KOMPAS.com – History of the Piano Can be traced back 3 centuries. At that time, the device was still one of the most popular in the world, entering the fourth century of its existence.

Although it is now Musical instrument Very popular in homes Piano It has the most sophisticated mechanical equipment and can meet all the musical needs of its players.

With each development since its invention, the piano has the ability to add infinite expressions, volume, and length.

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Centuries before the invention of the piano, two keyboards were widely used since the 1400s, the clavichord and the harpsichord.

But each instrument has its own power, which makes it popular only for certain places and music styles.

The harpsichord has no control over the dynamics, no matter how loud or soft the instrument is played.

The clavicord sounds very subtle and is often overwhelmed by the sounds of other instruments. This eventually led to the creation of the piano.

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Three centuries ago, Piano History It all started when Italian harpsichord maker Bartholomew Cristofori made a technological breakthrough.

Bartholomew Christopher is a manufacturer and maintainer of musical instruments Harpsycord In the Medici family, a wealthy Italian aristocratic family of about the fifteenth century.

Christopher created a new system for the harpsichord, which gave him the ability to read instruments with dynamic variations.

Instead of hitting the strings like on a harpsichord, he decided that hitting the strings with a hammer would make more of a difference in the dynamics of the device.

His inventions brought about great changes in the interior of the early pianos and in the later development of the instrument.

The name of Christophori’s original instrument in 1700 “Piano”(Or in Italian: clavicembalo col piano e forte, which means a harpsichord that is usually playable and powerful).

Only three pianofords built by Christophery survive today, dating to the 1720s. However, the pianoford is still very different from the popular modernity.

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The popularity of the Viennese piano

When the name Pianofort was abbreviated in 1732, the word piano became more widely used.

Despite his interest in the piano, it took about 50 years for this instrument to become very popular. By the end of the eighteenth century, piano production had begun to spread throughout Europe.

Each country that produces the piano has its own unique design. Piano It has a heavier system and louder sound from England. The Austrian piano has a light mechanism and a soft sound.

Viennese pianos are famous for their wooden frames because they have two strings and a leather-wrapped hammer.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loves to play the Viennese piano, which has a softer tone than modern.

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Sebastian Erard

For decades, from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, European instrument manufacturers continued to improve the mechanics and structure of their piano products.

Until the invention of the Parisian “double escape” or looping mechanism by Sebastian Erard, no innovation had the same influence as Crystophori.

This revolutionary idea, patented in 1821, allowed the keys to be hammered back into the strings before being returned to their original position, thus making rapid repetition possible.

The expansion of venues and concert halls resulted in larger orchestras, hence the need for louder instruments. Throughout the 1700s and early 1800s instrument manufacturers continued Christophori’s quest for structural answers to the problem of producing more volumes.

The strings become heavier, increasing the tension on the frame. Iron bars were added to the wooden frame, making the whole structure stronger and heavier.

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Grand Piano

In 1825, Alfie Bab ബാcock, an early American pianist, received a patent for the invention of a full-cast iron plate for a rectangular piano, thereby removing the string tension from the wooden case.

Jonas Chickering, who started his piano company in Boston in 1823, developed Babcock’s works using full iron frames for grand pianos.

Not all pianos have the same number of keys on their keyboard. The most common number of keys is 88, i.e. 52 white keys (natural), 36 black keys.

Most older pianos are smaller than modern pianos, so they only have 85 keys.

However, some manufacturers think big and make pianos with an extra key. For example, the Imperial Bosendorfer has nine extra keys for 8 octaves.

If the pianist is not accustomed to playing on such a piano, or the keys can be made in a different color, their pianos often have lids that can hide extra keys.

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Another manufacturer, Stuart & Sons, produces 102 key pianos. Here, the extra keys are not visually different from normal. Meanwhile, pianist Shawn Hut specializes in making mini pianos with 44 or 49 keys.

This version of the piano later became very popular among pianists, who wanted to enjoy all the benefits of having this instrument at home, but there was not enough space for a larger version of the piano.

Sales of pianos increased from a few thousand in 1850 to 365,000 in 1909. Later pianos were made in refined form and factories flourished.

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