Piano's Evolution: From Harpsichord to Emotional Outlet

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“Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano!” a quote from Frederic Chopin. Similar to Chopin, a copius amount of musicians utilized their instruments of choice in order to express their emotions or feelings. During the Baroque Period both the clavichord and the harpsichord reigned as the most popular keyboard instrument of choice. However, by the end of the Baroque Period the piano had replaced both keyboards as being the most popular and widely used (Verotta). The piano has been derived from the harpsichord and the clavichord which had evolved continuously through the combined effort of keyboard makers. Being that the both the harpsichord and the clavichord were popular keyboard instruments, instrument makers were looking for ways to improve their designs. One such instrument maker was Bartolomeo Cristofori. Cristofori was an Italian harpsichord creator that ended up inventing the piano, or the Gravicembalo col piano e …show more content…

Gottfried Silbermann, a German keyboard builder who was already famous for his accomplished work on the clavichord, took Cristofori’s design and improved it. Although Silbermann and Cristofori were both keyboard makers, Silbermann had further knowledge of mechanical systems which allowed him to advance Cristofori’s design. Silbermann was friends with J. S. Bach, who would deliver critiques on the newest mechanical tests Silbermann was working on at the time. Bach thought that the keys were too heavy to the touch, and that the high notes were too quiet (Sartorius). Piano designs up until this point resembled the harpsichord which are now called grand pianos. Later mechanical improvements fixed the sensitivity of the keys and the tonality of the higher notes. Accordingly the work on the piano continued well past Gottfried Silbermann’s time and ended up blossoming in

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