earliest known surviving piano

old-pianoThough it may sound like a harpsichord, this is actually a piano. Dongsok Shin performs the Giga of Sonata number 6 in B flat major by Lodovico Giustini (1685-1743) on the earliest known surviving piano, made by the instrument’s inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731), in Florence, 1720. This sonata is from the 12 Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte detto volgarmente di martelletti, Op. 1, written in 1732. These are the first known pieces to have been composed specifically for the piano.

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