Courtesy of Tony Bingham

Since its invention three hundred years ago, the piano has played its way into the hearts and homes of music lovers around the world. It has inspired composers, inventors, and performers. It has made a place for itself in palaces and concert halls, in middle-class parlors and working men's honky-tonks, in church halls and jazz clubs. During three centuries, the piano has revolutionized the way people play and experience music.

The story began in Florence, Italy, about 1700. In that year an inventory of musical instruments owned by Prince Ferdinando de' Medici described "a kind of harpsichord (Arpicimbalo) newly invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori [1655-1732], which plays soft (piano) and loud (forte)." A few lines down, it adds: "and some hammers (martelli) that produce the soft and the loud." In time, the term piano e forte became pianoforte, and eventually was shortened to piano.

The leading keyboard instrument of the day, the harpsichord, made its sound by plucking wire strings. The piano's sound was made by leather-covered hammers striking the strings and bouncing away. This innovation let players control the loudness or softness of each note, opening up new ways of adding emotion and expression to the music.

Lent by: Museo Nazionale degli strumenti musicali, Rome