Florence, Day 1, Sept 1, 2023

The Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

We got tickets to the Uffizi Gallery, which included the Musical Instrument Museum. Right away, I want to tell you that I found myself really appreciating the Schubert Club's early keyboard museum back in St. Paul. It is very extensive. I have seen similar pieces very close to my home, which is amazing. But the real reason to stop by is because the "first piano" is here. Here's my synopsis of the story. It is historical fiction for sure.

Bartholomeo Christofori, considered the inventor of the piano, was born not too far from Florence, in Padua. We don't know much about him before 1688, when he moved to Florence to work in the service of Grand Prince Ferdinando de Medici, who hired him as court instrument maker. Why did the Grand Prince hire him? We think that Bartholomeo was an engineer/inventor/carpenter, and Ferdinando was intriqued by his creations. We're not sure. But they met somehow. We know that Bartholomeo was 33, and that Ferdinando traveled through Padua that year. Bart's job was to supervise the transport, maintenance and construction of Ferdinando's musical instruments. We question whether he was also asked to invent things, and because we never see any payments for these new creations, we believe Ferdinando may have simply kept the ideas and instruments as part of the agreement.

We think Bart had connections and had worked with instrument makers in Padua and Venice. The earliest surviving work is a small rectangular spinet from 1690, and by 1700 the inventory of the Grand Prince's musical instruments mentions 7 pieces by Christofori. At the time the harpsichord was the most common keyboard instrument. The strings are plucked by quills attached to the sides of jacks. The piano has a keyboard like a harpsichord, but the strings are struck by small hammers instead of being plucked. In this way if you use greater or lesser force you can make loud or quiet changes. This was a new idea!

Only 3 original 1720s pianos survive today. None of them are at the Uffizi, but this is the prototype. The goat gut strings have rotted away, but you can see the concept is already in place. The rest of the instrument museum contained cellos, hurdy gurdys, and paintings of the instruments played at the time. It was fascinating.