forte-piano
Americanadjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of forte-piano
First recorded in 1760–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The next name given to it was forte-piano, which signified soft, with power; and this name became piano-forte, which it still retains.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 117, July, 1867. by Various
His instrument was called forte-piano or pianoforte, because it would strike loud or soft.
From Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University by Baltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
Thus he wrote to Artaria in 1788: "I was obliged to buy a new forte-piano, that I might compose your clavier sonatas particularly well."
From Chopin and Other Musical Essays by Finck, Henry Theophilus
It is, perhaps, needless to say that the vastly enlarged possibilities, both technical and tonal, of the newly invented forte-piano were largely the outcome of this seeking for colour in music.
From Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University by Baltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
The piano was first called the hammer-harpsichord, afterward by the Italian name forte-piano, as it could give both loud and soft tones, while the harpsichord produced only loud ones.
From Harper's Young People, April 20, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
