Mozart and the Pedal

[ghob]

Hi,
I am currently learning Mozart's k. 457 (2. Adagio) in E-flat major, as part of my A2 music performance on Piano. Given that this piece was written for the forte-piano of late eighteenth-century Vienna, what would people suggest about how to pedal this, as I generally want a historically informed performance? Of course the piano did exist in Mozart's time, but it had much limited capabilities (eg the performance to pedal the entire first movement of op 27 #2) and therefore I could use some perspectives on how to pedal this movement.
Thanks in advance for any opinions.

btw the other piece I am playing is Bartok's Sz. 56 'six Romanian folk dances' 

https://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/b/b0/IMSLP00223-Mozart_-_Piano_Sonata__K_457.pdf

[ghob]

To add: I am playing from the ABRSM, Stanley Sadie edition 
 

[daniloperusina]

Hi!
The pianos in Mozart's time did have this function too.
It was a lever situated under the keyboard, above the right knee. Pressing this upwards raised all the dampers, just like our pedal does today.
We can safely deduct that he did use it since he refers to it in a letter to his father. But all he says about it is that he prefers how it operates on one particular piano he's trying out.
So indeed you could play the first mvt of op 27/2 as indicated, with the dampers raised all the way through.

Now, pedal-technique doesn't seem to have been discussed very much until the 20th century.
Beethoven is one of the first to indicate the use of it in his scores. In 27/2, mvt 1, he writes it as a general instruction at the top of the score: tutto questo piezzo [...] senza sordini this whole piece ... without dampers.
Later on, e.g in the Waldstein, he starts to write "ped" and "*" marks.
The next generation, in particular Schumann and Chopin, start to write pedalmarks in great detail. And moreover, the way they want it used is highly imaginative and not really the way we tend to use it today. It's very worthwhile studying and reflecting upon the effects rhythmically, structurally and colour-wise!

So, with Mozart we cannot say how to use it, but neither can we say how not to use it. Because there are no records about it, neither for nor against.

I think a good way to go about it is "if I use the pedal here, do I blur anything that should be a bit clearer?"
In bar 1, I would clear the pedal once every beat, perhaps slightly after each beat to create a very smooth, yet clear, legato line of the melody. I would also lift up the pedal the last half-beat so that the right-hand pause would be audible.
In bar 2 I would also be careful to observe the three pauses in the right hand, and the one pause in the left.
In bar 3, I'd like to hear each note in the bass as clearly as if played by a cello, since it is quite melodious. To use the pedal, you'd have to release it and re-employ it at every 16th-note.
In bar 25, I wouldn't like to just hear a blur in the bass, I'd like to hear that there are 16 16th-notes pumping Ab's and Eb's.

And so on. The point is not about pedalling or not, but about observing every detail there is in the score, i.e pauses, the notated lengths of notes when there are several voices going on, staccato marks, legato marks, dynamics. And as you can see, some passages are markedly more legato-ish, some more staccato-ish. Bring that out, and if needed, with a little help from the pedal.