The History of the Piano

The first historical mention of instruments is in Genesis 4:21. The King James Version reads as follows: “And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ”. The first instrument in history to have a keyboard was the Hydraulis, the precursor of the modern organ. It was built in Greece about 220 B.C. By the Second Century A.D. the organ was commonly used at important festivities in Greece and the Roman Empire.

The earliest keyboards were played with the hands, wrists, fists, knees, or feet. Up to the 13th Century the scales were diatonic (as in GABCDEF) rather than the twelve tone chromatic scale we use today.

The piano is founded on earlier technological innovations. The 14th and 15th Centuries saw the development of different kinds of keyboard stringed instruments. Some came with hammers, including the chekker, dulce melos, and clavichord. Some were plucked instruments, including the virginal, spinet and harpsichord.

In this discussion of the history of the piano, let’s now talk about its inventor. Who invented the piano? The modern piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua. He was an expert harpsichord maker, employed by Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of the Instruments. The first piano he built was about the year 1700 or 1698. Historians are not in total agreement as to the exact date. The keyboard looked different to today’s piano keyboard layout; the natural keys were black while the accidentals were white. It was Sebastian LeBlanc who suggested that the black and white keys be switched. The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.

At the time of Bartolomeo Cristofori’s invention of the piano, the most popular keyboard instruments were the harpsichord and the clavichord. Both of these instruments looked like the piano that exists today. The major difference between them and a modern day piano is the way their sound was produced. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills.

A major drawback of the harpsichord was the fact that the dynamics (loudness or softness) of each note couldn’t be controlled. This meant that composers couldn’t evoke emotion in their music as needed. The clavichord aimed to improve on this shortcoming. While it still plucked at strings, it allowed the strings to continue vibrating as long as the key was depressed. As a result players had more control over the volume of their instrument. The technically more advanced clavichord became very popular but it still had its weaknesses. Although it allowed artists to be more expressive, the tone of the harpsichord was too delicate. It was not suited for large hall performances and would often be drowned by other instruments.

The piano was likely formed as an attempt to combine the loudness of the harpsichord with the control of the clavichord.

Cristofori was able to solve the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the key but not remain in contact with it. That was the problem with the clavichord: the tangent remained in contact with the clavichord string, thus dampening the sound. Additionally, it was imperative that the hammer return to its rest position without bouncing violently, and that the instrument allow one to repeat a note rapidly. Thanks to the work of Cristofori, this was now possible. Many different approaches to piano actions followed, all modeled after Cristofori’s piano action. Although Cristofori’s early instruments came with thin strings and were much quieter than the modern piano, they were significantly louder and had more sustaining power than the clavichord.

Cristofori’s new instrument was known as the pianoforte because it allowed players to produce notes at different dynamic levels by controlling the inertia with which the hammers hit the strings. The original Italian name for the instrument is clavicembalo (or gravicembalo) col piano e forte (literally harpsichord capable of playing at the normal level, and more strongly).

Many years after the first version of the piano was created it was still called a harpsichord. This has made it difficult to know this specific aspect of the history of the piano, whether the great composers of the age such as Scarlatti or Vivaldi knew of its existence. The word pianoforte, shortened later to piano, appeared only in 1732.

Cristofori’s piano was largely unknown until 1711 when an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei wrote about it. His article was a very enthusiastic one and included a diagram of the mechanism. Subsequently, many piano builders started their work because of what they read in that article. One example was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. He built pianos that were direct copies of Cristofori’s except for one important addition; he invented the forerunner of the damper pedal we use today. It lifts all dampers from the strings at once.

Johann Sebastian BachWhen speaking about the history of the piano, mention must be made of Johann Sebastian Bach. When Silbermann first showed Bach one of his early instruments in 1736, he did not like it. According to legend, Bach did not think much of its sound. He was said to have destroyed it with an axe. Bach later saw a new instrument in 1747 and approved it. At the time, he was visiting Frederick the Great of Prussia at his court in Potsdam. He improvised an impressive three-part figure on a theme suggested by the king. The instrument caught the attention of composers across Europe. Its fame extended to the British colonies in America. Having a piano in the home became the height of fashion for high-ranking nobles in these colonies.

