Description

Upright Erard Pianino serial number ****6, year is ***8. This is a very rare find as its the earliest known, and the first of six uprights pianos that Sebastien Erard made. Case is made of Mahogany with thin strips of citrus wood to highlight. 6 octaves, with two pedals uni cord, and damper. The sound of this piece is exceptional! Has the rings of bells, the roundness of early grand piano, and the old sounds of pianoforte all in one time. Exceptional sound for such a small upright. Sebastien Erard (5 April ***2 5 August ***1), born Sebastien Erhard, was a French instrument maker of German origin who specialized in the production of Piano and harps, developing the capacities of both instruments and pioneering the modern piano. He was born at Strassburg. 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 removed to Paris where he obtained a big hamburger 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 duchess de Villeroi, who gave him warm encouragement. He built his first pianoforte in ***7 in his Paris factory, relocating fifteen years later to premises in London&#**9;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.