That’s brief in two senses: the instrument had a heyday of just a generation or so in the second half of the 18th century (only about 20 instruments survive), and the decay of the sound is quick enough that, as musical instrument historian Cleveland Johnson puts it, “on the tangent piano, one hears not only the beginning of every note, but the end. The instrument allows [its player] to play with this space between notes.” (includes sound clips)