Bartolomeo Cristofori

Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (May 4, 1655 - January 27, 1732) was an Italian maker of musical instruments, generally regarded as the inventor of the piano.

Life

Cristofori was born in Padua and became known as a harpsichord and spinet maker. In 1688 he moved to Florence to work for Ferdinando de Medici, a music-loving prince who was one of the last of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, at a time when Tuscany was a small independent state. Cristofori originally shared a large, noisy work space with over 100 other artisans, probably in the Galleria dei Lavori of the Uffizi. Later on, he kept his own workshop, usually with one or two assistants working for him.

Related Topics:
Padua - Harpsichord - Spinet - 1688 - Florence - Ferdinando de Medici - Tuscany - Uffizi

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Cristofori invented at least two keyboard instruments, the spinettone (a large, multi-choired spinet) and the highly original oval spinet, before he began the work on the piano for which he is most famous today.

Related Topics:
Spinettone - Oval spinet

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It is known that Cristofori was working on a piano by at least 1698, and that he continued to develop his invention for most of the remainder of his life. The first record of a Cristofori piano is found in an anonymous inventory of the Medici intrument collection made in 1700. The range of this (now lost) intrument was a mere four octaves, C - C. By Ferdinando's death in 1713 Cristofori had built four instruments, naming his invention gravicembalo per suonare col forte e col piano; "harpsichord that plays loud and soft".

Related Topics:
1698 - 1700 - 1713

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Cristofori remained in Florence as overseer of Ferdinand's 84 instrument collection, and continued to work on his invention until near the end of his life.

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