Friday, April 13, 2018

Friday Video: Listen to the Earliest Known Surviving Piano

Friday, April 13, 2018

Susan reporting,

While we were away on our spring break, we missed one of those daily celebrations that the Internet so loves, and honors with a hashtag: #PianoDay. Fittingly, this was the eighty-eighth day of the year, with a day for each of a piano's keys.

But perhaps everyday should be piano day. In the world of instruments, pianos are relative newcomers. The first were invented by Venetian-born Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1732), who built instruments for the Medici court in Florence. The piano in this video is the earliest known to survive today, and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For more information and additional photos, see the museum's entry here.

In this video, pianist Dongsok Shin performs the Sonata in d minor, K.9 by Domenico Scarlatti. Enjoy!

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4 comments:

Sarah said...

I am amazed to find it sounds almost like a hybrid between a piano and a harpsichord

Donna Hatch said...

Wow! Thank you for that treat!

Liv Rancourt said...

Gorgeous! I like the idea that the piece was played on the instrument for which it was written - maybe not that specific piano, but for an instrument with the same sound quality.

Unknown said...

I love the sound and the touch of the fortepiano. The hammer action (as opposed to the plectrum) made it possible to use loud and soft dynamics in an age which was growing increasingly enamored with high expression, assuring its popularity. The harpsichord slowly fell out of favor as the keyboard instrument of choice. Thanks for this post! Love that Scarlatti.

 
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