piano

Keyboard instrument. The sound is produced when a depressed key strikes the strings with a felt-covered hammer, causing them to vibrate. It is therefore a form of mechanized dulcimer, a percussion instrument. It is different from the earlier harpsichord, a mechanized harp, where the strings are plucked. The piano is capable of a wide range of dynamics from soft (Italian piano) to loud (Italian forte), hence its name. The first piano was built in 1704 and introduced in 1709 by Bartolommeo Cristofori, a harpsichord maker from Padua. It uses a clever mechanism to make the keyboard touch-sensitive. Extensively developed during the 18th century, the piano became popular among many composers, although it was not until 1768 that Johann Christian Bach gave one of the first public recitals on the instrument.

Further improvements in the keyboard action and tone were made by makers such as Broadwood, Erard, and Graf. This and the rapid expansion of published music by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and especially the musical innovations of late Romantics such as Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, and Johannes Brahms, led to the development of the powerfully resonant concert grand piano, such as the modern Steinway, and the mass production of smaller upright pianos for the home.

piano

In musical notation, a directly to play softly, usually abbreviated to ‘p’.