As most people know, the piano owes its origin to the harpsichord which in the early Renaissance period was the only practical keyboard instrument. In 1709, however, Bartolommeo Cristifori developed what he referred to as the "gravicembalo col pino e forte" or the harpsichord with soft and loud. At the time, Johann Sebastian Bach was composing for the harpsichord. One day, after having consumed one too many steins of the local brew, he accepted a bet from one Marcelloni Andressonna, an acrobat in the employ of the Arch Duke of Milan, to compose a piece for what was now being called the forte piano.

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