History of the Piano in Symphonic Orchestra (Visual & Performing Arts Essay)

History of the Piano in Symphonic Orchestra
Name
Professor
Course
Date
History of the Piano in Symphonic Orchestra
The concept of making music using the piano is ancient. Different stringed instruments that preceded the piano contributed to the instrument's development as we know it today. In prehistoric times, a family of stringed instruments with a keyboard used vibrating strings to generate sound during the 14th century. The first early instrument during the 14th century was a dulcimer that later led to the clavichord's creation. The harpsichord was later developed during the 15th century. The harpsichord's limitation was its unvarying volume. The loudness and softness did not equally vary when playing, which created a problem expressing musical emotions. As such, the desire for artists to convey a similar degree of musical expressions led to the piano's development or invention (Lowe, 2007, 69). The piano transitioned from the harpsichord to fortepiano, and musical audiences or styles changed over different periods. The essay comprehensively discusses a detailed history of the piano as my symphonic instrument.
String instruments became popular around 200BC when Ctesibius of Alexandria built the first pipe organ, "Hydraulis," followed by the harpsichord during the early stages of the organ's development. The first keyboard instrument played a few notes, and keys were played using fists. The organ developed from the harp. The harp had c-shaped strings and a bow (Peyser, 2000, 38). The harp's improvement was the psaltery with different lines change pitch when being plucked by fingers mechanically similar to the organ. In 1397, Herman Poll created the first harpsichord, which had an improved mechanism whereby a player touched the key, plucked a string.
The harpsichord later developed into a powerful musical instrument over the next 300 years. It acted as a solo or an accompaniment instrument. The Gottfried Silberman harpsichord added pedals, which changed the strings' sonority similar to the organ's sound changes by directing air into the different pipes. The harpsichord composed of two keyboards identical to the organ, whereas others had a full pedal keyboard that made it easier for organists to practice away from the church. The demerit of the harpsichord was its lack of a dynamic range. Pounding hard enough on the key only increased the volume a little but made it harder to play well while pounding due to limited volume. Bartolome Cristofori made a breakthrough between 1689-90 when he created a pianoforte "clavicembalo col piano e forte," or the first piano with a soft and loud sound. Gottfired Silberman successfully made the Pianoforte made of an organ and harpsichord frame. The Pianoforte and harpsichord were primary keyboard instruments up to the mid-1700s. During the baroque period, all composers struggled to compose for a new keyboard instrument. For example, J.S. Bach (1685-1750) wrote piano music or concerti for piano and orchestra but was the partial harpsichord and pipe organ. Other musicians who followed a similar path include; George Handel and Domenico Scarlatti.
The 1760s made the Pianoforte a forefront due to many improvements or virtuosi of the Pianoforte, and the harpsichord was considered...