Fazioli Pianoforti was created towards the end
of the seventies with the aim of starting the construction of a new professional
line of grand pianos and concert pianos in Italy.
In 1978 a team of technicians, comprised of acoustic physicists,
wood technologists, piano makers and pianists was formed around the pianist and
engineer promoter of the enterprise, Paolo Fazioli.
The purpose was to critically analyze the current position concerning the global
manufacturing of pianos and to define the process for the construction of a conceptually
new piano.
The main points of the new company's philosophy are:
- To produce grand and concert grand pianos exclusively, aiming to high quality and small numbers
- Not imitating any other existing pianos and creating an original sound
- To individually hand-craft each piano using time honored traditional methods combined with the latest technological advances
- To strive constantly to improve the piano by using cutting edge technology.
The first F183 (length 183 cm) prototype was built in June 1980.
During the same year prototypes of other models followed F156 (length 156 cm),
F228 (length 228 cm), F278 (length 278 cm).
In January 1981, Fazioli Pianoforti s.r.l. was formally established.
In the same month the prototypes were presented in preview to the Press and to
an audience of professionals at the Press Club in Milan.
The speakers at the presentation ceremony were:
- Pietro Righini, scholar in musical acoustics and related issues
- Piero Rattalino, music critic
- Guglielmo Giordano, eminent wood technologist
In February 1981, at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, the new-born Company "Fazioli Pianoforti" exhibited its first complete line of instruments. It was quite unusual to see in this exhibition a high quality piano builder coming from Italy and moreover with an Italian brand. In the past almost all the Italian piano builders presented with German-likely names. For this reason Fazioli appearance created immediately a matter of curiosity, representing a great novelty in its field for the coming years.
October 1982 was the beginning of the relationship with Piano Fischer from Stuttgart and the Fazioli brand started to spread in the German piano world.
In 1983 the piano model F278 n. 60 was delivered to the Teatro
Comunale di Monfalcone. Since that moment in this Theatre a large number of concerts
have been organized, incorporating the most important worldwide musicians and
pianists.
In this way Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Aldo Ciccolini, Lazar Bermann,
Nikita Magaloff, Annie Fischer, Louis Lortis and others had the possibility to
meet and appreciate the Fazioli piano.
In 1984 Aldo Ciccolini plays for the first time on a Fazioli piano at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In Lausanne at "Theatre de l'Octogone" Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich and Michel Beroff performed on the model F278 n. 80 which was destined to become famous because several important pianists put their signatures on its iron frame.
In 1985 Alfred Brendel chose a Fazioli piano for his concerts in Milan at Scala Theatre and in Copenaghen.
The demand for an instrument having greater power and richness of overtones
to be used in large concert halls had already inspired in 1986 the project for
the F308 model, the longest piano available on the market. The prototype of the
first F308 was inaugurated in April 1987 at the Teatro Comunale
di Monfalcone by the pianist François Joel Thiollier.
Later in the same year, Lazar Bermann used the F308 for his performing at Carnegie
Hall, where he played Liszt's Concert n. 2 for piano and orchestra. In response
to this performance the renowned critic, Harold Schonberg, published a most favourable
critique also for the piano in the New York Times.
As well Murray Perhaia appreciated so much the F308, performing at Goldoni Theatre
in Venice.
At the end of 1987 Alfred Brendel chose the Fazioli piano for
his concerts tour in Boulogne, Florence, Vicenza and Venice.
All these concerts were a great success and the reviews written by renowned music
critics dedicated appreciating words to the Fazioli piano.
In 1987 a new model was added to the line, the F212, projected
to respond to professional requirements in a smaller place than a larger grand.
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