MEGHAN KHARSYNRAP
THE FIRST PIANO
T
he instrument ‘pianoforte’ is more popularly known
by its shortened version--the piano. However, the
instrument’s most complicated name yet belonged to
the first piano, the ‘gravicembalo col piano, e forte’ that was
named by a journalist in 1711. The meaning describes the
qualities of the piano and likens it to a harpsichord with the
added ability to make loud sounds (forte) and softer sounds
(piano). Most instruments at the time lacked the ability to
make softer or louder sounds aside from the clavichord. But
the clavichord lacked the power of even the earliest version of
the piano. Musicians at the time envisioned the piano at the
centre of many an ensemble because of this feature.
The maker of the piano Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731)
resided in Padua-Italy. In 1688 he was appointed in the court
of the Grand Prince ‘Ferdinando de Medici’ to take care of
the musical instruments of the court. In an inventory of the
Medici court dated 1700, an instrument was also listed that
was created by Cristofori named the arpicimbalo. It resembled
the harpsichord, it had hammers and dampers, 2 keyboards
and a range of 4 octaves. This account was an account of the
very first piano. By inference historians have traced the date
of the creation of the first piano to 1700. This instrument with
many names began to see popularity as an instrument that
had the qualities of a harpsichord but was loud enough to be
a supporting or main role in an ensemble. That being said, in
comparison to our modern day pianos the power and quality of
the sound is weaker and damp. In fact, the first piano’s sound
cannot compete with even the harpsichords of today. The
piano has thinner strings than the modern day piano and only
has 54 keys, whereas the modern day piano boasts 88 keys.
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The modern day piano consists of 2500 parts, more parts
than its sister string instruments have. Modern day pianos,
upright or grand generally comprises of 5 structural areas.
These areas are: the wooden case of the wing shaped grand
piano or the case of an upright piano, this also includes the
keybed where the keys would be installed; the second piece
is the soundboard that comprises of the bridges and ribs, it
helps to amplify the sounds of the strings; the third piece is the
cast iron plate; then there are the 236 strings of the piano and
finally the keys, hammers and piano action/ mechanism.
Cristofori had solved many technical problems of the piano
while making it, problems that would leave pianists and
developers baffled for several years. One of Cristofori’s
additions allowed the hammer of a piano that hits the string
to immediately bounce off the string. This helped avoid the
dampening of the sound and made the tone sharper. Another
ingenious bit he introduced was a mechanism to control the
hammer from bouncing back when it would hit a string a
second time. These mechanisms/ the complicated action were
expensive and therefore they were removed off various pianos
created after Cristofori’s piano. But the additions were very
much needed and were reintroduced in later models.
Many of the qualities of Cristofori’s piano were used an
accounted for to create better versions. These versions were
critically acclaimed even by Johann Sebastian Bach who
was hard to please. He would go on to compliment and even
market the pianos. Today. there are three of Cristofori’s pianos
that have survived. The oldest one resides in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.