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W.A. Mozart was the first famous composer who showed a great interest in the so-called “pianoforte pedale”. He did his own design of the instrument and had it constructed around the year of 1782. In the years to come, Mozart played on this instrument at many concerts in Vienna, but more often for his friends at home. The instrument at issue was actually “hammerflügel” (fortepiano) with an additional pedalboard. Therefore, a pianist could play both with his hands and feet like an organist. Mozart, thus, discovered completely new sound potentials of the instrument. A century later, Robert and Clara Schumann got a similar instrument in 1845. They showed a great passion for the organ and wanted to rehearse at home. Here is what Clara wrote in their diary: “(…) it gives us a great pleasure. Our initial intention was to rehearse music pieces for the organ. But, Robert had shown a greater interest in this matter, so he composed Four Sketches Op. 58 and Studies Op.56, which will certainly awaken a great interest as something completely new.” And indeed, Robert wrote enthusiastically to a friend from Leipzig a few days later: “Frankly speaking, this idea means a lot to me, and I believe that it will bring a new impetus to the piano music. Rather amazing effects can be achieved thanks to the pedals (…)”. Thanks to Mendelssohn’s help (this musician was the head of Music Conservatoire in Leipzig at the time and played with a lot on the same instrument), Schumann succeeded in opening a special course of studies for the pedal piano. But, as we know today, the idea was not widely accepted. Therefore, Schumann’s precious music pieces for this instrument, the true pearls of romanticist music, deserve to be brought to live today on the reconstructed instruments. After Schumann, Franz Liszt, Sain-Saëns, César Franck, Charles Gounod and others composed music pieces for this instrument. Technically, the pedal piano can be connected to an independent body with its own bass strings, or even to a special sub-octave mechanism in the “ordinary piano”. There have been other combined versions as well. The most exciting part of playing the piano with feet, therefore a challenge as well, is the fact that a musician can achieve even the most sensitive nuances of dynamics (ppp → pp →mp →fortissimo) if he/she uses and controls his/her feet in an adequate manner. Some contemporary composers, such as Jean Guillou, have recently started to write for the pedal piano. By Dalibor Miklavčič