The history of the piano – the second half/late eighteenth century

The second half of the eighteenth century was characterized by rapid development of the piano. The instrument was made by a number of manufacturers with a focus on coming up with a more powerful, sustained sound. There were English pianos with a heavier mechanism and louder volume while Austrian pianos had a lighter mechanism and softer timbre. The first pianists began to perform in public on this new generation of pianos produced by Broadwood, Stein, Streicher, Zumpe and Tschudi.

During the late 18th century, piano-making flourished in the Viennese school which included the likes of Johann Andreas Stein and the Viennese makers Nannette Streicher and Anton Walter. Viennese-style pianos featured wood frames, two strings per note, and leather-covered hammers. Some of these pianos came with black natural keys and white accidental keys, the opposite of modern day pianos and keyboards. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas for such instruments. The pianos of the Mozart era had a softer more ethereal tone than today’s pianos or English pianos, and had less sustaining power.

By the mid 18th century, Romanticism in the arts became all the rage and the piano’s popularity rose sharply. Romanticism encouraged the expression of emotions through art, and because of the piano’s expressive characteristics, musicians chose it over other instruments. Composers began composing more piano music and solo piano performances in concert halls were often sold out. One performer who is known for his extraordinary piano performances in front of hundreds of adoring females is Franz Liszt. By today’s standards he was what we would call a musical superstar.

As we’ve already seen in our discussion of piano history, the piano underwent tremendous  inventions and  improvements in its construction throughout the years. This gave rise to more sophisticated, more refined and subtle playing techniques. For instance, there were richer dynamics as a result of strings stretched diagonally in a sound box, which Loud did in 1802. Broadwood invented the metal frame in 1815. Erard introduced the double hopper and thicker strings in 1822. Pape substituted felt for leather on the hammers in 1826. In 1842, Pape increased the range of keyboard to eight octaves (Beethoven’s Streicher piano came with only six and a half octaves). Bord reinforced strings with a metal bar in the year, 1843. This increased their resistance to the hammer blows.

A modern grand piano.As a result of all these innovations the mechanics of the piano was more balanced and responsive and the keyboard’s touch was improved. One great innovation was the double hopper. The double hopper permitted the rapid repetition of notes and better control of dynamics. The basic features of the piano as we know it today were established in 1859, with the first appearance of the Steinway concert grand piano.

The Americans played had their part to play in piano history. It was the Americans who brought the once expensive piano to the homes of middle-class families. The cost of pianos was significantly reduced, thanks to new assembly-line techniques and standardized piano parts. By the end of the 19th century, the instrument was a must-have for every household. It was very easy to store the piano at home, as a result of the functional upright design. There was really no excuse for not buying a piano, with pre-made piano parts made for easy assembly and mail-order catalogs with generous installment plans. The piano became very popular among women. Women were encouraged to learn to play the piano. A woman who could play the piano was perceived as a refined woman. Any woman who could play the piano, be a good cook and have needlepoint skills would find marriage in a flash. It was a great way for women to earn money through piano lessons.

During the 1920s, the piano was a hallmark for working class communities. According to the Smithsonian’s Piano 300 Exhibition in Washington DC, African-Americans had been using the piano in their gospel worship services since after the Civil War. Towards the beginning of the 20th Century, African Americans began to experiment with the instrument. New musical styles like ragtime and jazz were created by new composers such as Scott Joplin. These styles became the basis for American popular music in the latter half of the 20th century.

What impact did new inventions have on piano history

With the invention of the radio, phonograph and movie industry, the piano’s popularity was threatened. Piano sales fell in the Depression of the 1930s leading manufacturers to introduce player pianos. These player pianos were fed with music sheets resembling giant punch cards, which mechanically depressed the correct keys. Manufacturers, in an effort to stimulate interest in the piano, focused on economy and appearance as opposed to quality and performance. By the 1940s, baby grands and spinets were the piano models of choice among consumers and the same applies today.

In modern times the digital piano sells more than the grand piano (by far). Several factors contribute to this including the higher cost of grand pianos, the portability of digital pianos, and the presence of so many voices and features in digital pianos. However, one thing is for sure and it’s that piano playing and piano music is not going away. The piano is one of the most popular instruments today along with the guitar.