Fortepiano
The fortepiano began with a name nobody uses anymore. Bartolomeo Cristofori, its inventor, called it gravicembalo col piano e forte, Italian for "harpsichord with soft and loud." The first reliable record of his instrument appears in a Medici family inventory dated 1700, when Cristofori was working under their patronage in Florence. What he built sounded nothing like today's concert grand. It was softer. It had less sustain. Its tone varied dramatically from one end of the keyboard to the other.
How this modest instrument traveled from a Florentine court to the hands of Bach and Mozart is one of music's more unlikely stories. Its return to concert life after decades of obscurity is no less surprising. Cristofori continued to develop his invention into the 1720s. Of the instruments he built with his own hand, only three survive today.
Four octaves was the span of the earliest fortepianos. Mozart wrote his piano music for instruments of about five. By Beethoven's last piano compositions, the range had expanded to about six and a half octaves. The range of most modern pianos, attained in the 19th century, extended even further.
Leather-covered hammers and thin, harpsichord-like strings gave the fortepiano its distinctive character. Its case required no metal frame or bracing. Only later examples, from the early 19th century, had begun to move toward the heavier construction the modern piano would demand. The action and hammers were lighter throughout, giving the instrument a correspondingly lighter touch. In well-constructed fortepianos, that touch was also very expressive.
A series of levers and springs drove the mechanism. When a player pressed a key, the action propelled the hammer toward the strings. Simultaneously, a felt damper lifted away, letting the strings vibrate. When the key was released, the damper returned and the sound ceased.
The bass register had a slight buzz. The high treble was what players described as tinkling. The mid-range was closest to what modern ears expect from a piano. Sforzando accents stood out sharply on the fortepiano. They differed from softer notes not just in volume but in timbre, and they decayed rapidly. Devices to alter the resonance appeared in fortepianos from the start, though these were not always pedals. Hand stops and knee levers served the same function before pedal mechanisms became standard.
Johann Sebastian Bach was among the instrument's earliest and most prominent critics. He encountered one builder's instruments around 1736, but that encounter did not end in permanent disapproval.
Scipione Maffei published a detailed account of the fortepiano's inner workings in 1711, in the Giornale de'letterati d'Italia of Venice. The article included a diagram of the action. It was republished in 1719 in a collection of Maffei's writings. A German translation appeared in 1725 in Johann Mattheson's Critica Musica. That German publication is considered the likely trigger for the instrument's spread into German-speaking countries.
Cristofori built his instruments with thicker, tenser strings than harpsichords used. He mounted those strings on a frame considerably more robust than what his contemporaries employed. Throughout the instrument's range, his hammers struck pairs of strings. He was also the first to incorporate a soft pedal mechanism into a piano. That mechanism reduced the number of strings struck by the hammers.
Queen Maria Barbara of Spain owned several fortepianos built or styled after Cristofori's designs. She studied composition under Domenico Scarlatti. One of the first private individuals to own a fortepiano was the celebrated castrato Farinelli, who inherited one from Maria Barbara after her death. For a time, the instrument was so expensive and so elaborate to build that it remained essentially the province of royalty.
The first music composed specifically for the fortepiano appeared in 1732: the Sonate da cimbalo di piano by Lodovico Giustini. James Parakilas has conjectured that the publication was intended as a royal honor for the composer rather than a commercial venture. The journey from royal curiosity to instrument of public concerts would occupy builders across Germany, Austria, and England for the next three decades.
Gottfried Silbermann began making fortepianos in Freiberg, Germany, around 1730, basing his work on Cristofori's design. His earlier experience had been in building organs, harpsichords, and clavichords. Frederick the Great of Prussia bought many of his instruments. Silbermann is credited with inventing the forerunner of the sustain pedal. His mechanism lifted all the dampers from the strings at once, permitting them to vibrate freely. His device was a hand stop, which meant it could only be changed during a pause in the music. Bach's visit to Berlin in 1747 brought him into contact with Silbermann's later instruments, which apparently met with the composer's approval. It has been conjectured that Silbermann improved his instruments after examining an actual Cristofori piano firsthand, rather than relying solely on printed descriptions.
