1709 - Music

Music

The gravicembalo col piano e forte (pianoforte) built by the Padua-born Florentine harpsichord maker Bartolomeo (di Francesco) Cristofori, 54, is the first keyboard instrument with a successful hammer action (year approximate). Cristofori is curator of a collection of musical instruments at the Medici court; the strings of a harpsichord are plucked rather than struck, but his pianoforte has leather-covered poplar hammers that replace the jacks of the harpsichord, strike the strings with enough force to produce loud (forte) as well as soft (piano) notes, and permit the player to produce gradations of tone by changing the force and manner in which the keys are struck.