|
 |
|
|
Meet Bartolomeo Cristofori
By Diana Rogers
THE INVENTION OF THE PIANOFORTE: A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY At the turn of 18th Century, pianoforte was invented. This gave a new 'face' to music culture in Europe. The organ, the oldest keyboard instrument has been played for several centuries. It is likely the use of the keys to produce music, was popularized by the organ. Compelling the invention of different types of keyboard instruments, the organ, however, is a wind keyboard, and is almost entirely unrelated to the piano. The first keyboard instrument that used strings is the clavichord in the late Middle Ages. (the time in European history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance from about 500 a.d. to about 1350). Its action is similar to that of the piano but its tone is soft and too quiet to be played in the concert. It was smaller and simpler than its relative the Harpsichord; hence it was regarded as a mere household instrument. After the clavichord, the harpsichord came into the limelight, though it could not also be used to perform in large room. Clavichord
Harpsichord
Spinet In 1709, BARTOLOMEO CRISTOFORI, an Italian curator of musical instruments for the Medici family invented the first piano. He called this gravicembalo col piano e forte, a keyboard instrument that can be played soft and loud. Hence the name pianoforte...(soft-loud). Eventually it was called just Piano today.
• Cristofori built this early piano in 1726.
• Italian Terms
• Piano-Soft
• Forte-Loud Did You Know? Have you ever wondered why the piano has the same name as the word for soft? Originally pianos were called clavicembalo col piano e forte. These Italian words mean harpsichord with soft and loud. They described what the instrument was like. The harpsichord was a popular keyboard instrument before the piano, but it didn’t play loud and soft easily. When the piano was invented, it had the marvelous new feature of changing dynamics by pressing the keys lighter or harder. Clavicembalo col piano e forte was too much to say so soon people started calling the instrument the pianoforte or fortepiano. Then it just became the piano. One reason why the piano spread slowly at first was that it was quite expensive to make, and thus was purchased only by royalty and a few wealthy private individuals. The ultimate success of Cristofori's invention occurred only in the 1760s, when the invention of cheaper square pianos, along with generally greater prosperity, made it possible for many people to acquire one. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeo_Cristofori
   
Bartolomeo Cristofori
Pianoforte
Clavichord
Harpsichord
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
LadyD Piano
Piano teacher and kindergarten music.
ladydpiano.blogspot.com
|
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
|
 |
|
Well they didn't call it Forte because they didn't want to get people who play golf confused. Great Intel.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thanks, good one! :)
Pianos are still not cheap, especially if you want a good one. Great intel.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
That's the truth, thanks June! :)
Looks like ol' Bart was quite the dandy. Great intel and pics...
They could confuse a lot of people if the powers that be decide to change the name from "piano" to "forte". "And now... on the forte... let's give a big hand to..." "Don't shoot! I'm only the forte player." "Sing me a song, you're the forte man..." It doesn't seem to have quite the same ring to it.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Great word crafting, thanks James! :)
The fortnight is a unit of time equivalent to fourteen days. That's a long time to play the piano continuously. It would give new meaning to Rock around the clock though.
What a delightful portrait of Bartolomeo Cristofori. Wonderful intel, thank you.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thanks my friend.
The copyright for this content entitled "Meet Bartolomeo Cristofori" has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as a) it's for non-commercial use and b) the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://ladyd.qondio.com/
|
|
|
This intel was contributed by LadyD
LadyD
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
