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A harpsichord, which works by plucking strings, has little dynamic range; you can't play it quietly or loudly, just at its own volume. So the idea of striking the strings with a hammer instead of plucking them was attractive. When the new instrument first appeared it was described (being Italian) as a gravicembalo con piano e forte - with soft and loud. The inventor was Bartolomeo Cristofori. Later versions were called fortepiano and then pianoforte, of which piano is a shortened version. You are, in fact, playing a quiet.
The poet and journalist Scipione Mafei named Christofori's, the inventors instrument 'gravisembalo con piano et forte (harpsichord with soft and loud) the first time it was called by its eventual name, pianoforte. This was in 1711

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7y ago

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