Today – May 4, 2015 – is Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco’s 360th birthday. Who was Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco, you may be thinking. He was an Italian maker of musical instruments. Bartolomeo also invented several musical instruments. He invented two keyboard instruments before starting work on an invention that is still popular today: the piano.
Bartolomeo wanted his invention to be called an "arpicembalo". The term “piano” comes from a phrase in an inventory book:
“nuova inventione, che fa' il piano, e il forte”
(“new invention that produces soft and loud”)
Piano and forte are Italian words for “soft” and “loud” respectively. Over time, the phrase was shortened to pianoforte, and when the word entered the English language it was further shortened to piano. Bartolomeo built a number of pianos during his life, continually improving the instrument. Three of his pianos have survived to the present time, but two are in such poor condition they cannot be played, while the third has been so extensively altered during “restorations” that the original sound has been lost.
Thanks for your invention, Bartolomeo. Few things sound so nice.
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