Erard Grand Piano
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Erard Grand Piano
About the Item
History: The House of Erard along with Pleyel and Gaveau was the most
sought after piano maker in France with many special commissions to
the English Italian and Central European aristocracy.
Sebastien Erard was born at Strasbourg. While a boy he showed great
aptitude for practical geometry and architectural drawing, and in the
workshop of his father, who was an upholsterer, he found opportunity
for the early exercise of his mechanical ingenuity. When he was
sixteen his father died, and he moved to Paris where he obtained
employment with a harpsichord maker. Here his remarkable constructive
skill, though it speedily excited the jealousy of his master and
procured his dismissal, almost equally soon attracted the notice of
musicians and musical instrument makers of eminence.
Before he was twenty-five he set up in business for himself, his first
workshop being a room in the hotel of the duchesse de Villeroi, who
gave him warm encouragement. He built his first pianoforte in 1777 in
his Paris factory, relocating fifteen years later to premises in
London's Great Marlborough Street to escape the French Revolution -
his increasing fame and several commissions for the likes of Louis XVI
and Marie Antoinette having placed him at risk.
Returning to Paris in 1796, he soon afterwards introduced grand
pianofortes, made in the English fashion, with improvements of his
own. In 1808 he again visited London, where, two years later, he
produced his first double-movement harp. He had previously made
various improvements in the manufacture of harps, but the new
instrument was an immense advance upon anything he had before
produced, and obtained such a reputation that for some time he devoted
himself exclusively to its manufacture. It has been said that in the
year following his invention he made harps to the value of £25,000. In
1812 he returned to Paris, and continued to devote himself to the
further perfecting of the two instruments with which his name is
associated. In 1823 he crowned his work by producing his model grand
pianoforte with the double escapement. Érard died at Passy,located in
the XVIe arrondissement on the Right Bank.His sons continued to make
the finest pianos and were played By Mendehlsohn, Chopin, Liszt,
Paderwsky and others.
Erard employed the finest cabinet makers such as Linke. Erards
art-case pianos are a tribute to the decorative arts with an
unsurpassed quality.
This fine example will suit any drawing room, salon with classic
antique furnishing or in a contrasting modern setting .
- Dimensions:Height: 38 in (96.52 cm)Width: 58 in (147.32 cm)Depth: 73 in (185.42 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1891
- Condition:The piano is offered restored with a warranty.
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: U11050281281193
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