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for1st. Lesson
Although there were various
crude earlier attempts to make stringed keyboard instruments with struck
strings (see Pollens reference below, Chap. 1), it is widely considered
that the piano was invented by a single individual: Bartolomeo Cristofori
of Padua, Italy. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a
piano, but an inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates
the existence of a piano by the year 1700. The three Cristofori pianos
that survive today date from the 1720s.
Like many other inventions,
the piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. In particular,
it benefited from centuries of work on the harpsichord, which had shown
the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and
keyboard. Cristofori, himself an expert harpsichord maker, was well acquainted
with this body of knowledge.
Cristofori's great success
was in solving, without any prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem
of piano design: the hammers must strike the string, but not touch it once
they have struck (which would damp the sound). Moreover, the hammers must
return to their rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be
possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's piano action served as
a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that followed.
Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin strings and were much
quieter than the modern piano. Compared to the clavichord (the only previous
keyboard instrument capable of dynamic nuance), however, they were considerably
louder and had more sustaining power.
Cristofori's new instrument
remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote
an enthusiastic article about it (1711), including a diagram of the mechanism.
This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of
piano builders started their work because of reading it. One of these builders
was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's
pianos were virtually direct copies of Cristofori's, with one important
addition: Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal,
which lifts all the dampers from the strings at once.
Silbermann showed Bach
one of his early instruments in the 1730s, but Bach did not like it at
that time, claiming that the higher notes were too soft to allow a full
dynamic range. Although this earned him some animosity from Silbermann,
the criticism was apparently heeded. Bach did approve of a later instrument
he saw in 1747, and even served as an agent in selling Silbermann's pianos.
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Piano making flourished
during the late 18th century in the Viennese school, which included Johann
Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers
Nannette Stein (daughter of Johann Andreas) and Anton Walter. Viennese-style
pianos were built with wooden frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered
hammers. It was for such instruments that Mozart composed his concertos
and sonatas, and replicas of them are 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, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano
is nowadays often used to distinguish the 18th-century instrument from
later pianos. |
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