Life
Cristofori was born in Padua and became known as a harpsichord and spinet maker. In 1688 he moved to Florence to work for Ferdinando de Medici, a music-loving prince who was one of the last of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, at a time when Tuscany was a small independent state. Cristofori originally shared a large, noisy work space with over 100 other artisans, probably in the Galleria dei Lavori of the Uffizi. Later on, he kept his own workshop, usually with one or two assistants working for him.
Cristofori invented at least two keyboard instruments, the spinettone (a large, multi-choired spinet) and the highly original oval spinet, before he began the work on the piano for which he is most famous today.
It is known that Cristofori was working on a piano by at least 1698, and that he continued to develop his invention for most of the remainder of his life. The first record of a Cristofori piano is found in an anonymous inventory of the Medici intrument collection made in 1700. The range of this (now lost) intrument was a mere four octaves, C - C'''. By Ferdinando's death in 1713 Cristofori had built four instruments, naming his invention gravicembalo per suonare col forte e col piano; "harpsichord that plays loud and soft".
Cristofori remained in Florence as overseer of Ferdinand's 84 instrument collection, and continued to work on his invention until near the end of his life.
Cristofori's pianos
The total number of pianos built by Cristofori is unknown. Only three survive today, all dating from the 1720's.
- A 1720 instrument is located in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
- A 1722 instrument is in the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali in Rome.
- A 1726 instrument is in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum of Leipzig University.
Design
Cristofori's 1726 design boasted almost all of the features of the modern instrument, including the fast hammer action and the escapement and check. However, his piano lacked the addition of a metal frame, which meant that it could not produce an especially loud tone. This continued to be the rule for pianos until around 1820, when iron bracing was first introduced. Here are some further design details of Cristofori's instruments:
Hammers: The hammer heads in Cristofori's mature pianos are made of paper, curled into a circular coil and secured with glue. This design produces the slight softness obtained in later 18th century pianos by covering wooden hammers with leather, and in mid-19th-century (and later instruments) by making the hammers of compressed felt. In all cases, the purpose is to emphasize the lower harmonics of the string by maintaining a broad area of contact.
Frame: Cristofori's pianos use an internal frame member (bentside) to support the soundboard; in other words, the structural member attaching the right side of the soundboard is distinct from the external case that bears the tension of the strings. This system was also applied by Cristofori to harpsichords. The use of a separate support for the soundboard reflects Cristofori's belief that the soundboard should not be subjected to compression from string tension. This may improve the sound, and also avoids the peril of warping--as harpsichord makers Kerstin Schwarz and Tony Chinnery point out [1], [www.tony-chinnery.com/Buyers_Guide_English.htm 2], a severely warped soundboard threatens a structural catastrophe, namely contact between strings and soundboard. Cristofori's principle certainly is applied to modern pianos, where the now-enormous string tension (up to 20 tons) is borne by a separate iron frame (the "plate").
Inverted wrest plank: On two of his surviving instruments, Cristofori employed a very unusual arrangement of the tuning pins: they are inserted all the way through their supporting wrest plank. Thus, the tuning hammer is used on the top side of the wrest plank, but the strings are wrapped around the pins on the bottom side. This made it harder to replace broken strings, but it provided two compensating advantages. With the nut (front bridge) inverted as well, the blows of the hammers, coming from below, would seat the strings firmly into place, rather than threatening to displace them. The inverted wrestplank also placed the strings lower in the instrument, permitting smaller and lighter hammers, hence a lighter and more responsive touch. However, subsequent pianos have not followed this aspect of Cristofori's design.
Tonal quality
Of all historical pianos, Cristofori's sound the most like harpsichords--in particular, more like harpsichords than do the Viennese-style early pianos of the later 18th century, which are probably the most familiar to modern listeners. To hear the sound of Cristofori instruments (both restored and replicated), consult the external links given below.
The initial reception of the piano
Our knowledge of how Cristofori's invention was initially received comes in part from an article published in 1711 by Scipione Maffei, an influential literary figure, in the Giornale de'letterati d'Italia of Venice. Maffei said that "some professionals have not given this invention all the applause it merits," and goes on to say that its sound was felt to be too "soft" and "dull"--Cristofori was unable to make his instrument as loud as the competing harpsichord. Yet Maffei himself was an enthusiast for the piano, and the instrument did gradually catch on and increase in popularity, in part due to Maffei's efforts.
One reason why the piano spread slowly at first was that it was quite expensive to make, and thus was purchased only by royalty and a few wealthy private individuals. The ultimate success of Cristofori's invention occurred only in the 1760s, when the invention of cheaper square pianos, along with generally greater prosperity, made it possible for many people to acquire one.
Subsequent technological developments in the piano were often mere "re-inventions" of Cristofori's work; in the early years, there were perhaps as many regresses as advances. For the history of the piano after Cristofori, see Fortepiano and Piano.
Assessment
Scholars who have studied Cristofori's work in detail tend to express their admiration in the strongest terms; thus the New Grove encyclopedia describes him as having possessed "tremendous ingenuity"; and the early-instrument scholar Grant O’Brien has written "The workmanship and inventiveness displayed by the instruments of Cristofori are of the highest order and his genius has probably never been surpassed by any other keyboard maker of the historical period ... I place Cristofori shoulder to shoulder with Antonio Stradivarius."
Cristofori is also given credit for originality in inventing the piano. While it is true that there had been earlier, very crude attempts to make piano-like instruments, it is not clear that these were even known to Cristofori. The piano is thus an unusual case in which an important invention can be ascribed unambiguously to a single individual, who brought it to an unusual degree of perfection all on his own.
References
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, available in libraries and as on line as a pay site, offers thorough and accurate coverage of Cristofori and of the early piano; see both Cristofori, Bartolomeo and Pianoforte.
- Additional information, with high-quality images, can be found in James Parakilas's book Piano Roles: Three Hundred Years of Life with the Piano (1999: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300080557).
External links
- The Metropolitan Museum's web page on its 1720 Cristofori piano
- A
page about the early piano, including an image of
the 1722 Cristofori instrument in Rome.
- Web page of the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali in Rome (no image, but information for visitors)
- The Leipzig Musikinstrumenten-Museum's entry on its 1726 Cristofori piano.
- Website of Tony Chinnery, harpsichord maker. Hear an original and a replica Cristofori.