The piano

At the start of the 18th century, one of the most common keyboard instruments (键盘乐器) was the harpsichord (拨弦键琴). No matter how hard the key (键) of a harpsichord are hit (敲击), the sound is always the same. The player can not adjust the volume (音量).

      In about 1700, in Florence (佛罗伦萨), Italy, a man named Cristofori invented a keyboard instrument that could play both loud (forte) and soft (piano) in this instrument the strings are hit by small, felt-covered hammers(毛毡包着的小锤). The harder the key is pressed (压、弹), the harder the hammer hits the strings, and the louder the note (音符)sounds. Cristofori called his instrument gravicembalo（古钢琴）forte piano (“harpsichord with loud and soft”), which led to its early name “fortepiano(18世纪末流行的钢琴)”. This later became “pianoforte”, and eventually simply “piano”. 18th-century pianos are still often referred to(被称为) as fortepianos. Mozart wrote a lot of music to be prayed by amateurs (业余者), often in their own homes. As not everybody owned a piano, he marked it simply “for keyboard” without saying what kind of keyboard his music was for.