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Afortepiano[ˌfɔrteˈpjaːno] is an earlypiano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument byBartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 up to the early 19th century.[1][2] Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the mid-18th to early-19th century instruments, for which composers of theClassical era, such asHaydn,Mozart, and the youngerBeethoven andSchubert, wrote their piano music.
Starting in Beethoven's time, the fortepiano began a period of steady evolution, culminating in the late 19th century with the moderngrand. The earlier fortepiano became obsolete and was absent from the musical scene for many decades. In the later 20th century, the fortepiano was revived, following the rise of interest inhistorically informed performance. Fortepianos are built for that purpose, in specialist workshops.
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The fortepiano hasleather-covered hammers and thin,harpsichord-like strings. It has a much lighter case construction than the modern piano and, except for later examples of the early nineteenth century (already evolving towards the modern piano), it has no metal frame or bracing. The action and hammers are lighter, giving rise to a much lighter touch, which in well-constructed fortepianos is also very expressive.
The range of the fortepiano was about fouroctaves at the time of its invention and gradually increased.Mozart wrote his piano music for instruments of about five octaves. The piano works ofBeethoven reflect a gradually expanding range; his last piano compositions are for an instrument of about six and a half octaves. The range of most modern pianos, attained in the 19th century, is 7⅓ octaves.
Fortepianos from the start often had devices to change the resonance like thepedals of modern pianos, but they were not always pedals: sometimes hand stops or knee levers were used instead.
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Like the modern piano, the fortepiano can vary the sound volume of each note, depending on the player's touch. The tone of the fortepiano is quite different from that of the modern piano, however, being softer, with lesssustain.Sforzando accents tend to stand out more than on the modern piano, because they differ from softer notes in timbre as well as volume, and decay rapidly.
Fortepianos also tend to have quite different tone quality in their different registers – slightly buzzing in the bass, "tinkling" in the high treble, and more rounded (closest to the modern piano) in the mid range.[3] In comparison, modern pianos are rather more uniform in tone through their range.
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The piano was invented by theharpsichord makerBartolomeo Cristofori inFlorence.[1][4] The first reliable record of his invention appears in the inventory of theMedici family (who were Cristofori's patrons), dated 1700. Cristofori continued to develop the instrument until the 1720s, the time from which the surviving three Cristofori instruments date.
Cristofori is perhaps best admired today for his ingenious piano action, which in some ways was more subtle and effective than that of many later instruments. However, other innovations were also needed to make the piano possible; merely attaching the Cristofori action to a harpsichord would have produced a very weak tone. Cristofori's instruments instead used thicker, tenser strings, mounted on a frame considerably more robust than that of contemporary harpsichords. As with virtually all later pianos, in Cristofori's instruments the hammers struck more than one string at a time; Cristofori used pairs of strings throughout the range.
Cristofori was also the first to incorporate a form ofsoft pedal into a piano, the mechanism by which the hammers are made to strike fewer than the maximum number of strings, for which Cristofori used a hand stop. It is not clear whether the modern soft pedal descends directly from Cristofori's work or arose independently.
Cristofori's invention attracted public attention as the result of a journal article written byScipione Maffei and published in 1711 inGiornale de'letterati d'Italia of Venice. The article included a diagram of the action, the core of Cristofori's invention. That article was republished in 1719 in a volume of Maffei's work, and then in a German translation (1725) inJohann Mattheson'sCritica Musica. The latter publication was perhaps the triggering event in the spread of the fortepiano to German-speaking countries (see below).
Cristofori's instrument spread quite slowly at first, probably because, being more elaborate and harder to build than a harpsichord, it was very expensive. For a time, the piano was the instrument of royalty, with Cristofori-built or -styled instruments played in the courts of Portugal and Spain. Several were owned byQueen Maria Barbara of Spain, who was the pupil of the composerDomenico Scarlatti. One of the first private individuals to own a piano was thecastratoFarinelli, who inherited one from Maria Barbara on her death.
The first music specifically written for piano dates from this period: theSonate da cimbalo di piano (1732) byLodovico Giustini. That publication was an isolated phenomenon, and James Parakilas conjectures that the publication was meant as an honor for the composer on the part of his royal patrons.[5] Certainly there could have been no commercial market for fortepiano music while the instrument continued to be an exotic specimen.
It appears that the fortepiano did not achieve full popularity until the 1760s, from which time the first records of public performances on the instrument are dated, and when music described as being for the fortepiano was first widely published.
