When Bartolomeo Cristofori constructed his “gravicembalo col piano e forte” (harpsichord with soft and loud) in the early 1700s, he wasn’t trying to create a new instrument — he was actually trying to build a harpsichord with a little more control.

WQXR host Jeff Spurgeon visited the The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Musical Instruments to speak with curator Jayson Dobney about the oldest piano in existence.