The invention of the piano: from the clavichord to the modern grand piano.

Every musical instrument has its own unique history, which is very useful and interesting to know. The invention of the piano was a revolutionary event in the musical culture of the early 18th century.

 Surely everyone knows that the piano is not the first keyboard instrument in the history of mankind. Musicians of the Middle Ages played keyboards.

The organ is the most ancient wind keyboard instrument, which has a large number of pipes instead of strings. It is still considered the "king" of musical instruments with a powerful deep sound, but it is not a direct relative of the piano. One of the first keyboard instruments, the basis of which was not pipes, but strings, was the clavichord.
This instrument had a structure similar to a modern piano, except that instead of hammers like inside a piano, metal plates were installed inside the clavichord.

 However, the sound of this instrument was still very quiet and soft, which made it impossible to play it in front of many people on a large stage. The reason is as follows. The clavichord had only one string per key, while the piano had three strings for each key. Clavichord Since the clavichord was very quiet, naturally, it did not allow performers such luxury as the implementation of elementary dynamic shades - crescendo (a gradual increase in the strength of the sound) and diminuendo (a gradual decrease in the strength of the sound). Nevertheless, the clavichord was not only accessible and popular, but also a favorite instrument among all musicians and composers of the Baroque era, including the great I.S. Bach. Simultaneously with the clavichord at that time, there was a somewhat improved keyboard instrument - the harpsichord. 

The position of the strings on the harpsichord was different from that of the clavichord. They were stretched parallel to the keys - just like a grand piano, not perpendicular. The sound of the harpsichord was quite resonant, though not strong enough. However, this instrument was quite suitable for playing music on "large" stages. It was also impossible to use dynamic shades on the harpsichord. Plus to everything: the sound of the instrument faded out very quickly, so the composers of that time filled their pieces with a variety of melismas (decorations) in order to somehow "prolong" the sound of long notes.

Harpsichord From the beginning of the 18th century, all musicians and composers began to feel a serious need for such a keyboard instrument, the musical and expressive capabilities of which would not be inferior to the violin. This required an instrument with a wide dynamic range, which would be able to extract the powerful forte (loud) and the softest piano (quiet), as well as all the subtleties of dynamic transitions. And these dreams came true. It is believed that in 1709 Bartolomeo Cristofori from Italy invented the first piano.

He called his creation “gravicembalo col piano e forte”, which in Italian means “a keyboard instrument that plays softly and loudly”. The ingenious musical instrument Cristofori turned out to be very simple. The piano was like this. It consisted of keys, a felt hammer, strings and a special return. With a blow on the key, the hammer strikes the string, thereby causing its vibration, which is not at all similar to the sound of the strings of the harpsichord and clavichord. The hammer went back, with the help of the return, without remaining pressed against the string, thus drowning out its sound. A little later, this mechanism was slightly improved: with the help of a special device, the hammer was lowered onto the string, and then returned, but not completely, but only halfway, which made it possible to easily perform trills and rehearsals - quick repetitions of the same sound. The mechanism has been called double rehearsal. The most important distinguishing feature of the piano from previous related instruments is the ability to sound not only loudly or softly, but also to enable the pianist to do crescendo and diminuendo, that is, to change the dynamics and color of the sound gradually and suddenly. At the time when this remarkable instrument first made itself known, a transitional era reigned in Europe between Baroque and Classicism. The genre of the sonata, which appeared at that time, was surprisingly suited to piano performance, the works of Mozart and Clementi are vivid examples of this. For the first time, a keyboard instrument with all its capabilities played the role of a solo instrument, which prompted the emergence of a new genre - a concert for piano and orchestra. With the help of the piano, it became possible to express your feelings and emotions through a mesmerizing sound. This was reflected in the work of composers of the new era of romanticism in the works of Chopin, Schumann, Liszt. To this day, this wonderful instrument with multifaceted possibilities, despite its youth, has a tremendous impact on the whole society. Almost all great composers have done for the piano. And, we must assume that over the years its fame will only increase, and it will delight us more and more with its magical sound.

Source: https://music-education.ru/izobretenie-fortepiano-ot-klavikorda-k-sovremennomu-royalyu/