The creation of such a musical instrument as a piano introduced a great revolution in the musical European culture of the 18th century. We will dive deeper into this story and consider in detail where and when the piano was invented.
The beginning of the story
In 1709, in such a beautiful city of Italy as Florence, this first miracle of musical technique was constructed. The one who invented the piano was called Bartolomeo Cristofori. The Italian has been working on harpsichords all his life, trying to improve them and bring something new. At this time, in the music field, a tool that would have a wide and dynamic range was long required. According to written evidence, Bartolomeo since 1698 worked on a harpsichord that would play softly and at the same time loudly. From the 1720s until his death in 75 years, the Italian master created with his own hands about twenty pianos.
Name history
It is difficult to say exactly in which year the piano was invented, since it had many previous instruments. The developed mechanism included harpsichord and clavichord. Since Bartolomeo Cristofori himself designed the harpsichords, he was well versed in this and brought his new ideas. By trial and error, he still managed to create a world-famous return hammer mechanism. The Italian called his invention a harpsichord playing the forte and drunk. “Forte” means a strong and loud sound, and “drunk” means a weaker and quieter one. Only then did these instruments begin to be called “pianoforte” or, as everyone knows now, “piano”.
Tool improvement
Who and in what country invented the piano would remain unknown until one journalist from Italy, Scipione Maffei, wrote an article in which he admired the new mechanism. He published the diagrams, and the article was widely distributed. After reading it, many inventors began their work on improving the tool. So another version appeared who invented the piano. Organ master Gottfried Zilberman created his instrument, very similar to Christophori's harpsichord, but with one important difference. Zilberman invented a more modern pedal that removes sound from all strings simultaneously. In the future, this idea spread to new models of a musical instrument.
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In the 1730s Gottfried Zilberman decided to show one of his works to Bach, who initially did not like the instrument. Johann Sebastian Bach was indignant because of the weak sound of the high register, in addition, he felt the difficulty of pressing keys. Listening to the comments, the organ master made changes, after which Bach not only approved the invention, but also contributed to its sale and further promotion. One thing that remains accurate is the country in which the piano was invented. Italy has given a new round to European culture.
Industrial Revolution
For a hundred years - from 1790 to 1890 - the piano underwent many serious changes, which eventually formed the modern form of the instrument. The Industrial Revolution provided the necessary resources for the manufacture of pianos to meet the needs of composers. Constant improvement of sound quality was required, I wanted to make it more saturated and long. Everyone who invented the piano added a piece of the new to it. Later it was made of high-quality durable steel and iron frames.
Octave increase
For a long time after creating the piano, there remained the problem of the difficulty of playing it. To reproduce the musical composition, a lot of muscle tension was required, and a lot of effort had to be applied. The solution was found in the English company Broadwood. The first who invented the piano with a five-octave range in 1790 were the manufacturers of this particular company. Subsequently, they expanded the range to six octaves in 1810 and to seven by 1820. The organization offered its improved copies to the great composers Haydn and Beethoven. By 1820, the innovation center was located in Paris in the company Erara, who in turn produced the piano for Chopin and Liszt. Sebastian Erar created a mechanism that could repeat hits on the string, not fully returning the key to its original position, only partially lifting it. After his mechanics began to be used in the construction of all pianos.
Modern piano
The piano got its modern form at the beginning of the twentieth century, but since then progress has not stood still and models are constantly being improved. Now there are two main types of it: a piano and a vertical piano. The piano consists of a body and strings that pull horizontally further than the keyboard. For a more accurate sound, this instrument needs a large room with high ceilings.
Types of Modern Harpsichord
By size, several categories of musical instrument can be distinguished.
- A concert grand piano can weigh up to five hundred kilograms, be 1.8 meters high and 1.4 meters long.
- The salon piano weighs up to three hundred and fifty kilograms, and reaches a height of 1.4 meters.
- The cabinet grand piano weighs no more than two hundred and fifty kilograms, and the height is up to 1.2 meters.
Large types of pianos are usually used for performances, large-scale concerts, because they have a louder and richer sound. Small tools are chosen for small rooms. The one who invented the vertical piano, counted on places that do not have a large area. This tool is more compact due to the case and strings, which are stretched vertically, and are directed from the keyboard to the mallets. The sound is not as rich and beautiful as a large piano, but modern technology brings it closer to the desired sound.
Electronic heir
The innovations of the 1990s open the world to digital pianos. The instrument produces digitized sound, and is not so easy to use. In addition to the keys and pedals, it has numerous devices in the form of interfaces and a large number of sounds.
The piano in its modern form contains eighty-eight keys. In some models, they make eight octaves, in lower case it starts with "fa", and above it ends with "do". Pianists who do not use these extra keys try to close them with a special cover. These keys were invented for greater resonance, when you press the pedal, they vibrate with the rest of the strings, creating a richer sound.
The history of the creation of the piano originates from the harpsichord, from which the layout of the keys is inherited. Only the color scheme has changed, the standard for all pianos of the late eighteenth century has become a black and white keyboard.
Piano components
The materials from which this musical instrument is built use only high quality. For exterior decoration take maple or beech. The flexible part of the wood is chosen so that vibration from the sound lasts longer inside the instrument. The base of the piano is made of softer wood so as not to burden the instrument. The strings are made of the highest quality steel, so that over the years they do not deform and retain their original sound and prevent tonal distortion. Bass strings are additionally wrapped in copper wire for greater flexibility. The metal case inside the piano is made of cast iron. Due to such a large, heavy part, the tool may turn out to be aesthetically ugly, which is why manufacturers try to hide it from year to year by polishing and decorating the plate with drawings. The remaining details of the piano are made of wood and plastic. However, the use of plastic in the 1950s led to unpleasant consequences, since after a decade of use, parts lost their wear resistance. Only the modern Kawaii company managed to create effective durable parts from this material.
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Piano keys should be light, so they use spruce or a variety of American linden. Nevertheless, the metal frame, strong wood and other details make this tool incredibly heavy. Even the smallest piano weighs about 136 kilograms, and the largest piano of the Fazioli F308 model has a weight of 691 kilograms.
Although the story of the creation of the piano has about three hundred years, its invention was a real revolution in the world of art. European music has fundamentally changed its character; all the great composers wrote works for this instrument. Many gained fame thanks to the piano, some even became virtuoso pianists. Until now, this important invention remains one of the main musical instruments.