paintings to England to be sold to help him get out of the difficulties caused by the
Napoleonic wars. Unfortunately the boat carrying the paintings sank, leading to the
bankruptcy of the Erard firm of Paris. The firm was allowed to carry on making pianos
and thanks to the profits of the London branch the bankruptcy was lifted in 1824.
Between Sebastien’s death and that of Pièrre there were few inventions of note (with the
exception of the barre d’harmonie precursor to the capo dastro in 1839) and the firm
concentrated on developing and improving the double escapement action grand piano.
With the increase in string tensions and bigger hammers, the harpsichord type structure of
the early type piano wasn’t good enough and the action had to be made sturdier.
Metal hitchpin plates were fitted from the mid 1830s solving an inherent structural fault
in the early type, heavier pin blocks were fitted to a much heavier structure, and hammer
shanks were made of one piece rather than the very elegant but fragile ‘ladder’ type. The
end result, the king of the concert hall in the 1850s, was so accomplished that Erard
carried on making it right up into the 1920s, only introducing slight improvements such
as sturdier lyres and better finished bars.
Liszt received a new Erard grand piano every year from the firm of Erards in return for
playing and promoting their instruments. It is known that he played his Sonata on his
own Erard, as well as presumably on the other pianos at his disposal.
The Erard grand piano of the 1850s had smaller hammers, a lighter action, a shorter key
fall, slightly narrower keys and shorter white keys relative to the black keys. Pianists
would have found it easier to play virtuoso works on the Erard grand piano, especially
passages involving repetition of notes, than on the modern grand piano. Erard invented
the double escapement action since adopted by all piano manufacturers.
The Erard grand piano was not overstrung, nor was it fully metal framed, and it lacked
the sonority of the modern grand piano. It was overdamped, that is, the dampers were
underneath the strings and damped by springs not gravity. The dampers did not damp as
clearly as those on the modern grand piano and there was not such a difference between
damped and undamped sonority. The bass was not as thunderous and the treble was not
as bell-like as on the modern Steinway grand piano.
ESCAPEMENT
Single escapement
By deciding to hit the string instead of plucking it, Cristofori turned his instrument into a
percussion instrument. Every percussion instrument produces a sound by having its main
vibrating body struck by a bell clapper, drumstick, cymbal or piano hammer. The
implement that does the striking must not merely make contact but must immediately get
away again. If it does not then there is a clunk not a prolonged vibration. This is the
problem of combining a hammer with a key lever. If one simply tacks a hammer onto the
end of a pivoted key and then presses the other end with one’s finger, the hammer will