Piano is a common name for stringed keyboard instruments, which was used in the XVII-XVIII centuries. It is an abbreviated version of the German word "clavarususug".
Music
In translation from French, the clavier is a "keyboard". This term was actively used in Germany, as well as in countries that were under the cultural influence of this country - Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria. Piano is the common name of organ, piano, harpsichord, clavichord, and also their varieties.
Modification
Changes occurred in the XVIII century. From this moment the clavier is a term which only the piano is called. A derivative of this value is one of the modern words. It sounds like a "clavier". This term is called an authentic musician who plays the ancient piano. The word "clavarusudzug" refers to the transfer of scores of vocal and orchestral works for piano - oratories, operas, concerts, symphonies. The term we are interested in is used not only in music, for example, the so-called municipality of the province of Liège in Belgium.
Concert of Bach For the clavier - solo
The composer wrote his works for the harpsichord. Most often such works are performed nowadays on the pianoforte. Known in the first place is the "Italian" concert for the clavier - BWV 971. It is performed without an orchestra. Approximate time of writing clavier concerts - the thirties of the XVIII century. Bach since 1729 was the head of the Music Student Society at the University of Leipzig. He participated in the concerts of Collegium musicum as a soloist and conductor. For these performances works were created for four, three, two and one harpsichord. Most of these works are the author's processing of previously written works for other instruments. Of the original versions, which were created in Köthen in about 1720, only a few have survived. Among music critics, there is an opinion that the original versions of some concerts were written not by Bach, but by someone from the composer's contemporaries. However, this assumption is unlikely. The content of concert music, the techniques of development, the nature of the thematic and the structural layout convincingly and vividly testify that they belong to the pen of Bach.
Another confirmation is the use of some parts of these works as separate numbers in cantatas. Carrying out transcriptions of his violin works for the clavier, the composer, as a rule, enjoyed an almost literal transfer.