Johann Andreas Stein, who trained under Silbermann, worked in Augsburg. His fortepianos had what a modern eye would call "backwards" hammers: the striking end was closer to the player than the hinged end. This design came to be called the "Viennese" action. It was widely adopted in Vienna and remained in use well into the mid-19th century. Scholar Edwin M. Ripin observed that a Viennese fortepiano key required only about a fourth of the pressure that a modern piano demands. The key also traveled only about half as far. Stein seasoned his wood through a severe weathering process, generating cracks into which he inserted wedges. Mozart commented on the longevity this gave the instruments, and several survive today.
Stein's business was carried on in Vienna by his daughter, Nannette Streicher, and her husband, Johann Andreas Streicher. The Streichers were friends of Beethoven, and one of the composer's own pianos was made by their firm. Later Streicher instruments, built in the early 19th century, were more robust and had a greater range. The firm continued through two more generations. Johannes Brahms also preferred pianos by Streicher.
Anton Walter was a personal friend of Mozart and a prominent Viennese builder. His instruments had a somewhat more powerful sound than Stein's. In a widely quoted 1777 letter to his father, Mozart made clear his admiration for Stein fortepianos. Yet his own piano was a Walter. Haydn owned a Walter piano as well, and even Beethoven expressed a wish to acquire one. Conrad Graf, who lived from 1782 to 1851, made Beethoven's last piano. Graf was among the first Viennese makers to build instruments in commercial quantities. His pianos were played by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. Among French makers of the era, the prominent names included Erard, Pleyel, and Boisselot. Chopin preferred pianos by Pleyel; Liszt favored those by Boisselot.
The Viennese action prized sensitivity and a light touch. The competing approach being developed in England built toward something different: power, range, and an imposing physical presence.
Johannes Zumpe, a German immigrant, had worked in the London workshop of the great harpsichord maker Burkat Shudi. In the middle to late 1760s, he began producing inexpensive square pianos. His instruments used a simple action, sometimes called the "old man's head," that lacked an escapement. Without an escapement, the hammer could not fall back to rest while the key remained held down. The design was not a technological advance, but Zumpe's instruments were cheap and widely imitated outside England. The square pianos also served as the medium for the first public performances on the fortepiano, in the 1760s, notably by Johann Christian Bach.
Americeus Backers, working alongside two of Shudi's men, John Broadwood and Robert Stodart, developed a more sophisticated action. The English grand action they produced included an escapement and check, enabling a louder, more robust sound than the Viennese approach. The trade-off was a deeper touch and less sensitivity than the Viennese instruments offered. These early English grand pianos physically resembled Shudi harpsichords, with imposing frames and elegant, restrained veneer work on their exteriors. Unlike contemporary Viennese instruments, which used two strings per note, English grand fortepianos used three.
John Broadwood married Barbara Shudi, the master's daughter, in 1769 and eventually took over the firm. Broadwood collaborated with Jan Ladislav Dussek, a noted piano virtuoso who was active in London in the 1790s. Together they developed pianos that extended the range to six octaves. Dussek wrote the first work specifically composed for a piano "with extra keys" in 1793, a piano concerto catalogued as C 97. The Broadwood firm also shipped a piano to Beethoven in Vienna, which the composer evidently treasured. Pianos like that Broadwood were already evolving toward something heavier and more powerful, instruments that would soon make the fortepiano obsolete.
In the late 19th century, the early music pioneer Arnold Dolmetsch built three fortepianos. That attempt at revival was evidently several decades ahead of its time and did not lead to the instrument's widespread return.
