Google has featured a new doodle today in honour of the 360th birthday of Bartolomeo Cristofori – the man believed to have invented the piano.
Bartolomeo Cristofori was born in Padua (in the then Republic of Vienna) on May 4, 1655. Little is known about his early life, but some accounts state he got his start as an instrument inventor after being hired by the Tusan Prince, Ferdinando de Medici, a well-known music lover who was looking for someone to look after his instrument collection and invent new ones.
Under the prince, Cristofori invented a Spinettone – a broad, multi-choired harpsichord in which the strings are slanted to save space. The his second invention was an oval spinet, which was a type of harpsichord with the long strings set in the middle, rather than on the left side.
In 1709 (est.) Cristofori invented the che fa’ il piano, e il forte, a term which was gradually truncated to become “Fortepiano” – which was able to play both loud (It. forte) and soft (It. piano).
“An ‘Arpicembalo’ by Bartolomeo Cristofori, of new invention that produces soft and loud, with two sets of strings at unison pitch, with soundboard of cypress without rose…”
The ability was attributed to a special hammer action which allowed the keyboard instrument to play volume dynamics, which had never been done in a keyboard instrument.
Sadly, during his lifetime Cristofori never received recognition for his intention. In an article published in 1711, it stated that the piano sounded too “soft” and “dull” compared to other competing keyboards such as the harpsichord. It wasn’t until 1770 when square pianos utilizing Cristofori’s basic designs were developed, that they realized how vital Cristofori’s action was to the design.
The doodle-creator Leon Hong said on the Google doodle blog that he hopes “people decide to do more research after playing with the doodle and learn more about him.”
The link can be found online today only. You can see the doodle archived in the video below:
May the fourth be with you.
#LUDWIGVAN
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