Instead of composing at the behest of wealthy patrons, they were free to express their own musical ideas without interference. The changing economics of the musical world meant composers were increasingly free to write music as they wished. Famous virtuoso pianists such as Franz Liszt were becoming the first “modern” performing superstars, touring all over Europe with crowds of enthusiastic fans cheering them on.Īlong with this massive increase in musical demand, composers no longer were forced to seek patronage from the nobility to make a living. Public concerts were increasingly more affordable and accessible as more powerful instruments could fill larger concert halls. With many more people embracing the piano for the first time, demand for new exciting music and skilled musicians who could play it skyrocketed. Advances in shipping technology and piano design also made it more feasible and cost-effective to ship pianos worldwide. Pianos were no longer exclusive to the high rungs of the aristocracy they were becoming increasingly affordable for the upper to middle classes. The Industrial Revolution fueled a vast increase in the production of pianos along with lowering their cost of production. By the late 1800s, the piano had roughly achieved its modern form. The development and strengthening of both the sustain (damper) pedal and the soft (una corda) pedal also allowed for many new modes of compositional expression. Advancements in designs such as cast-iron plates-which hold much more string tension than wooden frames-and the cross-string layout allowed for a much larger dynamic and expressive musical range with a deeper, fuller, more “modern” sounding tone quality. The range of the piano was steadily increasing, with more keys being added both on the low bass and high treble ends of the piano, ultimately reaching the full 88-key keyboard we know today. The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution towards the end of the 1700s accelerated this advancement in piano technology and with that, a whole new world of pianistic possibilities opened up for 19th-century composers. Although the earliest pianos date back to circa 1700 (towards the end of the Baroque era), the piano underwent centuries of subsequent development to become the instrument we know and love today.
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