Pianos. The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard,which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.
The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte and fortepiano. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate “soft” and “loud” respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist’s touch or pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of the note produced and the stronger the attack. The name was created as a contrast to harpsichord, a musical instrument that doesn’t allow variation in volume. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had a quieter sound and smaller dynamic range.
The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments. Pipe organs have been used since Antiquity, and as such, the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches. The first string instruments with struck strings were the hammered dulcimers, which were used since the Middle Ages in Europe. During the Middle Ages, there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well developed. In a clavichord, the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord, they are mechanically plucked by quills when the performer depresses the key. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown instrument builders the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and mechanical action for a keyboard intended to sound strings. Reference: Wikipedia
Grand Piano,1720 Bartolomeo Cristofori Italian
Bartolomeo Cristofori was the first person to create a successful hammer-action keyboard instrument and, accordingly, deserves to be credited as the inventor of the piano. This example is the oldest of the three extant pianos by Cristofori. About 1700 he began to work on an instrument on which the player could achieve changes in loudness solely by changing the force with which the keys were struck. By 1700 he had made at least one successful instrument, which he called “gravicembalo col piano e forte” (harpsichord with soft and loud). His instrument still generally resembles a harpsichord, though its case is thicker and the quill mechanism has been replaced by a hammer mechanism. Cristofori’s hammer mechanism is so well designed and made that no other of comparable sensitivity and reliability was devised for another seventy-five years. In fact, the highly complex action of the modern piano may be traced directly to his original conception.
Reference: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Grand pianoforte made by Chappell & Co Made 1915-1916 This concert grand piano by Chappell & Co is an excellent example of high quality piano manufacture and is significant for its uniqueness and rarity. It is likely the instrument was either made as a one-off item commissioned from Chappell or was one of a very limited number of this type that were produced. As such it is a fine representative example of the peak of English piano manufacture during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Reference: Museum of Applied Art and Sciences
A mahogany, rosewood and ebony boudoir grand piano by DIEDERICHS FRERES ST. PETERSBOURG, circa 1900 serial n° 8558, with a metal frame and ivory keys Haut. 96 cm, larg. 144,5 cm, prof. 177,5 cm ; height 37 3/4 in., width 56 3/4 in., depth 69 3/4 in.
Sold for 18,750 EUR at Sotheby’s in 2019
Square Piano. Case and stand of mahogany, with stringing of boxwood or holly; the sharps are of ebony and the naturals are covered with ivory
IOHANNES CHRISTOPHER ZUMPE LONDINI FECIT 1767 / PRINCESS STREET HANOVER SQUARE
Reference: © Victoria and Albert Museum
A William Knabe and Company Louis XV Style Paint Decorated Small Grand Piano; Together with an Associated Piano Bench Second half 20th century Serial Number 86329. height of piano 40 1/2in (103cm); length 66in (168cm); width 59in (150cm); height of bench 21 1/2in (55.cm); width 36in (91.5cm)
Sold for US$ 2,040 (£ 1,625) inc. premium at Bonhams in 2019
A FRENCH POLYCHROME PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT GRAND PIANO BY GAVEAU, PARIS, 1924 Painted overall with Neo-Classical musical motifs, the lid finely painted with Venus in her chariot among putti, the reverse further decorated with a floral wreath, the case supported by swans with out-stretched wings above tapering baluster legs, the pedals in the form of a lyre, the soundboard with ‘GAVEAU PARIS’ label, the interior with cut-brass plaque numbered ‘176266’, the keyboard backplate also signed ‘GAVEAU/ PARIS’ 7 ft. (213.5 cm.) high, open; 40 in. (101.5 cm.) high, closed; 8 ft. (204 cm.) long; 48 in. (147.5 cm.) wide
Sold for GBP 52,500 at Christie’s in 2018
