Hydraulis

The world's first keyboard instrument existed in the third century BC and it was called a "hydraulis" or a water organ. It was a water-powered organ used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Water, usually from a great height such as a waterfall, is rushed downwards. The movement of water causes air to move as well. As the water approaches the instrument, the water and air are separated. The water continues to flow downwards while the air is forced through pipes to produce sound. This youtube video shows a reconstructed hydraulis at Villa d'Este in Italy.

[Photo: The musician on the left is playing a hydraulis.]

Modern-day organs work in a similar manner except that the air is pushed through the organ pipes with a motor instead of flowing water. Prior to electricity, the air was pumped through the pipes by people using bellows.

The hydraulis enjoyed many centuries of fame and popularity: it could be found in royal palaces, castles, and luxurious gardens. However, by the early 1700's, people began to lose interest in these water organs: calcification and decay made these large instruments difficult to maintain; besides, the world was moving onto the next chapter of music history.

Harpsichords and Clavichords

The history of piano continues with various keyboard instruments which can be divided into one of two categories: harpsichords or clavichords. These instruments were in use from the 1400's through the 1800's. Both types of instruments sound similar to one another, but had significant differences:

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Clavichords have strings which are stuck with a jack; the strings vibrate to produce a sound. This mechanism is similar to that of modern-day pianos; however, clavicords were small and could be carried around like a guitar. Clavicords were very soft sounding instruments, their sound was easily drowned-out by another instrument or vocalist. Clavicords were at the height of popularity from the 16th to the 18th century. But by the mid 1800's, it was replaced by the pianoforte. [Photo: Woman at the Clavichord by Gerard Dou, ca. 1665. See complete photo.]

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Harpsichords have strings which you pluck to produce sound. The term harpsichord encompass a family of keyboard-based plucked-instruments such as the virginal, spinet, clavicytherium, ottavino and more. The harpsichord evolved over 3 centuries. They started as light-weight, rectangular boxes and ended up as instruments of robust construction and shaped like modern-day grand pianos; some even had two or three keyboards. Regardless, by the late 1800's, the harpsichord was replaced by the pianoforte. And so began the next chapter of the history of piano. [Photo: A Lady Standing at a Virginal by Johannes Vermeer showing an early form (light-weight, rectangular) of a harpsichord. See complete photo]

Fortepiano and Piano

It was not until the 1700's when an Italian harpsichord-maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the modern day piano....

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