About Piano
The word “piano” is the abbreviation of the Italian word “pianoforte”.
The piano is a stringed instrument, its first ancestor being the single-string keyboard (the XII century), and an instrument which was transformed into clavichord by adding a keyboard. Later came the harpsichord which had a keyboard more developed than its predecessors and that was used a good time, but was overthrown by the instrument generally called today “piano”, due to its extended opportunities responded to many requirements and demands from the interpreters, which gradually preferred its use to the detriment of the first; after that, the harpsichord dropped into disuse and the composers began to compose scores for piano.
Today the harpsichord is used especially in Baroque music.