Clementi had one of the last harpsichords made. The date upon the case was 1802. Beethoven's famous "Moonlight Sonata" was written for either harpsichord or piano. It was published in 1802. Hummel played on the harpsichord as late as 1805, but it had to give way, though most reluctantly, to the new invention called the pianoforte. Just how slow the public was in accepting the innovation and improvement upon the instruments mentioned, the following quotation from a folio gotten out by Thomas Mace, who was one of the clerks of Trinity College, at the University of Cambridge, testifies. He was pleased to call his booklet "Musick's Monument," and it was printed in 1676 in London.
He scorned the new invention but warmly upheld the lute and viol. He explained that the lute was once considered difficult to play because it had too few strings, only ten to fourteen, while at the time of his writing it had sixteen to twenty-six. He makes the statement that he never spent more than a shilling a quarter for strings. The care of a lute he describes quaintly:
"And that you may know how to shelter your lute in the worst of ill weathers (which is moist) you shall do well, ever when you lay it by in the day time, to put It into a Bed that is constantly used, between the Rug and Blanket, but never between the Sheets, because, they may be moist. This is the most absolute and best place to keep It in always, by which doing, you will find many Great Conveniences. Therefore, a Bed will secure from all these inconveniences and keep your Glew as Hard as Glass and all safe and sure; only to be excepted, that no Person be so inconsiderate as to Tumble down upon the Bed whilst the lute is there, for I have known several Good lutes spoiled with such a Trick."
Again we are indebted to Italy for the invention and name of the pianoforte. It is a strange fact that, entirely unknown to one another, three men were working out the same principle – namely, the hammer action – at the same time. Marius in France, Schroeter in Germany, and Bartolomeo Christofori (often called Christofali) in Italy worked secretly and simultaneously, and for a long time it was undecided to whom the honor really belonged. A careful examination of all records, however, establishes beyond a doubt the priority of Christofori's claim. The hammer action was what all previous instruments lacked, and it seems strange that it took nearly two thousand years for this principle to be discovered and applied. Many times the inventors appeared to be almost upon it. They worked all around it, but the idea seemed illusive and they never grasped it.
At this point it might be well to enumerate in order the instruments which preceded the piano, if only to fasten them clearly in memory: the lyre and harp of the ancients; the dulcimer, played by means of the plectra and to which, as the hand could use but one plectrum, there was a keyboard added to use all the fingers, thus moving the plectra faster; the clavichord, with tangents of brass to strike the strings; the virginal and the spinet, in reality the same; the harpsichord, with its crow quills to half rub, half strike the strings, still far away from the hammer action of the present-day piano. It seems almost unaccountable that the manufacturers who so greatly improved the mechanism of the harpsichord at this stage failed to discover the hammer action. But at last, after the quest of centuries, the quill, thorn, and ivory were discarded and a small hammer struck the string, giving a clear, precise, but delicate tone hitherto unheard. The "scratch with a sound at the end" was gone forever. The harpsichord had been changed into an instrument of percussion, and it only remained for man to perfect that primitive creation into the superb piano of today.
Although Italy gave the invention to the world, it remained for northern Europe and England to take up the idea and improve it. Christofori solved three important problems: first, the construction of thicker strings to withstand the hammer action; second, a way to compensate for the weakness caused by the opening in the tuning-pin block; third, the mechanical control of the rebound of the hammer from the strings, so that the hammer should not block against the latter and prevent vibration.
The first Christofori instrument was brought out in 1709. Marius did not come forth with his claim until 1716, and Schroeter not until the next year. The name "pianoforte" is traced clearly to the year 1598 and is said to have been originated by an Italian named Paliarino. In some of his manuscripts he mentions an instrument called piano e forte. The English put in a claim for a monk living in Rome who had made an instrument resembling Christofori's in 1711 and had brought it to England, where it created a profound sensation. This may have been true, but England did little to develop even the harpsichord until long after Continental makers had achieved marked success in the business. In 1760 German workmen to the number of twelve went to London. They were known as the Twelve Apostles, and it is their descendants who became identified with the successful development of the piano down to the present time.
Very few of the first Christofori pianos have been preserved. One, in excellent repair, is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Two are in Florence, dated 1720 and 1726. They show, beyond a doubt, that he had anticipated the plan of escapement and hammer checking. Like many other pioneer inventors, this man died in comparative poverty. Schroeter, the German claimant, became a famous maker of instruments. He succeeded in improving the piano to a large extent. But his life was made miserable fighting the claims of other manufacturers who sprang up and immediately went into business. Marius met the same fate, being driven to distraction by competitors, some of whom turned out instruments far superior to his.
England did not accomplish much before the middle of the eighteenth century. Up to 1760 all pianos were made in what is known as the "grand" form. Then a German in the employ of the Tschudi's, famous makers of harpsichords, invented the familiar "square" style. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the most noted European makers were the Steins, Stodart, Broadwood, Pleyel, Erard, and Silberman. Pleyel was distinguished not only for his fine instruments, but for the fact that he was the twenty-fourth child born to his mother after she married Martin Pleyel. She died soon after his birth, whereupon his father took unto himself another wife and had fourteen more children, making a family of thirty-eight, thirty-five of whom lived and prospered. Pleyel was chapel master of Strasburg Cathedral. He was the author of some fine hymns and other compositions which we know and love today. He lived in Paris, manufactured splendid pianos, and was, before his death, proprietor of one of the largest establishments in Europe.