The first name the piano had was pianoforte. The piano came from the harpsichord in the early 17 hundreds, made by Bartolomeo Cristofori from Italy. The piano was over a hundred years old when Beethoven was writing his last piece of music, near the time when the piano took the place of a harpsichord as a keyboard instrument. Since the eighteenth century the piano has had a central place in music. Johann Schmidt from Austria created the upright piano around 1780. Thomas loud from London improved the upright piano  in 1802 that had strings that ran diagonally.