It wasGottfried Silbermann who brought the construction of fortepianos to the German-speaking nations. Silbermann, who worked inFreiberg in Germany, began to make pianos based on Cristofori's design around 1730. (His previous experience had been in buildingorgans,harpsichords, andclavichords.) Like Cristofori, Silbermann had royal support, in his case fromFrederick the Great ofPrussia, who bought many of his instruments.[6][7]
Silbermann's instruments were famously criticized byJohann Sebastian Bach around 1736,[8] but later instruments encountered by Bach in his Berlin visit of 1747 apparently met with the composer's approval.[6] It has been conjectured that the improvement in Silbermann's instruments resulted from his having seen an actual Cristofori piano, rather than merely reading Scipione Maffei's article.[5] The piano action Maffei described does not match that found in surviving 18th-century instruments.[9]
Silbermann is credited with the invention of the forerunner of thesustain pedal, which removes the dampers from all the strings at once, permitting them to vibrate freely. Silbermann's device was only a hand stop, and so could only be changed during a pause in the music. Throughout theClassical era, even when the more flexible knee levers or pedals had been installed, the lifting of all the dampers was used primarily as a coloristic device.[citation needed]
The fortepiano builders who followed Silbermann introduced actions that were simpler than the Cristofori action, even to the point of lacking anescapement, the device that permits the hammer to fall to rest position even when the key has been depressed. Such instruments were the subject of criticism, particularly in a widely quoted 1777 letter fromMozart to hisfather, but were simple to make and were widely incorporated intosquare pianos.
One of the most distinguished fortepiano builders in the era following Silbermann was one of his pupils,Johann Andreas Stein, who worked inAugsburg, Germany.[10] Stein's fortepianos had (what we, or Cristofori, would call) "backwards" hammers, with the striking end closer to the player than the hinged end. This action came to be called the "Viennese" action, and was widely used in Vienna, even on pianos up to the mid 19th century. The Viennese action was simpler than the Cristofori action, and very sensitive to the player's touch. According to Edwin M. Ripin (see references below), the force needed to depress a key on a Viennese fortepiano was only about a fourth of what it is on a modern piano, and the descent of the key only about half as much. Thus playing the Viennese fortepiano involved nothing like the athleticism exercised by modern piano virtuosos, but did require exquisite sensitivity of touch.
Stein put the wood used in his instruments through a very severe weathering process, generating cracks in the wood, into which he would insert wedges. That gave his instruments a considerable longevity, on which Mozart commented, and several instruments survive today.
Stein's fortepiano business was carried on in Vienna with distinction by his daughterNannette Streicher, along with her husbandJohann Andreas Streicher. The two were friends of Beethoven, and one of the composer's pianos was a Streicher. Later on, in the early 19th century, more robust instruments, with greater range, were built in Vienna, by (for example) the Streicher firm, which continued through two more generations of Streichers. ComposerJohannes Brahms also preferred pianos by Streicher.[11]
Another important Viennese builder wasAnton Walter,[12] a friend of Mozart, who built instruments with a somewhat more powerful sound than Stein's. Although Mozart very much admired the Stein fortepianos, as the 1777 letter mentioned above makes clear, his own piano was a Walter. Haydn also owned a Walter piano,[13] and even Beethoven expressed a wish to buy one.[14] The fortepianos of Stein and Walter are widely used today as models for the construction of new instruments, discussed below. Still another important builder in that period wasConrad Graf (1782–1851), who made Beethoven's last piano.[15] Graf was one of the first Viennese makers to build pianos in quantity, as a large business enterprise. His instruments were played byChopin,Mendelssohn andSchumann.
Prominent piano makers among theFrench during the era of the fortepiano includedErard,Pleyel (Chopin’s favorite maker)[16] andBoisselot (Liszt’s favorite).[17]
The English fortepiano had a humble origin in the work ofJohannes Zumpe, a maker who had immigrated from Germany and worked for a while in the workshop of the great harpsichord makerBurkat Shudi. Starting in the middle to late 1760s, Zumpe made inexpensive square pianos that had a very simple action, lacking an escapement, (sometimes known as the "old man's head"). Although hardly a technological advancement in the fortepiano, Zumpe's instruments proved very popular, being imitated outside England, and playing a major role in the displacement of the harpsichord by the fortepiano. The square pianos were also the medium of the first public performances on the instrument in the 1760s, notably byJohann Christian Bach.
Americus Backers, withJohn Broadwood andRobert Stodart, two of Shudi's workmen, produced a more advanced action than Zumpe's. ThatEnglish grand action, with an escapement and check, enabled a louder, more robust sound than the Viennese one, though it required deeper touch and was less sensitive. The early English grand pianos by those builders physically resembled Shudi harpsichords, being very imposing, with elegant, restrained veneer work on the exterior. Unlike contemporary Viennese instruments, English grand fortepianos had three strings per note, rather than two.
