The magical piano

I was listening to an excellently recorded concert of 17th century vocal music, accompanied by period instruments, both strings and winds. The reverb was wonderful: you could hear how much information was stored in the strings so that every sung note was part of a vibration already in the air: it was literally heavenly.

When the piano was invented all of that quality which used to take two or more players was suddenly present within one magical instrument, with both loud and soft accessible via a single keyboard. It is still a magical instrument. So well suited for vocal works.