pedal-keyed piano

[mhb]

In "Red Cotton Night-Cap Country" Robert Browning writes that his main character, a man who had lost both hands, was able to play "on a piano pedal-keyed." Apparently the man was able to play the keys by pressing pedals with his feet. The action takes place in France in the 1860s. Does anyone know of such a piano?

[Bill Kibby]

Many makers produced a "Pedalier" or pedal keyboard, and some were that early, but like an organ pedalboard, these only played the lower bass notes. The only other angle that comes to mind is a device called a "piano player" which could be pedalled, and would play the piano notes with mechanical fingers, controlled by a punched card or paper roll. I believe the first of these was the "Pianista", invented in 1863, so just about right for the story, although not well-described for someone so eloquent!

[mhb]

Thanks very much for the help, but Fourneaux's 1863 Pianista won't do because it was operated by a hand crank, and, as I said in my first posting, the man who plays it has no hands. I don't think the pedalier is right either because the player simultaneously plays the keyboard. It must be a player piano but one whose pneumatics are produced by pedals rather than a hand crank.

[Bill Kibby]

You're absolutely right, and by coincidence, I have just finished politely telling another website that they were talking a dufferent kind of rubbish about the Pianista! I can say with some confidence that there were no pedal-operated Piano Players then, and no Player Pianos. Browning died in 1889, do we know when he wrote this piece?

[mhb]

We know exactly when Browning wrote it because he dated the poem on the manuscript: begun 1 December 1872 and finished 23 January 1873. The main character, the one without hands who plays the "pedal-keyed piano," is based on a real person who died on 13 April 1870. Browning knew a lot about music, so I don't think it likely that he made a mistake.

[Bill Kibby]

It's a puzzle isn't it? I think I would plump for a pedalier, there is no other way a piano of the 1860s could be played with the feet, unless this was made especially for the man. It is conceivable that a standard pedalier could be linked to higher than usual notes, giving perhaps the middle 3 octaves or so. Many organists play pedals with both feet when required to. If it was like that, I wonder where the instrument is now!

[mhb]

The reason why I posted the query is that I'm writing notes for an edition of Browning. I think you're right about the pedalier. I found some information on the internet that said that Alkan composed a couple of pieces for the feet only, and so Browning's character could conceiveably play only in the lower octaves. Here's the note:

Possibly a piano pedalier, which has thirty-two pedals, ranging from bottom A through D above middle C. Such a piano was built by the Parisian firm of Erard and shown at the 1855 Paris Exhibition.

Thanks so much for your help.
Michael Bright