Editing Pedal keyboard (section)

===Repertoire===

The works of  [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[composer]], [[organist]], and [[pedagogue]]  [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]] (1562–1621) contain the earliest example of an independent part for the pedal, rather than a sustained bass drone. His work straddled the end of the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] and beginning of the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] eras, and he helped establish the [[German organ schools|north German organ tradition]].

[[Dieterich Buxtehude]] (1637–1707), who was the most renowned composer of his time, was famous for his "...virtuosity and innovation at the pedal board." The young Johann Sebastian Bach was influenced by Buxtehude, who used the pedal board "as a full-fledged keyboard and devot[ed] virtuoso passages to it."{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} [[J.S. Bach]] used the pedal to perform the melody in works such as his setting of the Christmas hymn, [[In Dulci Jubilo]], in which the main theme in the tenor voice is played in the pedal on a higher-pitched stop. Bach also wrote compositions that use the pedal for dramatic virtuoso displays of scales and figurated passage-work in preludes, toccatas, fantasias and fugues.

There are a small number of organ compositions that are written solely for the pedal keyboard. English organist and composer [[George Thalben-Ball]] (1896–1987) wrote a piece entitled “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” for pedal keyboard. Based on [[Paganini]]'s “[[Caprice No. 24 (Paganini)|Caprice No. 24]]”, a virtuoso work for solo violin, it includes pedal [[glissandi]], leaps from one end of the pedalboard to the other, and four-note chords.<ref>
{{cite web
 | url=http://www.sandiego.com/option,com_sdca/target,987cf78c-1c94-413c-ac39-c2847939cb95/
 | title=Olivier Latry Performs on the Spreckels Organ
 | date=2007-07-24
 | access-date=2008-05-24
}}</ref>

[[Firmin Swinnen]] (1885–1972) was a Belgian organist who became famous in the US in the 1920s for his [[theater organ]] improvisations during [[silent film]]s. Swinnen wrote a pedal cadenza for an arrangement of [[Charles-Marie Widor|Widor's]] ''[[Symphony for Organ No. 5 (Widor)|Fifth Symphony]]''. The cadenza was published separately by ''The American Organist''. The publisher promoted the cadenza it as the "most daring, the most musical Pedal Cadenza obtainable"; this praise is corroborated by reviewers who were at the performance, who remarked at the complex footwork required by the work.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} The symphony was performed 29 times during the week of its premiere, to "...literally screaming audiences...who had never seen such a sight as an organist up on a lift [platform] in the spotlight playing with his feet alone".<ref>Rollin Smith. ''Stokowski and the Organ''. Pendragon Press, 2004.</ref>

After injuring his left arm in 2008, the principal organist for the [[Mormon_Tabernacle_Choir|Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square]] ([[Richard Elliott (organist)|Richard Elliott]]) prepared an arrangement of “Go Tell It On the Mountain” which begins with an entire verse played solely on the pedalboard to accommodate his then-injured arm. As his arm healed he added additional verses with the most demanding notes played with his right hand. <ref>
{{cite web
 | url= https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/richard-elliott-pedals-over-one-million-youtube-views.html
 | title= Richard Elliott Pedals to Nearly 1.5 Million YouTube Views!
 | date=2017-03-03
 | access-date=2019-11-09
}}</ref> The [https://youtube.com/watch?v=m_HdrywerGE&feature=youtu.be  video of his unusual performance] has garnered millions of views on YouTube.

Although the pedalboard is most frequently used for the bass part, composers from the 17th century to the present have often used it for higher parts as well. In his serene ''Le Banquet Céleste'' [[Olivier Messiaen]] places the tune, registered for 4′ flute (and higher mutation ranks), in the pedals.

From the early 20th century, composers have increasingly demanded an advanced pedal technique at the organ.  Performers display their virtuosity in such works as [[Wilhelm Middelschulte]]'s ''Perpetuum mobile'', [[Leo Sowerby]]'s ''Pageant'' (1931), and [[Jeanne Demessieux]]'s ''Six études'', Op. 5 (1944), which recall the dramatic organ pedal solos of the Baroque era.