The Piano: An Italian History

The piano is a musical instrument capable of producing sounds through the percussion of strings by 88 hammers operated by a keyboard composed of the same number of keys, 52 white and 36 black.
The white keys represent the classic seven musical notes. On the other hand, the black keys are necessary to produce the respective alterations. The piano is undoubtedly the most widespread chordophone with struck strings. In contrast, other family members, such as the fortepiano—the piano’s predecessor—or the clavichord, are mainly used to authentically perform pieces from the eras when these instruments were most popular.

However, the pedals present on all pianos are primarily two: the una corda pedal and the damper pedal.

The History of the Piano

The first model of a piano was designed and built in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori, a Padua native in the Florentine court of Cosimo III de’ Medici, starting in 1698. To be precise, Cristofori’s instrument was called the gravicembalo col piano e il forte or, alternatively, the fortepiano. This information has reached us thanks to concert posters of great composers, including Ludwig Van Beethoven.

The main innovation of this fortepiano was the addition of a hammer mechanism to the harpsichord structure. This made it possible for the first time to produce dynamic variations simply by adjusting the touch on the keyboard. This was not possible for harpsichord players, as the strings of these instruments were plucked rather than struck. Unfortunately, the piano did not gain much success in Italy. However, the idea eventually made its way to Germany, where organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, in 1726, decided to recreate an exact replica of Bartolomeo Cristofori’s gravicembalo. Subsequently, this reproduction was submitted to Johann Sebastian Bach for evaluation, who initially gave very critical feedback. However, thanks to Silbermann’s technical improvements, Bach later supported the sale of these instruments.
At Gottfried Silbermann’s workshop, Johann Andreas Stein trained and, upon gaining independence, dedicated himself to improving escapement mechanisms and dampers. In 1777, he received a visit from the renowned Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was highly enthusiastic about the piano’s new and virtually limitless expressive possibilities.

In Italy, only a few engaged in piano construction, but the Cresci family stood out during the Napoleonic period and the Restoration.
It is said that these musical instruments were of comparable quality to the more renowned Erard pianos produced in France. The mechanism used in Cresci pianos was Viennese, deriving from the most important school of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

However, the piano’s spread was hindered by the instrument’s extremely high cost, which allowed it to establish itself only in royal courts, government palaces, and among the rooms of the wealthiest noble families of the time. Additionally, the sound quality of historical pianos is not at all comparable to that of modern instruments, which limited their use to relatively small spaces.

It was only during the Romantic period, starting in the 1840s, that metal structures were introduced for piano construction, later replaced by cast iron, which is still used today. This feature allowed for greater string tension and the addition of new strings, thereby increasing the overall sound power. With continuous innovations, soundboards also became larger, giving rise to grand pianos and concert grands, which were between 2.2 and 2.6 meters long at the time. These characteristics provided the piano with a sound quality suitable for large concert halls and theaters. Furthermore, the quality of the sounds produced improved dramatically.