History of the Piano

1700Bartolomeo Cristofori's

"new invention" of the piano e forte recorded, Florence, Italy

1711Scipione Maffei publishes a journal

article about the piano

1716Jean Marius submits hammer-keyboard designs

to Royal Academy of Sciences, Paris

1721 Christoph Gottlieb Schröter submits

hammer-keyboard designs to the Saxon Court, Dresden

1725Translation of Maffei's article into

German stimulates widespread interest in pianos

Pianos first advertised in Vienna

1730s Pianos known to be in Portuguese and

Spanish courts

1730 Kirkman piano makers founded in

London, England

1732First published piano music, by

Ludovico Giustini

1739Domenico del Mela

builds earliest known upright piano, Gagliano, Italy

1740George Frederic Handel plays on a

piano, London, England

1747 J. S. Bach plays a Silberman piano at

the Prussian Court, Potsdam, and composes the Musical Offering

1750sPianos advertised for sale in France

1753-62C. P. E. Bach: Essay on the True Art of

Playing Keyboard Instruments published

1760sPianos derived from Cristofori built in

Spain and Portugal

1767Early public piano performances, one

by Johann Christian Bach, London

1768First public piano performance in Paris

1771Americus Backers

produces the English grand piano, London

1771Earliest reported public piano

performance in North America by David Propert, Boston

1771Robert Stodart takes out a patent using

the name "Grand" to describe his instrument.

This was the first known use of the word "Grand" in a patent.

1773First public piano performance in New

York

1774John Joseph Merlin comes to England

and introduces the "Una Corda Pedal" which moved the action to one side just hitting two strings instead of three, making the piano quieter. *first pedal invented*

1779Muzio Clementi publishes his first

piano sonatas, London

1780sCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach publishes

series of sonatas and fantasias for piano

Haydn takes up the piano

1780Anton Walter

making pianos, including one for Mozart, in Vienna

1781Mozart and Clementi 'duel' in Vienna

1783 English piano manufacturer Broadwood is

credited with the invention of the sustain pedal. *second pedal invented*

1784-6Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 14-25

composed

1794-5Haydn: 'London' piano sonatas and

trios composed

1795Beethoven: 3 Piano Trios, Op. 1 and 3

Piano Sonatas, Op. 2 published

1797First piano magazine, The Pianoforte,

London

1800 John Isaac Hawkins of Philadelphia

makes small uprights

1801Edward Riley obtains a patent for a

transposing piano, in which the keyboard moved laterally, allowing keys to work on different notes

Challen Pianos London was established. Their clam to fame is that they made the worlds largest grand: twelve feet long

1817Thomas Broadwood,

London presents a grand piano to Beethoven, Vienna

1820First successful

use of metal in grand piano frame by Thom and Allen, London

1823Jonas Chickering

begins making pianos in Boston

1826Henri Pape patents use of felt for

hammer covering, Paris

Robert Wornum patents tape-check action, the basis for modern uprights, London

1828Ignaz Bösendorfer begins making pianos, Vienna

1828Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Complete Theoretical and Practical

Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte published.

1833 Chopin: Études Op. 10 published

1837Knabe Company

established, Baltimore

1839Czerny: The Compete Theoretical and

Practical Pianoforte School, Op. 500 published

Liszt establishes the solo recital, performing from memory and without assisting artists

1843Chickering patents one-piece metal

frame for grands

1848Debain invents an automatic

mechanical piano, Paris

1853 Steinway & Sons,

New York established

*this is still one of the most popular piano companies today. Steinway pianos are considered very elite*

1853Chickering builds new factory, second

largest building in U.S.

