Innovations and Evolutions-The Piano

 How the Piano Came About

The very first piano came about from Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori who was very inspired from the harpsichord, which he would build often. Cristofori invented the piano around the year of 1700, but it was originally called "painoforte". The similarities of the piano and harpsichord is that they are both stringed instruments that are wooden, but the harpsichord has two or more sets of strings inside and has two sets of keyboards. But the piano became very popular. According to Take Lessons, "The pianoforte became a favorite among musicians because they could express more emotion through the instrument than the harpsichord."

The harpsichord

First we will examine the harpsichord with our ears. Here is a song being played on the harpsichord. 

Prelude BWV 998 Composed by, J.S. Bach, DEU 1735

Performed by Junghae Kim

The song is beautifully played. Instantly I was able to pick up that timing, pace, and phrasing is what makes music great on the harpsichord. The Harpsichord is designed that no matter how softly or how hard you press on a key the sound is produced exactly the same each time. You can hear that well in this piece. There is even a fermata in this piece and with that fermata it adds to the song being played. With out the timing, fermata, pace, and phrasing I think the harpsichord would be a tad boring to listen to.

The piano

Now we will listen to the piano.

Prelude BWV 998 Composed by, J.S. Bach, DEU 1735

Performed by Konstantin Lifschitz

This is a longer video of the same song but played on the piano. As you can tell there is quite a difference in the volume, forte, piano, and allegro. Unlike the harpsichord, you are able to control the sound at which the notes are produced. According to PianoLIT, "While playing the piano, you have full control over the volume of sound produced, meaning you can either play soft or loud depending on the way the key is pressed." I thought the fermata in this performance was much more grand than when it was played with the harpsichord because of the volume, forte, piano, and allegro.

Conclusion

Though very similar instruments, how they are constructed in the way that they play notes are different and many other things. The harpsichord was made in the 12 century and the piano, much later, in the 18th century. The number of octaves as well, the harpsichord having 5 and the piano having 7. In all they are different in sound and volume, but piano being better. With having control over volume, sound, and the piano playing notes longer, it isn't too much of a competition to see which instrument is better if one wants to express himself/herself more freely. I think I much prefer the piano but am thankful for the harpsichord, otherwise we would not have the piano. The harpsichord is what made the innovation of the piano.

Works cited

PianoLIT. “Harpsichord vs Piano?” PianoLIT, 22 Feb. 2021, pianolit.com/blog/harpsichord-vs-piano.

“The Evolution of the Piano: From the Harpsichord to the Modern Grand.” TakeLessons Blog, 14 Feb.                 2019, takelessons.com/blog/piano-evolution.