Piano history of Steinway Chickering Knabe Bosendorfer Erard Broadwood

The basic mechanism of the piano was invented about 1709 in Florence, Italy, by a harpsichord builder, Bartolommeo Cristofori (1655-1731). He made about twenty instruments, gradually improving them. Cristofori's piano, wing-shaped (like the harpsichord and the modern grand piano), was largely neglected until a German builder, Gottfried Silbermann, adopted it about 1745.

Other German builders experimented with felt hammer-striking mechanisms, but their instruments, called Square pianos because of their square (or rectangular) shape were inferior to Cristofori's. Later the square piano was greatly improved, mainly in England, and then much more in America where it was the primary domestic musical instrument of the 19th century.

By about 1775 the piano came into its own, both German builders (with their so-called "Viennese" action) and English builders ("English" action) having solved most of the instrument's problems.

In 1821 a French builder, Sebastian Erard, invented the last major basic refinement of the piano action; the double escapement. Shortly thereafter, the heavy iron frame required by the action and the higher tensioned strings was provided, and then cross-stringing, a system whereby the long bass strings cross over the shorter middle-range strings, was invented.

The 19th century brought many piano builder's names to the forefront; such as Steinway, Chickering, Knabe, and Mason & Hamlin in America...and Bosendorfer, Broadwood, Bechstein and Erard in Europe. These builders along with others were constantly experimenting and coming up with ways to improve the piano's power and quality of sound.

Throughout most of the 19th century the piano was being gradually changed and improved upon and by around 1890 the piano had almost arrived technically as the instrument we know today. Since then most improvements have been in manufacturing techniques and not so much in the instrument's design.

It is interesting to note that the piano was the very first item where the manufacturer's name reflected a sort of status symbol. During the 19th century, and to some extent even now, if someone owned an instrument of very high reputation then they might just consider themselves a step ahead of their neighbors who might have a piano of lesser quality.