The Piano

Beethoven Composing by Carl Bernhard Schlösser

In 1700, an Italian instrument maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori created an improvement to the harpsichord. Instead of a traditional harpsichord, in which the keyboard controls a mechanism that plucks the strings, Cristofori's instrument stuck the strings with a small, felt-tipped mallet. This allowed the player to control the volume of the instrument based on how hard or soft he hit the keys. Because of its dynamic capabilities, Cristofori called his instrument the piano-forte.