Bartolomeo Cristofori

Famed Italian harpsichord maker, Bartolomeo Cristofori, born Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori in Padua, Republic of Venice, Italy on 4 May 1655, is also recognized as the inventor of the piano. Although there is not a great deal of information regarding Cristofori’s life, a fair amount of preserved archival documents exist that detail his professional activities, including a 1711 article and diagrammed description of the instrument by Scipione Maffei. His most well known endeavor began in around 1688 when he was hired under the popular patronage system to work in the court of Prince Ferdinando de’Medici in Florence, Italy. In this appointment, Cristofori primarily maintained and restored the Prince’s instrument collection while also continuing to develop his own designs. He later established his own workshop, bringing with him several of the technicians and assistants he had met while in the Medici court. In addition to his harpsichords, Cristofori also realized two instrument inventions toward the end of the seventeenth century: the spinettone, which was essentially a larger derivative of the spinet, and the oval spinet, which positioned the instrument’s longest strings in the middle of the soundboard rather than to one side. An inventory entry from the Medici court dating to 1700 documents Cristofori’s invention of the arpicembalo, which, in a 1711 article by Maffei, was christened the gravicembalo col piano e forte, or gravity-operated harpsichord capable of producing soft and loud sounds; as such, the piano was born. Several of these instruments were sold throughout the early part of the eighteenth century, though Cristofori continued to improve and refine his mechanism until his passing on 27 January 1732. In his later years, he was assisted by Giovanni Ferrini, to whom several of his instruments are attributed.