The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano - Hardcover

Rusch, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1481444840 ISBN 13: 9781481444842

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017

Synopsis

Award-winning biographer Elizabeth Rusch and two-time Caldecott Honor–recipient Marjorie Priceman team up to tell the inspiring story of the invention of the world’s most popular instrument: the piano.

Bartolomeo Cristofori coaxes just the right sounds from the musical instruments he makes. Some of his keyboards can play piano, light and soft; others make forte notes ring out, strong and loud, but Cristofori longs to create an instrument that can be played both soft and loud.

His talent has caught the attention of Prince Ferdinando de Medici, who wants his court to become the musical center of Italy. The prince brings Cristofori to the noisy city of Florence, where the goldsmiths’ tiny hammers whisper tink, tink and the blacksmiths’ big sledgehammers shout BANG, BANG! Could hammers be the key to the new instrument?

At last Cristofori gets his creation just right. It is called the pianoforte, for what it can do. All around the world, people young and old can play the most intricate music of their lives, thanks to Bartolomeo Cristofori’s marvelous creation: the piano.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Rusch is an award-winning children’s book author and magazine writer. Her books include The Mighty Mars Rovers, For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart, and Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World. She teaches nonfiction and children’s literature at the Attic Institute in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at ElizabethRusch.com.

Marjorie Priceman, illustrator of many acclaimed picture books, has won Caldecott Honors for her illustrations in Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! by Lloyd Moss and Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the Frist Hot-Air Balloon Ride, which she also wrote. She lives in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 3—A well-researched, fascinating account of the father of modern-day pianos. Bartolomeo Cristofori was a talented 17th-century inventor born in Padua, Italy, who loved the light and powerful sounds of the clavichord and the harpsichord. He longed to create an instrument that married both of these kinds of notes. With the patronage of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, Cristofori was able to spend the rest of his life tinkering away in his quest for what would eventually become the pianoforte. Rusch's energetic text is paired well with Priceman's vibrant images, rendered in gouache and ink with bold strokes. Each spread is introduced by a musical term, defined in parentheses, that not only sets up the narrative that will be showcased on those pages but also introduces readers to piano-playing techniques (e.g., forte, pianissimo, crescendo). The curly and bold font used for these headings adds to the dynamic layout of each page and illustrates the lively music that the piano inspires. Quotations from and about Cristofori are peppered throughout. In addition to a detailed time line and source notes, the thorough back matter includes author's notes on the few updates that have been made since Cristofori's pianos, where children can find his remaining instruments, a list of classical and modern music pieces that make great use of the piano, and how Rusch was able to reconstruct the inventor's life from primary and secondary sources. VERDICT A strong purchase for music lovers, budding pianists, and large biography and STEAM collections.—Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1481444840
• ISBN 13: 9781481444842
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Priceman Marjorie