How did the fortepiano look different from the piano?

Answer 1

The first piano actually wasn't called a piano. It was called a harpsichord, but it was very similar. The only real difference is the sound, a harpsichord sounds like a very twangy bold harp. The harpsichord eventually broke into the harpsichord AND the piano, and the modern day piano is based off of that. They also look different, but the touch or the key pressure doesn't differ extremely.

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Sorry to disagree, but a harpsichord was not a piano, and structurally was not even ancestral to a piano. They are similar looking, and have similar keyboards, but they are fundamentally different instruments. A harpsichord plucks the strings and has no dynamic range (loud and soft). By contrast, a piano is a percussion instrument that hits the strings with hammers, and has a very wide dynamic range. Its original names, such as fortepiano, meant loud and soft. The music for the harpsichord is full of embellishments to make up for the lack of the dynamic range. Music for the piano is, by contrast, takes advantage of the dynamic range by being expressive.

The early fortepianos were smaller and lighter instruments than modern instruments. They had much lighter strings, which were strung on wood, where the modern instruments' strings are strung on iron. A result of this was that the fortepianos did not stay in tune very well when the weather changed.

The fortepianos had light hammers, with a light touch. This had an effect on the tone, which was brighter and lighter than the tone of a modern instrument. For a long time, they had no escapement, which meant that if you wanted to hold a note, you could not hold the key all the way down, but had to back off a bit to get the hammer off the strings.

Answer 2

Well..the first pianos where pianofortes, the type Mozart and Haydn used. These where different from the harpsichord as they used hammers to strike the strings instead of plucking them. Mozart's music sometimes stretched over five octaves; Beethoven's later works were over six. So I guess the pianoforte gradually developed into the modern piano over the centuries, adding elements of the modern piano e.g. pedals and stronger case construction. I would say in Beethoven's time that the piano was different because it featured more keys and had pedals rather than knee-stops. As he was going deaf, he also preferred stronger pianos to be further in touch with the sound. Hope that helps :)

Answer 3

The fortepiano has four legs, and at the bottom of each leg theres a bar connecting each leg, and the the top the the black keys are white and the white keys are black also the lid opened up so it faced the player so if you were performing and you were facing the audience the audience would hear the music better than you, the piano( the grand piano) also had four legs and in between the to legs where you would sit where there pedals the pedal to the right holds the note(s) your playing the pedal in middle is used by holding a note then pressing down the middle pedal and that will make the piano hold only that note, you can make the note held longer by pressing that note multiple times the pedal to the left dims the noise level, the piano has white keys normal and black keys sharps and flats. it also has a stand to place your music on. the lid opens up to your left so you and your audience can hear.