Instromento pian e forte

Instromento pian e forte (It.: soft and loud instr.), mentioned in the late 16th c., this may have designated a *claviorganum, but is more likely to have been a harpsichord with several registers that could be played singly (pian) or together (forte). In 1598 Ippolito Cricca alias Paliarino, maker of organs and stringed keyboard instrs., writes concerning an “instromento pian e forte con l'organo di sotto”; in December of the same year he writes concerning the need of materials “per far…