In Florence, instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first successful keyboard instrument with hammers striking strings, allowing players to control soft and loud by touch. This solved a key limitation of the harpsichord, whose plucked strings could not easily change volume. Cristofori’s concept became the starting point for what later musicians called the fortepiano.
A detailed article by Scipione Maffei described Cristofori’s new instrument and explained how its action worked. This publication helped spread knowledge of the design beyond Florence, especially among instrument makers and writers. Wider awareness was important because the new mechanism was more complex and costly than a harpsichord.
A surviving Cristofori grand piano from 1720 shows that the hammer-action concept had become a practical, playable instrument. The Met notes that by about 1700 Cristofori had already achieved a successful design that could vary loudness by touch. These early instruments still looked like harpsichords but used a fundamentally different sound-making system.
An English grand piano by Americus Backers dated 1772 is often cited as the oldest surviving English grand of its type. Sources describe Backers’s action as a breakthrough that aimed for greater power, expression, and reliability, and his grands helped establish the “English” approach to grand-piano design. This became a key alternative to the lighter, more touch-focused Viennese style.
In London, John Broadwood built his first piano as a square instrument, modeled on popular earlier square-piano designs. This marked a shift for major harpsichord workshops toward the newer hammer-action keyboard. London’s growing piano trade helped push the fortepiano from a specialist invention toward a widely sold household instrument.
When Mozart visited Augsburg in October 1777, he praised Johann Andreas Stein’s fortepianos, especially their dependable touch and fast damper-lifting mechanism. Reports in later reference literature emphasize Mozart’s approval of Stein’s “escapement” (a mechanism that lets the hammer fall back after striking). This kind of responsiveness supported clearer articulation in Classical-era playing.
Muzio Clementi’s Op. 2 set (first published in 1779) offered substantial keyboard writing that could be performed on harpsichord or piano. Over time, Clementi became strongly associated with piano technique and with writing that took advantage of the fortepiano’s dynamic control. This repertoire helped make the instrument central to public concerts and home music-making.
By the early 1780s, Broadwood grands used added damper and soft pedals similar in function to modern grand-piano pedals. Pedals gave players quicker and more consistent control than earlier hand stops or knee levers alone. This helped composers and performers explore longer resonance, sudden contrasts, and more sustained singing lines on the fortepiano.
Around 1782, Mozart bought a fortepiano made by Viennese builder Anton Walter. Contemporary and later museum accounts describe Walter as a leading maker whose instruments were valued for control and clarity, suiting Mozart’s concertos and chamber music. This purchase also shows how, by the 1780s, elite composers increasingly chose fortepianos as primary composing and performing tools.
Broadwood introduced a divided bridge in 1788, a design that helped bass and treble strings drive the soundboard more effectively. Reference sources describe this as an influential step toward later grand-piano construction. Such structural changes supported the growing demand for greater volume and a broader tonal range as concert spaces expanded.
By 1793, Broadwood had abandoned harpsichord production as the market increasingly favored pianos. This turning point reflects a broader cultural shift: the fortepiano’s dynamic range and expressive control matched late-18th-century musical tastes and larger public venues. The instrument was no longer a novelty but an industry center.
By the early 19th century, instruments built in the 1700s style were increasingly labeled “fortepianos,” while newer, louder designs were increasingly called simply “pianos.” This marks the outcome of the 1760–1810 period: makers’ actions, pedals, and stronger structures reshaped what composers could write and what audiences could hear. The fortepiano era left a clear legacy in Classical repertoire and in the evolving mechanics of the modern piano.
The Fortepiano: Makers, Technical Innovations, and Repertoire (c.1760–1810)