New Instruments

• Two very important inventions, musical instruments, were created during this period:

  • pianoforte
  • clarinet.
• pianoforte

  • translated from Italian as “soft-loud”
  • invented in Florence in 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori
  • before the creation of the pianoforte, the main keyboard instrument of choice limited the use of dynamics.
  • the strings of the pianoforte were struck with hammers upon a player pressing the keys
  • made it possible to adjust the softness or loudness of a note based on the strength of touch.
• harpsichord

  • limited the use of dynamics
  • mainly a plucked instrument
  • could not vary the strength of the plucking motion
• clarinet

  • single-reed wind instrument made of wood
  • invented at around 1710
  • by the 1780s, became known as a standard
  • wind instrument.