Showing posts with label Erard pianos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erard pianos. Show all posts

Saturday 1 November 2014

Vintage Piano Pictures

The wording on this advert says, "Messers ERARD invite Connoisseurs to visit their Show Rooms and inspect their unrivalled Stock of PIANOFORTES, decorated in pure styles according to the various periods."


The old piano my family had when I was young was a Godfrey Piano. At the time I thought it was wonderful! (This picture predates my childhood.) 


This is an old Post Card. On the reverse is written, "Long before people had TV  or even electric light, the piano was the centrepiece of home entertainment. Usually the girls played the piano while the make members of the family sang or performed on the flute. One of the most popular ballads, 'Home Sweet home' sums up the Victorian view of the home as a retreat from the harsh realities outside."

This is an old Postcard advertising the Romhildt Piano. On the reverse is a brief note from the Sole Agents: 
Breitkopp & Hartel, 54 Gt. Marlborough St., London. W.  

Another old Post Card
(Danger - Tuner at work!) 

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Erard Serial Nos.

Year
Serial No.
Year
Serial No.
1920
108000
1956
130400
1923
111000
1958
131280
1926
115000
1960
131815
1928
117600
1962
132000
1930
120000
1964
132370
1932
122000
1966
132541
1934
123500
1968
132833
1936
124500
1970
133129
1938
125500
1972
133550
1940
126200
1974
134200
1941
126600
1976
134800
1945
127000
1978
135200
1946
127300
1980
135600
1948
127800
1982
135900
1950
128300
1984
136100
1952
129000
1986
136200
1954
129600
1988
136260

These serial numbers can be used only as a reference point.
An Exact date does not make a material difference to an assessment of a piano - a year or so out 120 years ago really is neither here more there.

The idea that 100% accuracy for all piano makers over a century ago is an interesting thought - but considering that all record keeping would be hand-written and kept in large ledger books, inaccuracies are likely. These records will be as reliable as the clerks whose job it was to keep them. The digital age of barcodes and scanned labels was still in the realm of science fiction. So we have to be content with our best guess numbers.

Back to the Piano Atlas

Sunday 29 December 2013

Erard Pianos

Born at Strasbourg in 1752, Sebastian Erard showed a remarkable capacity for learning. Even when he was just 8 years old, he was studying architecture and geometry. In 1768, his father died. At only 16 years of age, Sebastian took upon himself the responsibility to provide for his mother and 3 siblings. 
He travelled on foot to Paris, looking for work that would pay enough to support his mother back home in Strasbourg. He found work with a harpsichord maker who could not have known that he would be introducing an extraordinarily talented young man to his destiny. Sebastian quickly became passionate about the harpsichord, and, equipped with his natural curiosity, began probing the theories of harpsichord design. In a very short time his shrewd questions required far more sophisticated answers than his employer could supply.
The Duchess of Villeroy had engaged him to build a harpsichord, giving him the use of a well equipped workshop in her palace. It was here, in 1777,  he built his first piano. With growing confidence and with his ambitions taking shape, he opened premises in his own name in the ‘Rue de Bourbon’ Paris.  
Soon, an order was sent for Erard to make a piano for Versailles. Erard’s flourishing connections with the upper ranks of the French aristocracy securely established his reputation. With his natural abilities, his astute business brain and his connexions, he had become a formidable figure in Paris. 
At this time, the theories determining an efficient piano mechanism were not clearly understood, the only examples available to examine were still very primitive. It was Sebastian Erard with his meticulous attention to detail who formulated the principles of the modern grand piano action.
In 1786, he decided to move to London where he opened a shop at 18 Great Marlborough Street. Setting up a business in London was a golden opportunity to conquer a fresh market. Erard studied the English methods of piano manufacture, and was eager to adapt what he felt were the best methods and practices. He began producing his own pianos in 1792. 

The principles he laid down for the design of the piano mechanism, remain the basis for all modern grand piano actions. Despite the huge advances of technology over the 19th & 20th centuries, his work still stands as steadfast as ever. 

Universal approval of his work took some time to establish. Differing opinions are always interesting to read as they give some context to the debates of the time. Quoted here is an opinion that seems to have been judged more on issues of patriotism than on the objective merits of the case. 
Thirty-six years after Erard had died, a Heinrich Welcker, who did not like French pianos, wrote of the Erard action: “Generally speaking, the action manufactured by Sebastian Erard figures as the oldest and most highly praised sort. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how such a put-up job, combining neither durability nor precision, could possibly have been copied by others, show that Mr. Erard did not have much of a head for mechanical things, but perhaps a great deal of money for people to sing his praises”.
Sebastian Erard died in 1831. His legacy to the piano world was his work with the piano action. To this day, his action is used as the basic template for modern piano actions! Erard Pianos are sadly, no longer made.
Directory of Piano Makers 

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Tuesday 12 June 2012

Piano Actions

The piano action is made up of thousands of components but its one single purpose is to present the pianist with an even and responsive touch. The repertoire of piano music can be played with so much more confidence and freedom when the pianist knows the full range of dynamic expression is at his fingertips. 

In the early days of piano history, fierce competition fuelled efforts to develop a strong, reliable piano action and to do it with efficient and economic methods of manufacture. The basic design of the piano action today is not significantly different from what it was 120 years ago. For a hundred years, generations of piano makers have been entrusted with a perfect working template.


Action makers in the early 1900s achieved an impressive degree of perfection - all  without the aid of computer technology. Even now, only minor variations in the comparative geometry of actions from different makers distinguish one from the other. Changes now, are restricted mostly to materials and glues. The use of carbon fibre is a most interesting development - clearly, the material's strength, coupled with its weight (or lack of it) opens exciting possibilities for its wider use in the construction of both piano and actions. 

The drawings of some of the early actions by the likes of Schroter (1717), Christofori (1707), and Stein (1780) are only primitive sketches. Very different from what the piano action has become. No doubt, these brave pioneers spent many tense hours thinking up new ideas and alternative ways to transfer the simple movement of the piano key through to the hammer and thus, to the string.

By 1850, Sebastian Erard had developed the piano action to the point of being recognised as more or less, the design used today. Further 'variations on the same theme' were tried, some proved useful, but many came to nothing. Herburger, Schwander, Langer, and Renner were among the best of the many action 'houses'. Actions made by these makers are found in many of the better quality pianos around today.

The recent rise of piano-making in China and the far east, has meant that the Piano Trade is now a truly global affair. It is sad for we nostalgic types in the west, where local piano-building traditions have all but died out, to accept that piano production has shifted almost entirely from the West to the East. This is the stark reality of our contemporary world. Materials are sourced from anywhere on the globe to make the piano a truly multi-national product. Perhaps it is too much to hope that peace and 'harmony' in the world might yet be a happy by-product from the manufacture of pianos!

The Piano World

© Steve Burden