The Piano's Early Evolution in a Nutshell

The piano-forte was an evolution of the harpsichord, the improvement on the elder instrument being the gradation of tone from soft to loud and loud to soft.  The old "harp shape" was carried over from the harpsichord and adapted well to this 'new' instrument. Up to the year 1760, all pianos were grand. No uprights as yet.

For the first 3/4 of the 18th century, most pianos were made in England, nevertheless the credit for its invention goes to an Italian named Cristofori. In England, Broadwood was improving the making of the piano-forte hammers and giving to the piano-forte, pedals.  It was not until 1777 that a German named Erhardt, changing his name to the more elegant sounding Erard, established himself in Paris and became an eminent maker of pianos there.

It was Broadwood who first turned the piano up on its side in an effort to economize the space it occupied.  But the true upright was invented and manufactured in Philadelphia by an Englishman named John Isaac Hawkins, in the year 1800.

Next came improvements from the next generation of piano makers, such as those of Babcock, namely in the substitution of felt for leather on the hammers and the introduction of the cast iron frame in 1825 and 1830 respectively.  And it was in 1837 that Jonas Chickering effected his great improvements in the internal construction and arrangement of parts, increasing the strength and resonance of the piano as a whole, preparing thus the way and the means for the enormous expansion of power which the composers and performers began to demand at that time.

It was Beethoven himself that required of the piano improvements in power and dynamic range which was needed to keep up with his compositions.  The piano had to rise to the demands that his peerless genius made upon it, and he personally advised and inspired the efforts of the makers of the time to meet these requirements in the very early stages of the concert grand piano. Without that push, rapid developments of the piano would certainly have lagged, if it wasn't altogether stunted in its growth.