Bartolomeo Cristofori: Inventor of the Piano

Before the invention of the piano Bartolomeo Cristofori invented two other keyboard instruments. During the 17th century he invented the spinettone, which is Italian for big spinet, and also the oval spinet. The spinettone was similar to a harpsichord, but the strings were slanted to save space. It is thought the instrument was designed to fit into an over crowded orchestra pit. The oval spinet was a kind of virginals with the longest strings in the middle.

Cristofori was born in Padua, in the Public of Venice, Italy on May the 4th 1655. In 1688, at the age of 33, Prince Ferdinando de' Medici recruited Cristofori to work for him. Prince Ferdinando was a lover and patron of music ,and also the son and heir of Cosimo III. The Prince hired Bartolomeo as a technician and for his remarkable innovation skills. There were others interested in the position, but the prince saw something in Bartolomeo that he did not see in any of the other applicants. Therefore, he hired Cristofori giving him a higher salary than he would have paid the other applicants for the job. In addition to Prince Ferdinando's great collection of musical instruments he had over 40 clocks that he had accumulated.

It is not known exactly how many piano's Bartolomeo built. There are three that have stood the test of time to this day, and they date back to the 1720's. His original design has almost all of the features of a modern piano. The piano didn't have a metal frame, therefore, it was light construction wise, meaning it could not give out such a loud tone. Iron bracing was not introduced until 1820.

The design for Bartolomeo's piano consisted of the frame, inverted rest plank, action, hammers, sound board, and strings. Cristofori incorporated action into his design, these are complex mechanical devices. The action has to be situated so that the key press does not touch the strings. If the key were to touch the string it would make a dull sound, and that was not his intention in the design of the piano. The hammer heads were made of paper, shaped into a circular coil, covered in glue, then surmounted by a strip of leather at the contact point. The tuning pins were inserted through their supporting wrest plank. One advantage of the rest plank being inverted was that it allowed for smaller and lighter keys to be inserted, giving a lighter and more responsive touch. Cypress wood was favored by Bartolomeo in the construction of the soundboard.

At first the piano was not a very popular instrument, mainly due to the fact that it was so expensive to make. However, during the 1760's came the invention of a smaller piano, and people became wealthier, and could afford to invest in a piano. Cristofori Bartolomeo continued to improve the design, and build pianos until his death on January 27th 1931. Giovanni Ferrini assisted Cristofori in his later years. The assistant carried on his masters tradition after his death, and made a good career for himself building piano's.

Source: Wikipedia