When the Piano Sounded Completely Different – The Story of the Piano’s Origins
Today, when we sit down at a concert grand piano, we take it for granted that we can use the keys to produce sounds that are sometimes soft and delicate, and at other times powerful and intense. Yet this ability was by no means a given in the early history of keyboard instruments.
The modern piano is the result of a long process of development. Its predecessors included the harpsichord, the clavichord and several other early keyboard instruments whose sound, construction and playing technique were very different from those of the modern piano.
The history of the piano is, in many ways, also the story of a centuries-long search for an answer to one fundamental question: how can a keyboard instrument be played both softly and powerfully, while offering a wide range of musical expression?
Before the Piano: The Harpsichord and the Clavichord
At the end of the 17th century, the piano did not yet exist. There were, however, several important keyboard instruments that would later play a role in its development.
The harpsichord became one of the defining instruments of Baroque music. When a key was pressed, a mechanism caused the string to be plucked. As a result, the player could not control the volume simply by pressing the key harder in the way we are accustomed to on a modern piano.
This was a significant difference.
A pianist today can play the same note very gently or with considerable force. On the harpsichord, however, pressing a key more forcefully did not produce the same direct change in volume.
The clavichord worked on a different principle and was, to some extent, more responsive to the player’s touch. It could produce an extremely delicate and expressive sound, but its volume was relatively limited. For this reason, it was mainly used in smaller settings, including domestic music-making.
By the turn of the 18th century, various keyboard instruments already existed, but there was still no instrument that combined the keyboard and versatility of the harpsichord with the possibility of dynamic expression.
It was from this need that the piano emerged.
The Innovative Idea of an Italian Instrument Maker
The birth of the piano is closely associated with the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori.
Cristofori was born in Padua in 1655 and became known as a highly skilled instrument maker. He spent a significant part of his career in Florence, where he worked for the Medici family.
Cristofori was particularly interested in finding a way to make the volume of a keyboard instrument responsive to the player’s touch.
The key to his solution was a new type of mechanism.
Instead of having the key directly pluck the string, Cristofori developed a mechanism in which a small hammer struck the string. The hammer then moved away, allowing the string to vibrate freely.
This seemingly simple change was enormously significant.
The player could now exert much more direct control over the force of the sound.
Why Is It Called a Piano?
Cristofori’s new instrument was not originally simply called a “piano.”
One of its early names was the Italian gravicembalo col piano e forte, which can be translated roughly as “harpsichord with soft and loud.”
The lengthy name was gradually shortened, eventually giving rise to pianoforte, and later to the familiar word “piano.”
The name was no coincidence.
In Italian, piano means soft or quiet, while forte means loud or strong. The name itself therefore refers to one of the most important characteristics of the new instrument: the player could influence the volume through the way the keys were played.
This gave musicians a fundamentally new means of musical expression.
What Did the First Piano Look Like?
It is fascinating to consider that the earliest pianos looked nothing like the large concert grand pianos we see in concert halls today.
Cristofori’s early instruments were considerably smaller, and their construction was much simpler than that of modern pianos.
Their strings and mechanisms also gave them a different tonal character. Their sound was generally lighter, clearer and less powerful than that of a modern concert grand.
This does not mean that the early piano was “worse.”
It was simply designed for a different musical world.
Composers and performers in the 18th century played in different types of spaces and were seeking different tonal ideals.
Mozart Was Born into a Changing Piano World
The history of the piano did not stop with Cristofori.
During the 18th century, an increasing number of instrument makers began experimenting with the construction of the pianoforte. The instrument gradually became stronger, its action developed, and both its stringing and soundboard evolved.
These changes naturally influenced composers as well.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was already composing in an era when the pianoforte was becoming increasingly important. Mozart encountered several types of contemporary keyboard instruments, and his compositions demonstrate how effectively he used the new possibilities offered by the developing piano.
The piano of Mozart’s time, however, was still a very different instrument from the one we know today.
Its sound could be lighter and more transparent, while its keyboard and action offered a different playing experience.
This is why, when we hear a Mozart composition performed on a modern concert grand, we are actually hearing the music through the sound world of a much later instrument.
Beethoven and the Great Transformation of the Piano
At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the development of the piano accelerated.
This was the period when the instrument became increasingly capable of producing the greater contrasts in sound that composers were beginning to demand.
Some of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works are closely connected with the development of the piano.
During Beethoven’s lifetime, the instrument underwent significant changes. Its range gradually expanded, its construction became stronger, and its action became increasingly sophisticated.
Composers took advantage of these new possibilities.
Piano compositions placed increasingly demanding technical and dynamic requirements on performers.
The piano and its composers were therefore, in a sense, shaping each other.
As the instrument developed, composers discovered new possibilities. At the same time, new musical demands encouraged instrument makers to develop new technical solutions.
The 19th Century: When the Piano Became Truly Powerful
During the 19th century, the development of the piano accelerated dramatically.
The instrument became more powerful, its range increased, its action improved, and it became capable of filling increasingly large concert halls.
The construction of the strings and the frame also underwent significant changes.
Greater string tension and stronger construction made it possible to produce a richer and more powerful sound. New technical solutions also appeared that would later become fundamental characteristics of the modern piano.
During this period, the work of instrument makers and piano manufacturers such as Érard, Pleyel, Broadwood, Bösendorfer and Steinway became particularly influential.
By this time, the piano was no longer simply a new type of keyboard instrument.
It had become an important part of bourgeois homes, music education, salons and concert halls.
What Did Franz Liszt Have to Do with All This?
Quite a lot.
By the middle of the 19th century, the piano offered completely different technical possibilities from those available on Cristofori’s early instruments.
Franz Liszt became one of the most spectacular performers to exploit these possibilities.
In Liszt’s concerts, the piano was capable of remarkable technical and sonic feats. He wrote works that demanded possibilities which earlier pianos could not necessarily provide to the same extent.
The development of the piano and Liszt’s virtuosity reinforced each other.
As the instrument evolved, it enabled increasingly demanding forms of playing, while virtuoso performers placed new demands on instrument makers.
This process ultimately contributed to the development of the modern concert grand piano.
How Did the Pianoforte Become the Modern Concert Grand?
The modern piano cannot be traced back to a single invention.
It is the result of more than two centuries of continuous development.
Among the many changes that took place were:
- the refinement of the hammer action,
- an increasing keyboard range,
- the use of stronger strings,
- the development of stronger piano frames,
- the evolution of modern pedal mechanisms,
- changes in string arrangement,
- improvements in soundboard construction,
- and the production of increasingly large and powerful instruments.
By the end of the 19th century, the piano had already reached a form that, in many respects, we would recognize today.
Of course, development did not stop there. Modern piano manufacturers continue to experiment with materials, action design, resonance and manufacturing technology.
The History of the Piano Is Really the Story of the Search for Sound
When we look at the history of the piano as a whole, an interesting connection emerges.
Cristofori did not simply invent a new musical instrument. He was looking for a solution to a problem that had long concerned musicians:
How can a keyboard instrument place control over volume and musical expression directly into the hands of the player?
The first pianoforte already provided an answer.
Instrument makers in the following centuries continued to develop this idea. At the same time, composers expected more and more from the piano, while pianists searched for new technical possibilities.
Gradually, this process produced the instrument we know today as the piano.
And perhaps this is one of the most fascinating lessons in the history of the piano:
the piano was not born at a single moment. It evolved continuously through the combined efforts of musicians, composers and instrument makers.
So when we sit down at a modern piano, we are encountering the result of several hundred years of musical and technological development.
The next time you play a piano, it is worth remembering one simple fact:
the first pianos sounded completely different.
