the.com/fortepiano
The piano before it learned to shout, delicate and quick to shut up.
means An early form of the piano, lighter in touch and sound than the modern instrument, named for its ability to play both loud and soft.
from From Italian 'forte' (loud) plus 'piano' (soft) — the instrument was literally called the 'loud-soft,' because unlike the harpsichord it could swell and fade depending on how hard you struck the keys. That dynamic range was the whole revolution. Confusingly, as the instrument grew bigger and louder over the 18th and 19th centuries, people just started calling it 'piano' for short — keeping only the quiet half of its name, even as it got louder and louder. 'Fortepiano' survives today mostly to describe the older, gentler ancestor, kept apart from its booming descendant.
- origin
- 18th-century ancestor of the modern piano
- name meaning
- loud-soft, for its dynamic range
- build
- wooden frame, leather hammers, far lighter touch
- sound
- decays fast, favored by Mozart and Haydn