a question that everybut forgets the Grand piano Action drawing. one is always asking.When you next play the piano version of Trivial Pursuit, you will be prepared.All kidding aside, the 04/25/1875 - Theo. brought from Maxwell information that story is a fascinating one, revealing much about the history Montal exhibited Sustaining Pedal at the exhibition of 1862 at London.We find in our Vault a Copy of the Report of the of the development of the piano. n

26 Piano Technicians Journal / December 2011