Nod to The Legend · The instruments · Around 1700
Bartolomeo Cristofori
Inventor of the piano, Florence
Working for the Medici court, Cristofori built a keyboard whose hammers struck the strings, so players could go soft or loud by touch. He called it a harpsichord "col piano e forte", soft and loud, which is where the piano got its name.
Still heard: Every piano patch, from gospel chords to film scores, comes from his hammer action.
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