Richard Pennycuick ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I recently heard some pieces by Schumann for oboe and piano and was
>surprised to find that the recording used a fortepiano. A check of a few
>websites and references, including a biography of Schumann I read years
>ago, found nothing more precise than that the instrument was in common use
>"until the early nineteenth century." Can anyone suggest a more accurate
>time for the fortepiano's demise?

The term "fortepiano" is a modern invention.  From Bartolomeo Cristofori's
original instruments in the late 17th century to the present, the keyboard
instrument which superseded the harpsichord has been know as the
piano(forte).  (Except in Germany, which had a brief fling with
"hammerklavier")

I believe the term fortepiano was coined to distinguish the restored or
reproduction late 18th and early 19th century pianos used in performing
and recording HIP.

The definition in The New Grove is:

   A term sometimes used today [TNG was published in 1980] for the piano
   of the 18th and ealry 19th centuries in order to distinguish it from
   the 20th century instrument.  German writes sometimes use the rems
   'Hammerklavier' and 'Hammflu"gel' for the same purpose.

The notion that the fortepiano was superseded by the current piano is
simply fallacious.  The piano underwent a series of developments during the
19th century.  I have heard Liszt played on an 1890s Erard piano and, just
last week, Dvorak on a 1900 Steinway.

Neither would be confused with a brand-new instrument.

Deryk Barker
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