Bartolomeo Cristofori

Italian maker of musical instruments (1655–1731)

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Lived 1655–1731, aged 76Italy

Italy ScientistsScientist

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50 languages
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Era
1655–1731
Aged 76

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He built the first piano. Before Cristofori, keyboard instruments couldn't do what a piano does — play soft or loud depending on how hard you strike the key. That single mechanical breakthrough reshaped three centuries of music.

Biography

About

Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco was born in Italy on May 4, 1655, and spent his career making musical instruments. Somewhere in that work he solved a problem no one else had: how to make a keyboard respond to touch with dynamic volume. The instrument he invented became the piano. He died January 27, 1731, decades before the thing he'd built would dominate concert halls and living rooms worldwide.

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