The History of the Piano

The History of the Piano. Written by Susan Virgilio. Focus Question. How have the keyboard instruments in this book changed over time?

钢琴的历史。 苏珊·维吉里奥 著。 思考问题。 这本书里的键盘乐器是如何随着时间演变的？

early keyboards. The piano is perhaps the world's best -known musical instrument. Its sound is easy to recognize, no matter what type of music is being played. The piano did not always sound the way it does today, though. In fact, the piano's ancestors had very different sounds. The first widely used keyboard was the clavichord. This European instrument was first used in the 1400s. As with many other early instruments, its inventor is unknown. It was a long wooden box with wire strings of different lengths stretched inside. A soundboard lay beneath the strings. The soundboard vibrated with the strings and helped project the tones. A clavichord could be 122 to 213 centimeters, 4 to 7 feet long. People set it on a table to play it.

早期键盘乐器。 钢琴或许是世界上最知名的乐器。 不管演奏哪种音乐，它的音色都很好辨认。 不过，钢琴的音色并不是一开始就和现在一样的。 事实上，钢琴的前身音色和它差别很大。 第一种被广泛使用的键盘乐器是击弦古钢琴。 这种欧洲乐器最早于十五世纪开始使用。 和许多其他早期乐器一样，它的发明者无从考证。 它是一个长木箱，内部拉着不同长度的金属琴弦。 琴弦下方装着音板。 音板会和琴弦一起振动，放大琴声。 击弦古钢琴的长度在122到213厘米之间，也就是4到7英尺。 人们把它放在桌子上演奏。

When a player pressed a key, a tiny brass blade on a wooden lever hit a string. This made a tone. How loud the tone was depended on how hard the player pressed the key. Still, because of its design, the clavichord was not very loud. For that reason, people only played the instrument in homes.

演奏者按下琴键时，木杆顶端的小铜片就会敲击琴弦。 从而发出声音。 声音的大小由演奏者按键的力度决定。 不过受设计限制，击弦古钢琴的音量不大。 所以它只会被人们放在家里演奏。

The harpsichord was first used in the 1500s. It came in different shapes and sizes that looked very much like today's pianos. However, it worked differently from both the clavichord and the piano. When the player pressed a key, a lever with a quill at the end plucked, rather than struck, a string. This made it sound more like a harp than a piano. The harpsichord was the most popular keyboard instrument of its day. It was louder than a clavichord, but it had a problem. Players could not control or change the volume, no matter how hard or soft they pressed the keys.

羽管键琴最早在十六世纪开始使用。 它有不同的形状和尺寸，外形和现在的钢琴非常像。 不过它的发声原理和击弦古钢琴、现代钢琴都不一样。 演奏者按下琴键时，末端带羽毛管的琴杆会拨动，而非敲击，琴弦。 这让它的音色听起来更像竖琴，而非钢琴。 羽管键琴是当时最受欢迎的键盘乐器。 它的音量比击弦古钢琴更大，但有一个缺点。 无论演奏者按键轻重如何，都没法改变音量大小。

the first modern piano. Bartolomeo Christofori made keyboard instruments in the early 1700s. He wanted to change the harpsichord so the volume could be controlled. To do this, Christofori had to make the instrument work more like a clavichord. The strings needed to be hit, not plucked. Christofori changed the mechanism of the instrument and how it worked. First, he switched from a quill to a hammer. The hammer was covered in leather to create a better sound. When the player pressed a key, the hammer hit the string from below. When the player released the key, another part, called a damper, came down to rest on the string. The damper stopped the string from vibrating and ended the note.

第一架现代钢琴。 巴托洛梅奥·克里斯托弗里在十八世纪初制作键盘乐器。 他想要改造羽管键琴，让它可以控制音量。 为了实现这一点，他让新乐器的发声更接近击弦古钢琴。 琴弦需要被敲击，而非拨动。 克里斯托弗里改造了乐器的机械结构和工作方式。 首先，他把羽毛拨片换成了琴锤。 琴锤外包着皮革，能发出更好听的声音。 演奏者按下琴键，琴锤就会从下方敲击琴弦。 演奏者松开琴键后，一个叫制音器的部件会落下来压住琴弦。 制音器让琴弦停止振动，结束这个音。

This design made it possible to hit strings hard or touch them gently. Players could now produce both loud and soft notes. Cristofori called his instrument the piano forte, a name made up of the Italian words for soft and loud. In time, the name became just piano. Other instrument makers added to Cristofori's design. One, a German named Silbermann, showed his version of the piano to the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach had written many pieces for the harpsichord and didn't think much of Silbermann's instrument. This made Silberman so upset that he destroyed it with an axe.

这个设计让演奏者可以选择重敲或是轻触琴弦。 演奏者现在既能弹出响亮的音，也能弹出轻柔的音。 克里斯托弗里把他的乐器命名为强弱琴（Piano Forte），这个名字来自意大利语里“轻柔”和“响亮”两个词。 久而久之，这个名字就简化成了钢琴。 其他乐器制造者在克里斯托弗里的设计基础上继续改进。 有一位叫西尔伯曼的德国人，把他改造的钢琴拿给著名作曲家巴赫品鉴。 巴赫此前为羽管键琴创作了很多作品，并不看好这架新钢琴。 这让西尔伯曼非常生气，直接用斧子把钢琴劈了。