Piano

Piano (Engl., Fr.) [see text], stringed keyboard instr. invented by 1709 by Bartolommeo Cristofori of Padua, then in Florence, characterized by a hammer action. Cristofori (pron. Cristófori) called his new instr. the gravicembalo col pian e forte (harpsichord with soft and loud), and our names piano and pianoforte are merely abbrs. thereof. In 18th-c. France and Germany the word was reversed to fortepiano. The modern piano is made in 2 forms: horizontal (“grand piano”) or vertical (“upright,”…