A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Erard (instrument makers)
ERARD. The name borne by this firm of harp and pianoforte makers has been known almost as long in England as in France, its workshops having been established in London near the close of the last century, not long after those in Paris. The reputation of Erard's house is as much due to successful improvements in the harp as in the pianoforte, those of the harp being of like importance to the perfecting of the violin accomplished by the famous Cremona makers.
Sebastien Erard was born at Strassburg in 1752, and was early put to his father's handicraft of cabinet-maker. His father dying when he was sixteen he went to Paris and placed himself with a harpsichord-maker. He had soon the opportunity to display his practical ingenuity by the construction of a mechanical harpsichord, which was described by the Abbé Roussier in 1776. The Duchess of Villeroi took notice of him, and allotted to him a workshop in her own chateau, where, in 1777, he made the first pianoforte constructed in France. According to Fétis this was a square with two unisons and five octaves, similar to the English and German instruments that had been imported. He now established himself, with his brother Jean Baptiste, in the Rue de Bourbon. Their success exciting the jealousy of the Parisian musical instrument-makers known as Luthiers, and belonging to the Fan-makers' Guild, they used the power they possessed to seize Erard's workshops; Louis XVI, however, came to the aid of the brothers, and conferred upon Sebastien (A.D. 1785) a brevet permitting him to make 'forte-pianos' independent of the guild, but obliging him to employ workmen who had satisfied its regulations. (Rimbault, 'The Pianoforte,' 1860, p. 124.)
The French Revolution compelled Sebastien Erard to leave Paris, and we find him in London in 1794 taking out a patent for improvements in harps and pianofortes [App. p.629 "the establishment of the London house was not due to the French Revolution; Sebastien Erard had already begun business in London in 1786"]. He returned to Paris, after the Terror, in 1796, in which year he made his first grand piano, using the English action, which, Fétis informs us, he continued with until 1808. In 1809 he patented a repetition grand piano action, the first, and improvements in the construction of the harp, nearly completing that ingenious double action which was begun about 1786 and was perfected in 1810. A feature in the 1809 patent was the inverted bridge or upward bearing at the wrestplank bridge of the piano, since universally adopted. Advanced age made Sebastien leave to his nephew Pierre Erard (born 1796) the introduction of his perfected repetition action, the patent for which was taken out in London in 1821. Sebastien died in 1831. In 1835 the patent was extended to Pierre Erard for seven years on the plea of its great value and of the losses sustained in working it. The invention in 1838 of the Harmonic Bar is claimed for him (Dr. Oscar Paul, 'Geschichte des Claviers,' Leipzig, 1868). [See Pianoforte.]
Pierre Erard died at the Chateau de la Muette, Passy, near Paris, in 1855. His widow, Mme. Erard, succeeded him, and has maintained the high reputation of the house.