Examines the profound impact of the piano on human life and culture over the past three centuries, combining vivid imagery, solid scholarship, and musical performances to elucidate and celebrate the warm, beneficial, almost tribal relationship we share with this most popular of keyboard instruments. Woven throughout are distinctive human stories-the colorful lives and musical contributions of inspired composers, inventive craftsmen and manufacturers, and brilliant performers from many nations and all walks of life who have shaped the history of the piano.