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Development of the piano

The piano was invented in 1709 by Cristofori Fortepiano. This new invention allowed the use of dynamics, something that the harpsichord could not achieve. The damper pedal was then invented by Gottfried Silberman, without the damper pedal Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata would not have been as great. Haydn was the first composer to indicate the use of pedals in his C major sonata. Before 1790, no pedal markings existed. Clementi used it a little in the late 1790’s. He was one of the first composers to compose for the new developments on the piano. In 1800 the una corda was invented which Beethoven and Thalburg made great use of. Pedalling only really developed at the beginning of the 19th century and was used by Chopin and Liszt.

In the late 18th century, piano making really developed in Vienna. These pianos had a wooden frame, 2 strings per not and leather covered hammers. These were the type of pianos that Mozart composed on. Mozart had a big influence on the piano, he was one of the first major composers to write for fortepiano instead of harpsichord. When he performed his C major K467 piano concerto in 1785, he made huge alterations on the piano. Instead of playing the standard piano of that time, Mozart brought with him to the concert a large keyed piano with no legs and slid it underneath the normal piano. This provided a deep baseline on which he could improvise. It was like the pedal board of an organ.

Between 1790 and 1890, pianos underwent the biggest changes mainly because of industrial revolution. New technological resources became available for example steel for strings. Broadwood company improved the piano by making it louder, larger and above all giving it a wider range. They expanded the 5 octaves to 5 and a half. In 1810 the range reached 6 octaves and by 1850 it reached 7 octaves. The 7 and a half octaves on today’s pianos were invented in 1870. Composers wasted no time in using...