History of the piano
The piano has played an important role in the development of Western Classical music and other genres. Let’s have a look at the history of the piano- a versatile musical instrument.
The piano originated in the early 1700s in Italy around Florence. The word “piano” is a shortened form of the Italian word Pianoforte. The original Italian name for the instrument was gravicembalo col piano e forte.
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In the year 1709, it was considered the invention of Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian Harpsichord maker. Bartolomeo was employed as the keeper of the musical instruments by Prince Ferdinand di Medici. He had ample knowledge about stringed keyboard instruments. The credit for solving the greatest problem in the mechanical design of a piano must go to Bartolomeo. The basic problem with the design was that the hammer had to strike the string without remaining in contact with it for long. Also, the hammer had to return to the resting position easily, and rapid repetition of the note had to be possible.
Cristofori made about 20 pianos before his death. Out of which three still survive.
This instrument designed by Cristofori remained unknown until an article was published about it. After that, most builders modeled their design on Cristofori’s piano. Gotfired Sillberman was one of the builders who took inspiration from Cristofori’s piano design. The only difference between Cristofori’s and Sillberman’s design was that Sillberman included a prototype of Damper Pedal in his design.
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Piano making reached its peak in the early 18th century thanks to the Vienesse school. The Vienesse pianos were made of wooden frames and had leather covered hammers.
Today’s English pianos have less sustaining power than the piano’s during the time of Mozart. Johann Schmidtt of Austria made the first upright piano in 1780 which was later improved upon by Thomas Loud of London in 1802. He created an upright piano with diagonal strings.
From 1790 to about 1860, the instrument underwent significant changes to achieve the modern design. The industrial revolution also contributed significantly to the design of the modern piano. It provided the piano with technological resources such as precise casting methods for the production of iron frames and high quality steel for strings.
Over the years, the tonal range of the piano was increased from 5 to 7 ¼ octaves or more. John Broadwood, Robert Stodart and Amercicus Backers designed a piano that later came to be known as the grand piano. This feat was achieved in 1777. Their instruments were robustly constructed and had a powerful tone. The Vienesse instruments were more sensitive than these pianos.
In the 1820s, Paris had become the innovation center. In 1821, Sebastian Erard invented a mechanism called the double escapement action. This action allowed repetition of a note even before the hammer had returned to its rest position. A major innovation that has helped the piano become what it is today was the use of an iron frame. The function of this plate is to be the primary barrier against the string tension. The iron frame allows usage of a higher number of thicker strings. Another innovation was the replacement of layered leather hammers with felt hammer coverings.
