konzerte04-pressemappe.pdf - Berliner Festspiele

A History of Sebastian Erard,
Piano and Harp Maker
Sebastian Erard was born in Strasbourg on 5th April 1752. He moved to Paris in 1768 and worked for
an unknown harpsichord maker. Erard wanted to explore the fundamentals of instrument making, and
it soon became apparent that he was a genius at fi nding ways around mechanical problems, a skill
which came to the attention of the Abbé Roussier. His success as an instrument maker caused envy
among his rivals who accused him of working outside the corporation without a licence. Louis XVI
protected him and granted him a licence on his own authority. In 1777 Erard made his fi rst square piano;
it was probably a copy of an English Zumpe piano. A portrait of Erard was shown at the International
Inventions Exhibition of 1885. Once his reputation was established, Erard persuaded his brotherin-law
to join him in Paris. Their fi rst pianos were squares with bichords throughout, and a fi ve-octave
compass. Erard made a combination of piano and organ with two keyboards for Marie Antoinette.
The revolution of 1789 destroyed his business in Paris and in 1792 he opened a factory in Great Marlborough
Street, London. Apparently he left his brother Jean-Baptiste to carry on the French branch.
According to the London Post Offi ce Directory, he opened an English branch as early as 1786, at 18
Great Marlborough Street, London. However, this may have been just for selling instruments at fi rst.
In 1802 they moved to 189 Regent Street, and then in 1804 to 158a New Bond Street, London.
According to popular belief, Sebastian returned to Paris in 1796, leaving his nephew Pierre to carry
on the London fi rm. This cannot be correct, however, as Pierre was not born until 1796. He died in
1855. Sebastian appears to have come back to London in 1801, as he took out a patent in England
(number 2502) on 16th May 1801, for an improvement on the piano action. However, the bulk of this
patent submission is taken up mainly with the harp. This represented some of the groundwork for his
double-action harp.
The harp seemed to be more important to him than the piano. If you look at most of the patent registrations
from Sebastian, the harp comes fi rst and the piano is just added on in the patent submission.
There are exceptions to this in the cases when he took out patents for musical instruments only. On
the covers of the submissions it says pianoforte and harp. Yet, when one reads the contents of any of
these the harp is given preference over the piano. Perhaps this should not be so suprising, since Sebastian
sold £25,000.00 worth of harps in the fi rst year of the release of the new double-action harp.
Finally, in June 1810, after eight years of working on it, Sebastian Erard patented the double-action
harp with seven pedals (number 3332). This is regarded by most people as the date of the invention
of the concert harp. The instrument had one pedal for each note. Each pedal had three positions
or two notches, which raised the pitch of the note by a semitone for one notch, or a tone for both
notches, by moving the top bridges to shorten the speaking length of the strings. This harp could
be considered more versatile than the piano, since with the use of the pedals a player could get 21
pitches to the octave, while with the piano 12 was the limit. It is reported that Erard did not undress
for three months before his harp was fi nished, snatching meals with pencil in hand and sleeping for
an hour now and again. The concert harp of today basically maintains his design, as does the roller
action for grands. He also had an eighth pedal for opening the back of the sound box, to work as a
swell. At this time the harp was almost as popular in the home as the piano, and Erard made large
numbers of both. He was also regarded as a master organ repairer.
Erard was the fi rst maker in Paris to fi t pedals on the piano, and his instrument, like other continental
pianos, had several pedals. There was the usual sustaining pedal, an action shift, a celeste, and a
bassoon pedal, the latter putting leather against the strings to make them buzz. A knee lever moved
the action further than the action-shift pedal, making the hammers strike only one string.
According to various sources he patented a piano in the shape of a secretaire, with two soundboards,
one above the other. He also invented a transposing piano, with a wooden cylindrical sound-