piano, piano-forte, forte-piano : Terminology -

[Israel Stein]

At 11:00 AM 4/15/2006, "Philippe Errembault" <phil.errembault at skynet.be>

>Just consulting the french wikipedia, I discovered that piano-forte 
>is the original name of the instrument invented by Cristophori near 
>1700, and it was in a harpsichord like frame, while forte-piano was 
>built around 60 years later by Friederici, on a square frame like a 
>clavichord. This is not matching with what I find on the english wikipedia...

Seems that whoever posted this to Wikipedia hasn't got the foggiest...

1. It isn't known exactly when Cristofori invented his action design. 
Probably sometime in the 1690's...  In 1709 his invention became 
known to the rest of Europe through reports and articles published by 
a traveler named Giuseppe Maffei. The name of the contraption? 
"Gravicembalo col piano e forte" - roughly translated as "A gravity 
operated harpsichord capable of loud and soft". For the next 30-40 
years these things (and copies of them) were known in various places 
as "pianofortes" or "fortepianos" interchangeably, as well as the 
generic "klavier" (in Germany) and even confused with similar but now 
extinct instruments known as "pantaleons" or "pantalons" (sort of a 
keyed dulcimer...)

2. The earliest known square (clavichord-like) piano was produced in 
1766 and also called "fortepiano". But it was built by a German 
immigrant in England named Johann Christoph Zumpe - who proceeded to 
flood England and France with these contraptions for most of the rest 
of the century and even farmed out some of the work to others. The 
English and French called them "square pianos" ("Piano carre"), the 
Germans "Tafelklavier" (Table Piano), the Italians - "pianoforte de 
tavola" (table piano) or "pianoforte retangolare" (yes, rectangular). 
It is also not known whether the square piano design was derived from 
the clavichord or from the "pantalon". There is conflicting evidence 
which I won't go into...

3. Christian Ernst Friederici (German - not Italian) was an 
apprentice of Gottfried Silbermann - a famous German piano and organ 
builder who built instruments on the Cristofori model and developed 
the design further. Friederici claims to have produced pyramid-shaped 
upright pianos in the 1740s and 1750s, but nobody much believes 
that... There is also no evidence that Friederici invented the square 
piano - though he was known to have built them. The fellow does have 
a track record of specious claims...

4. The terms :"fortepiano" and "pianoforte" have been used 
interchangeably throughout the history of the instrument, and 
typically cannot be assigned an exact correspondence to a particular 
type instrument except in limited times and places. For example, in 
some English-speaking countries "fortepiano" is - by convention, 
since mid-20th century - assumed to mean an earlier instrument, with 
a wooden frame, single escapement (or Viennese) action etc. But in 
Russia, for example, "pianoforte" and "fortepiano" are and have been 
for a long time used interchangeably for all kinds of pianos - along 
with the Russianized "pianino" (for uprights) and "Royale" for grands.

Israel Stein


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