The real revival came in the second half of the 20th century, when interest in period instruments spread broadly through the musical world. Old fortepianos were restored, and new ones were built following historical models. Fortepiano kits also became available. Philip Belt was among the builders who led this effort. He spent two years early in his career as an apprentice to Frank Hubbard, a prominent builder of historical harpsichords. That grounding gave Belt the skills the historical fortepiano shares with harpsichord construction. Other builders who took up the instrument included Margaret F. Hood, Rodney Regier, Chris Maene, and Paul McNulty.
The MAfestival Brugge and the Warsaw Chopin Institute's International Chopin Competition on period instruments became focal points for the revival. Music schools around the world began offering courses devoted to the fortepiano. Malcolm Bilson, Paul Badura-Skoda, and Kristian Bezuidenhout were among the performers who made the instrument central to their careers. So were Melvyn Tan, Andreas Staier, and Andras Schiff.
Howland Auchincloss addressed the common complaint that the fortepiano sounds less beautiful than a fine modern concert grand. "The clear sound and relatively short sustain of the fortepiano," he wrote, "tends to favor the special elements of style in the music of Haydn and Mozart. The sound is different but not inferior."
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Common questions
Who invented the fortepiano and when?
Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the fortepiano, and the first reliable record of his instrument appears in a Medici family inventory dated 1700. He was working under the Medici's patronage in Florence at the time. Of the instruments he built with his own hand, only three survive, all dating from the 1720s.
How does a fortepiano differ from a modern piano?
The fortepiano has leather-covered hammers, thin strings, and a much lighter case than the modern piano, with no metal frame or bracing in early examples. Its tone is softer with less sustain and varies across registers: slightly buzzing in the bass, tinkling in the high treble, and more rounded in the mid-range. The range of early fortepianos was about four octaves, compared to the much broader range of modern pianos.
What does the word fortepiano mean?
Fortepiano is Italian for "loud-soft" and is an abbreviation of Cristofori's original name for the instrument: gravicembalo col piano e forte, meaning "harpsichord with soft and loud." The formal name of the modern piano, pianoforte, reverses the order to "soft-loud." During the age of the fortepiano, the two terms were used interchangeably.
What composers wrote music for the fortepiano?
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert wrote piano music for fortepianos. Mozart wrote for instruments of about five octaves; Beethoven's last piano compositions were for an instrument of about six and a half octaves. The first music composed specifically for the fortepiano was the Sonate da cimbalo di piano by Lodovico Giustini, published in 1732.
When did the fortepiano fall out of use and when was it revived?
The fortepiano became obsolete in the late 18th and 19th centuries as the modern grand piano developed. The early music pioneer Arnold Dolmetsch built three fortepianos in the late 19th century in an attempt at revival, but the effort did not take hold. A major revival occurred in the second half of the 20th century, driven by growing interest in historically informed performance.
Who were the major fortepiano builders of the Classical era?
Among the most significant fortepiano builders were Gottfried Silbermann in Freiberg, Germany; Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter in the Viennese tradition; and John Broadwood in England. Conrad Graf, who lived from 1782 to 1851, made Beethoven's last piano, and his instruments were played by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. Chopin preferred pianos by the French maker Pleyel; Liszt favored those by Boisselot.
All sources
25 references cited across the entry
- 4VideoIntroducing Mozart's FortepianoOrchestra of the Age of Enlightenment — 2018-07-19
- 6Italian piano maker sees craft threatened with extinctionAgence France-Presse — 14 April 2021
- 7The Piano Timeline: Key Dates & Inventors27 November 2024
- 8BookPiano roles: three hundred years of life with the pianoJames Parakilas — Yale University Press — 1999
- 11BookBartolomeo Cristofori and the invention of the pianoStewart Pollens — Cambridge University Press — 2017
- 12Stein, Johann (Georg) AndreasMichael Latcham — 2001
- 13Walter, (Gabriel) AntonMichael Latcham — 2001
- 20BookA Biography and Thematic Catalog of the works of J.L. DussekHoward Craw — University of Southern California — 1964
- 21BookEarly piano: replicationDerek Adlam — Taylor and Francis — 2003