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The piano is an enduring musical instrument in the Western world that was devised in Italy in the early 18th century. Italian harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori is considered to be the inventor of the piano. Snopes readers asked us if the piano was indeed originally referred to as the pianoforte. We learned that this is correct, and the two words are often interchangeable though piano is the most commonly used term for the instrument today. According to piano manufacturer Yamaha, the piano originally looked a lot like the harpsichord, and was developed when Cristofori was unsatisfied by the lack of control that musicians had over the volume level of the harpsichord. He then switched out the plucking mechanism of the harpsichord with the hammer. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first references to the piano forte took place in 1711. The piano was referred to by a few different names back then, notably as an instrument that could be soft and loud: Three of Cristoforo’s pianos survived, with the oldest one at the Met. According to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, which presents historically informed performances from Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic periods of musical history, the terms pianoforte and fortepiano were interchangeable at the time. They added that the instrument was later referred to as the piano over time: The word pianoforte is still used, particularly in Italian. Given that the modern day piano and the pianoforte had the same origin, but the term piano is more commonly used today, we rate this claim as True.
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