Piano

Piano, or pianoforte, musical stringed keyboard instrument. Depression of the keys causes the strings to be struck with felt-tipped hammers; these hammers rebound immediately after striking, so the strings go on sounding their notes until the keys are released, at which point the strings' vibrations are stopped with dampers. Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first piano in 1709, and by 1800 it had overtaken the harpsichord and the clavichord, whose plucked strings offered less volume and expressiveness, in popularity. Today the two basic types of piano are the upright piano, with vertical strings, and the grand piano, with horizontal strings, which has a range of seven octaves. Composers noted for their writing for the piano include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninov.