The Silbermann Models of Piano

One of the few historical references to the Chrisofori piano came in a 1709 article about the pianoforte written by Scipone Meffei. In 1725 the Court Poet at dresden published a translation of Maffei's text, which aroused the interest of clavichord make, Gottfried Silberman (1683-1753). He immediately began to build pianofortes based on the Christofori design. Initially, however, Silberman's pianos were received with some hostility, which led him to loose interest in the instrument.

Christian Ernst Friederici, a pupil of Silbermann, continued a venture, devising a small square piano which he named the forbien. Although not widely recognised, Friederici embarked on many such experiments, some which offered a glimpse of the piano's later development.

All of the instruments produced up until this period could more accurately be described as variations on a dulcimer (a stringed instrument plucked with a quill plecktrum) with keyboard damper. Few of these instruments worked especially well, but they did arouse the interest of a number of significant figures. The most prominent harpsichord composer of the period, Francois Couperin acknowledged the importance of the inovation: "The harpsichord is perfect as to its compass and brilliant in itself, but as one can neither swell not diminish its shounds, I will be forever gratefull to those who with infinite pains guided by taste succeed in rendering the instrupment capable of expersion".

By 1750, Silbermann's instrument had gained the approval of no less a figure than Johann Sebastian Bach. A close friend of Silbermann, Bach had not liked the instrument at firstbut the scope for dynamic control eventually cont him over. However it was one of Bach's sons who would prove to be the first significant musical figure associated with the piano.

Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (or C.P.E Bach, as he is usually know) wrote one of the first important keyboard tutors. Although he directed mainly at harpsichord players, Bach's Versuch uber die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen (Essay of the True Art of Keyboard Playing) remains an influential work. It was here, for the first time, that the piano was aknowledged as an instrument of the future. Indeed, Bach could accurately be described as the founder of modern piano-playing. By the time of his death in 1788, the piano was universally accepted as the superior instrument in the clavier family: the harpsichord's time had passed.