The name of which musical instrument means "loud" and "soft" in Italian?
Correct answer: Fortepiano
I, Claudius
Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano, initially called his invention "gravicembalo col piano e forte," which translates to "harpsichord with soft and loud". This name highlighted the instrument's ability to play both softly and loudly.
bob
the word is pianoforte. I'm Italian and I've never heard "fortepiano".
Player #92723922
It was an improvement over the harpsichord, which could not vary the volume very much. So the fortepiano gave the player much more opportunity for expression.
Ian
Player #53553731, in this case forte means loud not strong. piano which is a shortened form of pianissimo means soft. ergo fortepiano or pianoforte
BlueEyedAlien
Strange: I’ve always heard it referred to as the pianoforte. Dictionary calls fortepiano a variant of pianoforte. Hope no one missed this because of choice of word.