Some History on Antique Pianos
At what age do pianos merit this description ?
The term Antique Pianos refers essentially to upright & grand pianos built 100 years ago or more. An `Early Keyboard Instrument' usually refers to keyboard instruments of a more basic and dated structure, and would have been built before the
Grand & Uprights had been introduced. Early keyboard examples would include early spinets, clavichords, square pianos, early harpsichords and the like. All such instruments would be over 125 years old, and are also classified as
Early keyboards are not included in this definition, but still covers a large number of instruments built 100 years ago or more. Only a limited number of pianos are good musical instruments for two main reasons:
First, at 100 years ago, piano quality was still being improved and only the better-known makes had produced excellent musical instruments. Secondly, many instruments have suffered over the years either loss of structural integrity, or had not yet reached the point in their development whereby the musical quality was good enough.
A Historical Timeline for Pianos
There is a great book that includes a very detailed timeline for antique pianos entitled "My Music Journal" by Hal Leonard. It also references music, art and literature as it relates to the piano. The timeline itself is four pages long and the book (if you can find it) is around $4.
A tiny sample on pre-piano instruments, music and the piano
||Middle Ages & Medieval Music
||the Baroque Period
||the First True Piano
||the Classical Period