Programme Outline

This programme looks at the history of this unique and durable instrument invented more than 300 years ago in Italy. Howard Goodall traces the piano's predecessors - the hammered dulcimer, the clavichord and the harpsichord - to the invention in 1700 of the piano e forte by Cristofori. We discover the popularity of the square piano, Stein's sophisticated development that led to the piano we know today, and the composers and jazz musicians who stretched its potential to the limit. We learn why it became an essential tool for composers and songwriters and brought music to the masses.