history of piano
History Of The Piano
The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence, Italy. When he built his first piano is not entirely clear, but Franceso Mannucci wrote in his diary that Cristofori was working on an "arcicembal che fa il piano e il forte" ("harpsichord that plays both softly and loudly") as early as 1698. All of his surviving instruments date from the 1720s. Cristofori built only about 20 pianofortes before he died at age 75 in 1731, roughly 21 years after he invented the first pianoforte.
The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. In particular, it benefited from centuries of work on the harpsichord, which had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, the soundboard, the bridge, and the keyboard. Cristofori was himself a harpsichord maker and well acquainted with this body of knowledge.
Cristofori's great success was to solve, without any prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammers must strike the string but not continue to touch it once they have struck (which would damp the sound). Moreover, the hammers must return to their rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's piano action served as a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that were to follow.
Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin clavichord strings and were much quieter than the modern piano. However, they could produce a wider range of dynamics than the clavichord, and the sound sustained longer.
Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it, complete with diagrams of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work as a result of reading it.
One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's pianos were
The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence, Italy. When he built his first piano is not entirely clear, but Franceso Mannucci wrote in his diary that Cristofori was working on an "arcicembal che fa il piano e il forte" ("harpsichord that plays both softly and loudly") as early as 1698. All of his surviving instruments date from the 1720s. Cristofori built only about 20 pianofortes before he died at age 75 in 1731, roughly 21 years after he invented the first pianoforte.
The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. In particular, it benefited from centuries of work on the harpsichord, which had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, the soundboard, the bridge, and the keyboard. Cristofori was himself a harpsichord maker and well acquainted with this body of knowledge.
Cristofori's great success was to solve, without any prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammers must strike the string but not continue to touch it once they have struck (which would damp the sound). Moreover, the hammers must return to their rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's piano action served as a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that were to follow.
Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin clavichord strings and were much quieter than the modern piano. However, they could produce a wider range of dynamics than the clavichord, and the sound sustained longer.
Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it, complete with diagrams of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work as a result of reading it.
One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's pianos were