The piano has a long and distinguished history going back three centuries, yet it remains to this day one of the most forward-thinking and versatile of musical instruments, with a seemingly limitless capacity for reinvention. From its original function of boudoir entertainer to its modern-day variants of sound synthesiser and MIDI controller, the piano has constantly pushed the music-making envelope.

Invented by Italian court instrument-keeper Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698, the piano was essentially a solution to a long-running problem - namely that of producing a keyboard instrument that could be modulated to be loud (forte) or soft (piano). Cristofori's development of a "hammer action" assembly allowed hammers to strike the strings, in contrast to the plucking action of the harpsichords and spinets of the time. This allowed the player to directly control the force with which the strings vibrated, and thus the dynamics of the music.

The piano was born.

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