What is the origin of the piano?

Answer:

The piano very likely has its origins in the invention of a crude harp.

There were similar instruments, such as dulcimers, prior to the eighteenth century - the 1700s - but the invention of the first piano as we know it is credited to Bartolemo Cristofori, an Italian musician and specialist in musical instruments, who was retained by the Medici family.

From the end of the 1700s the piano was redeveloped and became the instrument of choice of many famous composers and artists. The English harpsichord manufacturers, Broadwood, developed the piano into the instrument closer to that which we know today.

For further information, go to http://www.uk-piano.org/history/history_1.html or other sources such as Wikipedia.