John Broadwood married the master's daughter (Barbara Shudi, 1769) and ultimately took over and renamed the Shudi firm.The Broadwood company (which survives to this day)[18] was an important innovator in the evolution of the fortepiano into thepiano. Broadwood, in collaboration withJan Ladislav Dussek, a noted piano virtuoso active in London in the 1790s, developed pianos that gradually increased the range to six octaves. Dussek was one of the first pianists to receive a 5½ foot piano and, in 1793, he wrote the first work for piano "with extra keys", a piano concert (C 97).[19] The firm shipped a piano toBeethoven in Vienna, which the composer evidently treasured.
From the late 18th century, the fortepiano underwent extensive technological development and evolved into the modern piano (for details, seePiano). The older type of instrument eventually ceased to be made. In the late 19th century, theearly music pioneerArnold Dolmetsch built three fortepianos. However, that attempted revival of the instrument was evidently several decades ahead of its time, and did not lead to its widespread adoption.[citation needed]
In the second half of the 20th century, a great upsurge of interest occurred inperiod instruments, including a revival of interest in the fortepiano. Old instruments were restored, and many new ones were built along the lines of the old. Fortepiano kits also became available. The ability of builders to recreate the fortepiano drew on the accumulating expertise of the builders who were making harpsichords of historical design; for instance fortepiano pioneerPhilip Belt spent two years early in his career working as an apprentice forFrank Hubbard, a prominent builder of historical harpsichords. Other builders also took up fortepiano construction, includingMargaret F. Hood, Rodney Regier,Chris Maene, andPaul McNulty.[20]
The reintroduction of the fortepiano has permitted performance of 18th- and early 19th-century music on the instruments for which it was written, yielding new insights into this music (for detailed discussion, seePiano history and musical performance). More and more music schools offer courses of study in the fortepiano. There are several fortepiano competitions, including theMAfestival Brugge and theInternational Chopin Competition on Chopin era instruments, organized by theWarsaw Chopin Institute.[21]
A number of modern harpsichordists and pianists have achieved distinction in fortepiano performance, includingSusan Alexander-Max,Paul Badura-Skoda,Malcolm Bilson,Hendrik Bouman,Ronald Brautigam,David Breitman,Wolfgang Brunner,Gary Cooper,Jörg Demus,Ursula Dütschler.Richard Egarr,Richard Fuller,Laurence Cummings,Tuija Hakkila,Christoph Hammer,Robert Hill,Knut Jacques,Jenny Soonjin Kim,Piet Kuijken,Geoffrey Lancaster,Trudelies Leonhardt,Morgane Le Corre,Robert Levin,Alexei Lubimov,Steven Lubin,Pieter-Jan Belder,Yury Martynov,Costantino Mastroprimiano,Zvi Meniker,Bart van Oort,Olga Pashchenko,David Schrader,Viviana Sofronitsky,Andreas Staier,Melvyn Tan,[22]Natalia Valentin,Jos van Immerseel,Andras Schiff,Kristian Bezuidenhout,Katia and Marielle Labèque,Duo Pégase,Vladimir Feltsman.
People's opinions about the sound of the fortepiano vary widely, both from person to person and from instrument to instrument. Here are three representative opinions about fortepianos:
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"Fortepiano" is Italian for "loud-soft", just as the formal name for the modern piano, "pianoforte", is "soft-loud". Both are abbreviations of Cristofori's original name for his invention:gravicembalo col piano e forte, "harpsichord with soft and loud".[26][27]
The termfortepiano is somewhat specialist in its connotations, and does not preclude using the more general termpiano to designate the same instrument. Thus, usages like "Cristofori invented the piano" or "Mozart's piano concertos" are currently common and would probably be considered acceptable by most musicians.Fortepiano is used in contexts where it is important to make the precise identity of the instrument clear, as in (for instance) "a fortepiano recital by Malcolm Bilson".
The use of "fortepiano" to refer specifically to early pianos appears to be recent. Even the authoritativeOxford English Dictionary does not record this usage, noting only that "fortepiano" is "an early name of the pianoforte". During the age of the fortepiano, "fortepiano" and "pianoforte" were used interchangeably, as the OED's attestations show.Jane Austen, who lived in the age of the fortepiano and herself played the instrument, used "pianoforte" (also: "piano-forte", "piano forte") for the many occurrences of the instrument in her writings.
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