When was fortepiano invented

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Harpsichord Girolamo Zenti. Grand Piano Bartolomeo Cristofori. Clavichord Attributed to Christian Kintzing. Wendy Powers Independent Scholar October Citation Powers, Wendy. The history of instruments with keyboards dates far back and originates from the organ, which sends bursts of air through pipes to make sound.

Craftsmen improved upon the organ to develop an instrument that was a step closer to the piano, the clavichord. The clavichord first appeared in the 14th century and became popular during the Renaissance Era. Pressing a key would send a brass rod, called a tangent, to strike the string and cause vibrations that emit sound over a range of four to five octaves.

When a key is pressed, a plectrum attached to a long strip of wood called a jack plucks the string to make music. This system of strings and soundboard, and the overall structure of the instrument resemble those that can be found in a piano.

The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Italy. Cristofori was unsatisfied by the lack of control that musicians had over the volume level of the harpsichord. Mozart bought his favourite piano in from Anton Walter, a Viennese piano maker. It was the instrument he used for performing, and he had it carried around the city to the houses of the nobility where he played, a feat much more easily accomplished with a fortepiano than a modern concert grand. Truly an instrument of the world, the Brandenburg fortepiano features a veneer of Honduran mahogany which was sourced from Cuba and cut using a restored sawing-machine from the early 19th century.

To highlight the deep rich colour of the wood, the fortepiano was french polished in Paris while the instrument's decorative ornaments and 'little shoes' were cast in brass by David Law in England and gilded in Vienna.