pianoforte: Definition from Answers.com

A keyboard instrument distinguished by the fact that its strings are struck by rebounding hammers rather than plucked (as in the harpsichord) or struck by tangents (as in the clavichord). It has been central in professional and domestic musical life from the third quarter of the 18th century not only because it can sound ten or more notes at once, and thus give an approximate rendering of any piece of Western music, but also because it can be played both soft and loud (whence its name) according to touch, which produces its vast expressive range.

The modern grand piano consists of six main elements: the strings - three for each note down to B or B ♭, then two for each, except for the extreme bass with just one; the massive metal frame which supports the strings considerable tension (c 16,400 kg); the wooden soundboard beneath the strings, without which the tone would be faint and thin; the wooden case enclosing all the foregoing; the action, comprising the keys (normally 88), the hammers and the mechanism that operates them; and the pedals. The one on the right (the sustaining pedal) removes the dampers from the strings, giving added duration and resonance to the sound, even though the hands have been removed from the keys; the one on the left (the ‘una corda’ or ‘soft’ pedal) reduces the volume either by shifting all the hammers sideways so that they strike one less string, or, in upright pianos, by moving the hammers nearer to the strings so that their impact is diminished, or even by the simple interposition of a piece of felt. Some pianos have a middle pedal, usually a ‘sostenuto’ pedal which allows the player to sustain a selected group of notes while still dampening the remaining strings; more rarely the third pedal is a muffling device used for practicing purposes. See illustration.

Action of a modern grand piano.When the key is pressed the movement is transmitted via the pilot to the intermediate lever; the jack then acts on the roller of the hammer which rises towards the string. The backward projection of the jack contacts the set-off button and jack moves back permitting the hammer to escape and to continue in free flight to strike the string and begin its descent; it is then caught and retained by the check and repetition lever as long as the key remains depressed. If the key is partly released the hammer is freed, and the roller is acted on directly by the repetition lever; it is thus possible to strike the string again by depressing the key a second time (the jack will re-engage with the roller only when the key has been fully released so that a full hammer stroke may be made).

The first pianofortes were made by Bartolomeo Cristofori, who began work on them in 1698. He was keeper of instruments at the Medici court in Florence and his invention, which he called ‘harpsichord with loud and soft’, has a remarkable number of features in common with later, highly developed versions of the instrument, notably the sophisticated ‘escapement mechanism’ which stopped the hammer rebounding against the string it had just struck. Cristofori's idea was taken up in Germany by Silbermann whose improvements met with J.S. Bach's approbation in 1747. The main thrust of German and Austrian piano building, however, concentrated on developing the piano along the lines of the clavichord. This led to the invention of the ‘Prellmechanik’ (a simple action in which the hammer is facing the player and attached to the key) or ‘Viennese action’ which, as developed particularly by the Stein family, formed the characteristic Viennese pianoforte whose lightness of touch and subtlety of nuance ensured its popularity well into the 19th century. The English school began with Johann Zumpe, an associate of Silbermann who started making square pianos (shaped like a clavichord) in London in 1760; they were enthusiastically endorsed by J. C. Bach, and improved by John Broadwood, Robert Stodart and Americus Backers, all important in the development of the English piano.The English action was first developed by Backers in the early 1770s; Stodart patented it in 1777 and the Broadwood firm adopted and improved it. Further improvements in the action were made in France by Sébastien Erard who, while mainly following English models, made modifications to the action to improve note repetition.

At the end of the 18th century, the idea of using metal bracing to bear the tension of the strings was developed in England and in the USA. Many firms were involved, including John Isaac Hawkins, an English maker working in the USA, who invented the upright piano and devised a new system of metal bracing; Broadwood and Erard also used metal, but the first maker to use a single-cast metal frame including hitchpin plate was Alpheus Babcock, who worked in Boston and Philadelphia and patented his invention in 1825. The use of iron frames, which allowed for greater tension and thus thicker strings and a fuller, more ringing tone, was the last fundamental development in the piano's history. String tension was later distributed across the frame by the practice of ‘overstringing’, whereby one set of strings is laid diagonally over another.

In the 19th century, the greater volume and flexibility of the English action led to its prevailing over the Viennese type, although the Viennese instrument (by such makers as Walter, Schantz, Streicher, the Steins and Graf, and ultimately Bösendorfer) was preferred by many composers and players for its greater sensitivity (a notable exception was Chopin, who preferred the English and French types). The upright (developed by Robert Wornum in London and others) came during the 19th century to replace the square - although that was extensively developed in the USA - as the standard domestic instrument. The Steinway firm in New York developed both the square and the upright, but also became the leading manufacturers of the large grand piano; they, with the German firms Bechstein and Blüthner - all three were founded in 1853 - and to a lesser extent Bösendorfer of Vienna, came to be regarded as the leading makers.

20th-century developments include the ‘baby grand’, appropriate to domestic use, and many smaller types of upright. The piano as a symbol of domestic social prestige was at its height in the years before World War I; in 1910 about 600,000 pianos were built worldwide (more than half in the USA). This figure dipped in the inter-war years, but by 1980 the figure was over 800,000, of which well over a third were made in Japan (mostly by Yamaha). Miscellaneous developments to the piano during the present century include attempts at a sustaining instrument (see Sostenente piano), developments of various other electric attachments and ultimately of an Electric piano. There have also been experiments in microtonal pianos. The automatic Player piano was popular in the early part of the 20th century. (For further illustration, see Keyboard instruments.)

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