# Did Bach Write for Piano



## Flybynight (May 23, 2008)

I can't find out this information anywhere and was wondering if anyone here knew. I know that he had some influence in early piano making and even helped sell some, but I just wanted to know whether he actually wrote a piece for the piano.


----------



## tonyyyyguitar (May 17, 2008)

Just as interesting - did Scarlatti ?

There were a couple of pianos around at the Spanish court where he worked


----------



## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Wasn't the harpsichord an early ancestor of modern-day pianos?

Way off-topic observation: That's post number 1337.


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Bach, as I understand, did not write for the piano, but for the harpsichord. Pianos were around before Bach's death, but Bach stayed firmly in baroque instrumentation that he knew best.

However, many of his harpsichord works are played frequently on the piano.


----------



## Yagan Kiely (Feb 6, 2008)

I believe that some from that Notebook (name escapes me now), are written in an Early Classical style and are designed for piano. And yes it is not sure who wrote all of them, but it is believed that some (written for piano) are written for him.

I believe.


----------



## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

> Bach, as I understand, did not write for the piano, but for the harpsichord. Pianos were around before Bach's death, but Bach stayed firmly in baroque instrumentation that he knew best.


That's right, and this is why baroque purists play Bach on harpsichord in their HIP productions. You hardly hear them on a fortepiano.



Yagan Kiely said:


> I believe that some from that Notebook (name escapes me now), are written in an Early Classical style and are designed for piano. And yes it is not sure who wrote all of them, but it is believed that some (written for piano) are written for him.


A call for semantic precision: outside Italy the word piano is a perfect substitute for "modern piano"; I suppose in the text I quoted you were thinking about the "fortepiano".


----------



## Yagan Kiely (Feb 6, 2008)

Yes, but Italians who speak English know what I meant.


----------