1854Mason & Hamlin

established in Boston

1856Wurlitzer Company established, Chicago

*along with Steinway, this companyIs another very elite andclassical piano company*

1859Henry Steinway, Jr. patents cross-

stringing for grands

1862At London Exposition, Steinway wins a

medal with cross-strung grand

1862Baldwin established in Cincinnati, Ohio

*along with Steinway andWurlitzer, Baldwin isanother very elite piano company*

1867Chickering and Steinway win the top

prizes at Paris Exposition

1872 Theodore Steinway patents the duplex

scale to enrich the tone

1874 Albert Steinway patents the sostenuto

pedal (middle pedal on modern grands)

1874 Musorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

originally composed for piano

1885 Aeolian Organ & Music Co. founded to

make automatic organs, later automatic pianos

1899Torakusu Yamaha

begins making pianos, Japan

1899Scott Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag

published

1900Baldwin wins grand prize at Paris

Exposition

1901Welte-Mignon builts a player-piano

mechanism, Freiburg, Germany

1904 American piano

manufacturers make bonfire of square pianos, Atlantic City

1905The Juilliard School founded

1908 American Piano Co. founded,

incorporates Chickering, Knabe, Weber, Haines Brothers, and others

National Association of Piano Tuners founded

1910Steinway & Sons moves its factory

entirely from Manhattan to Astoria, Long Island NY

1910Broadwood among

the first British piano makers to make player pianos

1919156,000 regular pianos and 180,000

player pianos manufactured in U.S.

1923Jelly Roll Morton's

first recordings, Chicago

1924Gershwin’s

Rhapsody in Blue premiered

1927Koichi Kawai leaves

Yamaha and starts his own firm, Japan

1928Earl "Fatha" Hines

records Apex Blues, Weather Bird

1929Neo-Bechstein,

electric piano with electromagnetic pickups to amplify struck strings

1933Art Tatum's first

professional solo recordings

1940John Cage: Bacchanale, first “prepared” piano piece

1953 Liberace wins 2 Emmy Awards for network

television programs

1958Van Cliburn wins

Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, first American to do so.

1960Harold Rhodes

develops the electric piano (Fender-Rhodes)

1966Bösendorfer, Vienna, acquired by

Kimball, Chicago

1968Young Chang begins making pianos, Inchon, S. Korea

1969Japanese piano production exceeds

that of all other countries combined

Yamaha is Japan's largest producer

1972CBS buys Steinway & Sons

1980sDevelopment of

computerized player pianos, Bösendorfer, Yamaha, Baldwin, and others

1985 A group of Boston businessmen buys

Steinway & Sons from CBS

1990 Young Chang

buys Kurzweil Music Systems, American maker of electronic keyboards

1995Steinway and Selmer merge into

Steinway Musical Instruments

Baldwin buys Wurlitzer and Chickering

1998Broadwood

celebrates their 270th anniversary

2000The year 2000 marks the 300th year of

piano manufacturing

Piano300 exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

2001Baldwin files for bankruptcy

2002Gibson purchases Baldwin Piano Co.,

including the Chickering and Wurlitzer names.

2002Bosendorfer

purchased by Austrian banking group and releases Porsche Design 7 foot grand

2003Steinway celebrates its 150th

anniversary at Carnegie Hall in New York

2003Bluthner releases its "left-handed" or

"backwards" grand piano - with the treble keys, hammers and strings on the left and the bass on the right. Many ask “Why?”

2003Grotrian (Germany) introduces its Duo

Grand Piano - 2 grand pianos placed side by side with keyboards at opposite ends, as in a duo piano concert, with connected soundboards and a common lid.

Grotrian Duo Grand Piano

2005Steinway announces to move

production of some of the Essex models to the Pearl River Factory in China.

2006Schulze Pollman

partners with Ferrari Motor Cars to launch limited edition piano

Piano parts and info88 Keys (except for Bösendorfer)Bass notes have 1 string, Tenor

notes have 2, and Treble notes have 3 for 236 total strings

160 to 200 pounds on eachTotal of 35,000 lbs.!

Grand Piano cut-away

Back frame

Sound board

Soundboard top

Soundboard bottom

Frame

Seiler suspension piano

Fazioli Liminal piano

Kawai Acrylic paino

Baldwin Zebra

Challen 12 foot grandWeight – 2,000lbsString tension – 50,000lbs.

Schimmel Pegasus

Bösendorfer short

Bösendorfer medium