The Tricentennial Limited Edition Piano - The History
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- The Concept
- The History
- The Biography
The piano was invented 300 years ago by Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori while he served in the Florentine court of Prince Ferdinand de Medici. This instrument, originally called the gravicembalo col piano e forteresembled the harpsichord in shape and construction. However, instead of plucking the strings as one would do when playing the harpsichord, the piano produced sounds when leather-covered hammers struck the strings. A primitive escapement, or rachet, mechanism controlled these hammers, allowing repetition of sound. Yet, what made Cristofori's pianoforte unique was the fact that it was the first stringed keyboard instrument to produce a range of soft (piano) and loud (forte) tones, emulating the dynamics of the human voice.
By the turn of the 19th century, the piano had replaced the harpsichord and clavichord as Europe's most popular keyboard instrument.
In the next 50 years, European piano makers contributed to the piano's evolution, putting the instrument within reach of the middle class through mass production during the Industrial Revolution. However, it was in the United States that this European invention was perfected by piano craftsmen including, most notably, Henry E. Steinway and his sons.
In fact, the modern grand piano was a Steinway & Sons innovation design by C.F. Theodore Steinway, and patented in 1875. It was just one of an unprecedented 41 patents that C.F. Theodore would earn.
Related Tricentennial Events
The introduction of Steinway & Sons' limited-edition Tricentennial piano coincides with the opening of PIANO 300: Celebrating Three Centuries of People and Pianos sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Commemorating the piano's 300 years of influence, this year-long series of events explores this instrument as a complex machine, a work of decorative art and a versatile means of human expression.