Book contents
- A History of Stringed Keyboard Instruments
- A History of Stringed Keyboard Instruments
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Pitch Notation Conventions
- One Keyboard Origins
- Two Principles of Design and Construction
- Three The Henri Arnaut Manuscript
- Four The Renaissance
- Five The Baroque Period
- Six The Invention of the Piano
- Seven The Classical Period
- Eight The Romantic Era
- Nine Stagnation and Revival
- Bibliography
- Index
Six - The Invention of the Piano
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 April 2022
- A History of Stringed Keyboard Instruments
- A History of Stringed Keyboard Instruments
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Pitch Notation Conventions
- One Keyboard Origins
- Two Principles of Design and Construction
- Three The Henri Arnaut Manuscript
- Four The Renaissance
- Five The Baroque Period
- Six The Invention of the Piano
- Seven The Classical Period
- Eight The Romantic Era
- Nine Stagnation and Revival
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter on the invention of the piano provides a technical description of the Arpicembalo che fa il piano e il forte, also termed the Gravecembalo, or Gravecimbalo col piano e forte, invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 and described in the Medici musical instrument inventory of 1700. The chapter includes a translation of Scipione Maffei’s article entitled “Nuova invenzione d’un Gravecembalo col piano, e forte” that appeared in the 1711 edition of the Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia. Also described in technical detail are Cristofori’s extant pianos dated 1720, 1722, and 1726. The inventive work of other claimants to the invention of the piano, Jean Marius (1716) and Christoph Gottlieb Schröter (1717) are also technically analyzed.
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- Information
- A History of Stringed Keyboard Instruments , pp. 313 - 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022