he product of the experiments was born. In 1740 the Pianoforte joined the musical ranks of such noteworthy instruments as the harpsichord, the clavichord, and clavier. Aside from structural and material changes the only difference between a pianoforte and a piano was the addition of foot pedals in the early 1800’s. The reasoning behind the creation of the piano was to take all of the good and successful characteristics of keyboard variants and combine them into one instrument; in this way to create an Uberinstrument. Soon this “new” technological wonder would sweep across Europe from Vienna to London.On the stage of musical history Beethoven and Mozart became the star duet accompanied by the piano. With this the solo that had been the harpsichord’s came to an end; gone were the days of soaring simple sonatas and concertos. Now it was the classical period with soaring symphonies and melodic motets. Mozart and others were not content with what was seen as the “staleness” in the music world. They began to experiment with working around the melodies and enhancing movement and dynamic. The piano became the main tool for this, with the idea the harpsichord would be retired completely. This school of thought dominated until the 1950’s when music historians started looking back upon musical history. The school of traditionalism, emphasizing returning to the original instruments took over the performing arena of classical music. Finally, the piano would soon have to share the orchestra chamber with the harpsichord.Through trial and error, it was discovered that even though older works sounded fine on the piano, too much evocative feel was lost. This was true from the early 1700’s and before. Obviously, they had not been written for the piano but with the harpsichord in mind. Notes and structure unique to the harpsichord could not be translated adequately to the piano. For many years...
