1879). In the first letter Paliarino mentions the recovery of 'the instrument Piano e Forte, with the organ[1] underneath'; in the second, 'the recovery from certain priests, with other instruments, of the Piano e Forte above mentioned and another Piano e Forte on which the late Duke Alfonso had played.'[2] Here are two instruments distinctly named Piano e Forte (correcting Paliarino's uncertain spelling). In the second letter the same Hippolito Cricca, detto Paliarino, as he there signs himself (or Pagliarini as he spells his name elsewhere), seizes the opportunity of his brother's visit to Venice, to ask for sundry materials to be procured there, as needful for repairs, and for building a new 'Pian e Forte'; namely, limetree, boxwood, and ebony for keys, cypress for the belly, brass wire, German glue, etc., etc. In Paliarino's inventory of the Duke's keyed instruments, also given in Count Valdrighi's appendix to his essay, there are, including organs, fifty-two,[3] but only one 'Piano e Forto,' the one with the organ beneath, as specially distinguished; the other, and perhaps more, being possibly recorded under the simple name 'instrument' (istromento), which is used to describe 11 of the 52. The clavicembalo or cembalo (harpsichord) and spinetta (spinet) might also have been classed under this general designation, yet Paliarino separates them. We can come to no conclusion from these names as to what kind of instrument this Piano e Forte was. It was most likely, as suggested by Sig. Cesare Ponsicchi in the 'Boccherini' (1879, No. 6), a harpsichord with a contrivance for dynamic change; but whether hammers were applied, making it a real pianoforte, we are at present in the dark. The 'gravecembalo col piano e forte' of Cristofori of Padua, a hundred years later, may not have really been the first attempt to make a hammer-harpsichord; indeed Cristofori's invention seems almost too completely successful to have been the first conception of this instrument—a dulcimer with keys.
We must now transfer our attention from Modena to Florence, and skip from 1598 to 1709, when we find Prince Ferdinand dei Medici, a lover of music, in fact an eminent musician, and deeply interested in mathematical and mechanical questions, accepting at the request of three scholars, one of whom was the Marchese Scipione Maffei, the protection of a quarterly publication intended for learned and cultivated readers, viz. the 'Giornale dei Letterati d'ltalia.' This patronage was the result of a personal visit of Maffei to Florence, where he met with Bartolomeo Cristofori, harpsichord-maker and custodian of the Prince's musical instruments, and was shown by him four specimens of a new harpsichord with piano and forte, the invention and make of Cristofori. Of these, three were of the usual long shape; the other was different we know not in what way, but a detailed account of Cristofori's invention, written by Scipione Maffei, appeared in the Giornale in 1711, with a diagram, from a rough sketch, of his hammer-action. He calls the inventor Cristofali, which form of the name has been until now followed, but an autograph and the inscriptions upon the pianofortes of his make are decisive evidence in favour of the real name being Cristofori.[4]
The complete text of Maffei's article, in the original language, with an indifferent English translation, is to be found in Rimbault's 'The Pianoforte' (Cocks, London, 1860)—the faults of translation being most obvious in the technical terms. There is no doubt about Cristofori having made these instruments under the patronage Prince Ferdinand, who had brought him fron Padua some time about 1690. [See Cristofori.]
We owe a debt of gratitude to Maffei for record of the invention, which he reproduced in the collection of his works entitled 'Rime e Prose,' 1719. The reprint has been the cause of a misconception of the date of the inventor through want of reference to the earlier publication, which was anonymous. An accurate German translation was made at the time by Koenig, and published in Matheson's 'Musikalische Kritik,' vol. iii. p. 340 (Hamburg, 1725). This early translation has been reprinted by Dr. Oscar Paul in his 'Geschichte des Klaviers,' p. 105 (Leipzig, 1868), and may be referred to with confidence by those who know German and do not know Italian.
Fig. 1.
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a is the string; b the key bottom; c the first lever, or key. There is a pad, d, upon the key, to raise a second lever, e, which is pivoted upon f. g is the hopper—Cristofori's linguella mobile—which, controlled by the springs i and l, effects the escape, or immediate drop, of the hammer from the strings after a blow has been struck, although the key is still kept down by the finger. The hopper is centred at h. m is a rack or comb on the beam, s, where the butt, n, of the hammer, o, is centred. In a state of rest the hammer is supported by a cross, or fork, p, of silk thread. On the depression of the key, c, the tail, q, of the second lever, e, draws away the damper, r, from the strings, leaving them free to vibrate.
We reproduce the diagram of Cristofori's action as the kernel of this part of our subject, the action being the equivalent to the violinist's bow; as the instrument itself is the equivalent of the violin, though stopped by a mechanical construction instead of the fingers of the player's left hand. We follow Maffei's lettering of the parts; a lettering which will be adhered to throughout.
- ↑ 'Cossi io mi ritrovo l'orghano di carta, et l'instrumento Pian e Forte con l'orghano di sotto …'
- ↑ 'L'altezza vostra sappia che mi ritrovo del' suo che lo recuperrato da questi Pretti l'horggano di carta, l'istrumento Piane e Forte con l'horggano disotto, un altro istrumento di dua registri et il Piane e Fortte, quello che adoprava il Ser. Sig. Duca Alfonso buona memoria.…'
- ↑ This large number, as it seems to us, was not then remarkable for a prince to have: a hundred years later Prince Ferdinand dei Medici owned at least 40. See Appendix C. p. 101. to Puliti's 'Cenni Storici della vita del Serme Ferdinando dei Medici' (Florence 1874).
- ↑ This has been adopted in Florence on the memorial stone. [See Cristofori, vol. 1. p. 417.]
