Craig Wright traces the history of the piano through the music written for it, part of his Yale course Listening to Music (MUSI 112). He moves from the harpsichord to the early pianoforte Mozart knew, then to the heavier Broadwood instrument Beethoven owned, showing through photographs and paintings how the mechanism changed shape and sound. Recordings made on pianos once owned by Mozart and Beethoven let students hear the actual timbre those composers wrote for, thinner and more percussive than a modern concert grand. The lecture continues into the nineteenth century with the Graf piano and the expanded range and power that Liszt and Wagner demanded from the instrument. It closes with a live performance by Yale undergraduate Daniel Schlossberg Jr, connecting the historical survey back to a piano being played in the room. Recorded in fall 2008 as part of Wright's introductory music course.