pianos

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History Of Pianos

Pianos have a very interesting history. There were various crude attempts early in modern history to make a stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. The general consensus, though, is that the piano was invented by a single individual, Bartolomeo Cristofori from Italy.

It is not known exactly when Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first piano. He was empoloyed by the Medici family and an inventory made by them in 1700 indicates the existance of a piano at that time. There are only three Cristofori pianos that still survive today. These pianos date from the 1720's.

Pianos are like many other inventions. They were built using earlier technological innovations. In particular, pianos benefited from centuries of work on the harpsichord. The work on the harpsichord had figured out very effective ways to construct the case, the soundboard, the bridge and the keyboard. Cristofori was an expert harpsichord maker and was well versed with the knowledge of harpsichord construction. He used this knowledge in his creation of pianos.

The great success attributed to Bartolomeo Cristofori was that he solved, without prior example, the basic mechanical problem of piano design. He had to figure out how the hammers would strike the strings, but not touch them once they had been struck so that the sound would not be dampened.

Cristofori also had to figure out how the hammers would return to their rest position without bouncing uncontrollably. He also needed the piano to be able to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's pianos served as a model for many different approaches to pianos that followed.

The early Cristoferi pianos were made with thin strings and were much quieter than modern pianos. Compared to the clavichord, the only previous keyboard instrument capable of subtlety, however, they were a lot louder and had a lot more sustaining power.

Cristofori's pianos remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about them in 1711. Maffei included a diagram of the mechanism. The article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of builders of pianos started their work because they read it.

One of the builders of pianos that was influenced by the article was Gottfried Silbermann. He had been best known as an organ builder. His pianos were virtually direct copies of Cristofori's pianos, with one important addition. Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal for pianos that lifted all the dampers from the strings at once.

Silbermann showed Johann Sebastian Bach one of his early pianos in the 1730s, but Bach did not like it at that time. Bach claimed that the higher notes were too soft to allow a full dynamic range. This criticism earned Bach some ill will from Silbermann, but the criticism was apparently observed. Bach did approve of later pianos that he saw and even worked as an salesman in selling Silbermann's pianos.

The making of pianos flourished during the late 18th century. In the Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas Stein and the Viennese makers Nannette Stein and Anton Walter, Viennese-style pianos were built with wooden frames. There were only two strings per note, and they had leather-covered hammers.

It was for the Viennese pianos that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas. There are even replicas of these pianos built today for use in authentic-instrument performance of his music. The pianos of Mozart's day had a softer, clearer tone than today's pianos. They had less sustaining power as well. There is a common term now for pianos that were built in the 18th century. This term is fortepiano.

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