From Harpsichord to Piano
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Music's greatest inventions: amazing, mad and brilliant instruments

3. From Harpsichord to Piano
The Harpsichord enjoyed huge popularity in the Baroque period, but by 1720 an Italian by the name of Bartolomeo Cristofori thought it was time to update it. The keyboard principle was the same, but a series of hammers striking the strings rather than plucking them opened up a whole new range of possibilities for composers and performers.