If you like piano pieces such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, remember Bartolommeo Cristofori.
Cristofori, an Italian harpsichord maker living in Florence, designed a new musical instrument in about 1709 in which the strings were struck by little hammers operated by the musician. It came to be known as the "pianoforte" or simply, "piano."
Unlike the harpsichord before it, the piano allows you to play with much greater feeling. If you strike a key softly, you get a soft note. If you hit it harder, you get a stronger sound. If you hold the key for a longer or shorter period of time, you get a longer or shorter note. Mozart and Beethoven took full advantage of these new capabilities in their great piano pieces.
But the early pianos were not without problems. For example, if the numerous metal strings were tightened too much they would bend or break the wooden frame. Therefore, the piano's sound was not very loud. This problem was later solved by making cast-iron frames.
Though invented in Italy, piano-making soon spread to Germany and then to England.
