Sebastian Erard

Biography

Sebastian Erard was born in Strasburg on April 5, 1752, and showed exceptional mechanical talent as a child, studying architecture and geometry at age eight before entering his father's cabinet-making shop. After his father's death when Sebastian was 16, he walked to Paris (arriving 1768) and found work with a harpsichord maker, quickly surpassing his master's technical knowledge. The Duchess of Villeroy became his patroness, providing a palace workshop where he built his first piano in 1777. At 25 he left to open his own shop on the Rue de Bourbon, and in 1785 he and his brother Jean Baptiste founded the firm of Erard, which dominated the musical world from 1796 to 1855. When Parisian guild luthiers tried to shut him down, the king granted him a special charter as an independent piano and harp maker. The French Revolution drove him to London, where he built pianos and harps and secured renewal of his English repetition-action patent through friends in the House of Lords. He returned to Paris in 1796, developing inventions that made his pianos favorites of virtually every great artist except Chopin. The Salon and Salle Erard became centers of Parisian intellectual and musical life, hosting Liszt and other virtuosos. Erard died on August 5, 1831, naming his nephew Pierre Erard sole heir. Sebastian Erard is called an independent thinker and mechanical genius who departed from both the Schröter and Cristofori lines to construct his own double escapement and repetition grand action, patented in 1821. The author describes it as an ingenious combination of the light, elastic touch characteristic of the Vienna action with the powerful stroke of the English action, calling it reliable and precise enough to be, without dispute, the action par excellence for grand pianos. With more or less modification, the Erard grand action is described as being used by all leading makers of grand pianos at the time of writing, with the possible exception of Bösendorfer of Vienna, who is said to still prefer the English action for its excellent grand pianos. Chopin is separately noted as having refused, earlier in his career, to play Erard grands fitted with this repetition action. Sebastian Erard is credited with patenting, in 1808, a "repetition action" for grand pianos that attempted to combine the elastic touch of the Vienna action with the forcefulness of the English action, though evidently without fully satisfactory results at that time. His invention of the agraffe is also noted as an important advance, providing a counter-bearing against the string that prevented objectionable upward motion when struck by the hammer and improved tone, especially in the treble. His repetition-action work was carried further by his nephew Pierre Erard, whose 1821 English patent for the perfected double-escapement version is described as having made the worldwide fame of Erard grand pianos. Sebastian Erard was a piano manufacturer who operated shops in Paris. Fleeing the upheaval of the French Revolution, he closed his Paris shops and went to London, where he started a factory in the British metropolis. Once peace was restored he returned to Paris, but he kept his London establishment running, placing it in the charge of his nephew, Pierre Erard. The author singles this episode out as the only instance on record of a piano manufacturer transplanting his business from his own country to another, contrasting it with the later trend of American manufacturers establishing branch factories in Germany and England. Sebastian Erard is cited in the introductory passage as, through his ingenious inventions, having elevated the piano to a plane whereby it became the favorite instrument for the expression of the tone poems of all great composers. He is presented as a key figure in the lineage of inventors following Cristofori who advanced the piano's capabilities. The text provides no dates, nationality, or further biographical detail beyond this single laudatory statement about the impact of his inventive work on the instrument's musical standing. Sebastian Erard of Paris is named, together with Pierre Erard, as the maker who finally outclassed the English and German schools in solving the long-standing problem of developing a grand piano action capable of exploiting the fuller tone made possible by the instrument's longer strings and larger soundboard. The passage identifies Backers's grand action of about 1776 as an antecedent that inspired further development (continuing into text beyond this excerpt). No further biographical detail about Sebastian Erard is given here. Sebastian Erard is invoked by Dolge only by way of comparison: Robert Wornum's 1826 'piccolo' upright action is said to have accomplished for the upright piano what Erard had already accomplished for the grand piano roughly five years earlier. No further detail on Erard's own work is given in this section of the text. Sebastian Erard is recorded as having made a square piano at Paris in 1776, copying the English model established by makers such as Zumpe and Broadwood. From Spillane (1890): Sebastian Erard, founder of the celebrated House of Erard, was born Sebastian Erhardt in Strasburg in 1752 of German parents. At sixteen he settled in Paris and learned harpsichord-making, later moving into the piano business and, with his brother Jean Batiste, founding the house of Erard. He altered the German spelling of his surname to "Erard" amid French hostility toward Germans. The French Revolution drove the Erards temporarily to London before they returned to Paris. Sebastian patented harp improvements in 1794. His well-known double-action harp patent of 1808 brought him special notoriety, but per Spillane this was in fact the invention of William Southwell of Dublin, who sold it to Erard; Erard registered it, with modifications, under his own name and reaped the credit and profit. The Erard firm initially used Backers's English grand action until the Erard double-escapement grand action, patented by his son and partner Pierre in 1821, made Erard grands famous worldwide. Sebastian Erard died in Paris in 1831, generally regretted. His portrait appears in the text.

Highlights

• Made a square piano in Paris in 1776, copying the English model
• Along with Pierre Erard, finally "outclassed" the English and German makers who had long sought to perfect an action for the grand piano capable of bringing out its greater tone.
• Took out a patent in 1808 for a "repetition action" for grand pianos, attempting to combine the elastic Vienna touch with the forcefulness of the English action
• Invented the agraffe, improving tone and preventing objectionable upward motion of struck strings
• Patented a double escapement and repetition grand action in 1821, described as combining the light touch of the Vienna action with the power of the English action
• His action became, with modifications, the action used by nearly all leading grand piano makers, with Bösendorfer of Vienna cited as a possible exception
• Invoked as having accomplished, roughly five years before Wornum's 1826 upright action, a comparable breakthrough for the grand piano action
• Closed his Paris shops and relocated to London to start a factory, driven there by the terrors of the French Revolution
• Returned to Paris once peace was restored, leaving his London establishment in charge of his nephew Pierre Erard
• Cited by the author as the only instance on record of a piano manufacturer removing his business from his own country to another
• Built his first piano in 1777 in a workshop provided by the Duchess of Villeroy, and founded the Erard firm with his brother in 1785
• Obtained a special royal charter allowing him to operate as a privileged piano and harp maker independent of the Paris guild
• Led the House of Erard to unrivaled prominence in the musical world from 1796 to 1855
• Ingenious inventions elevated the piano to favor as the instrument of choice for expressing great composers' tone poems
• Born Sebastian Erhardt in Strasburg in 1752 of German parents; changed his name to Erard in France.
• Co-founded the House of Erard with his brother Jean Batiste after settling in Paris at sixteen.
• Registered (via purchase from William Southwell) the celebrated Erard double-action harp patent of 1808; died in Paris in 1831.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 48, 61, 92, 251, 254, 255; Vol. II (1913).

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 25.

Public domain.