Early technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, which
already had a reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of its harpsichords.
Broadwood built instruments which were progressively larger, louder and more robustly
constructed. Broadwood sent pianos to both Haydn and Beethoven and was the first firm
to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five and a fifth in the 1790s, six
by 1800 (Beethoven used the extra notes in his later works) and seven by 1820. The
Viennese makers followed the trends of the English makers but their instruments had
more sensitive piano actions.
ERARD
Sebastien Erard was born in Strasbourg where his family of Swiss origin became
established in about 1725. His father and elder brother were both cabinet makers and
other members of the Erard family were gilders or wood sculptors. As in the case of
Broadwood possessing wood-working knowledge was a good start to building pianos.
According to Sebastien’s nephew Pièrre Erard (1794-1855), Sebastien and Jean-Baptiste
Erard set up as instrument makers in 1770-75. The piano very soon became a serious
rival to the harpsichord and the Erards were among the first to be interested in the piano,
the harp coming later.
According to Fétis, who seems to have got his information direct from Erard himself, the
young Sebastien arrived in Paris about 1768 and served an apprenticeship as a
harpsichord maker. A few years later he was ready to make his own instruments and a
mechanical harpsichord made for M. de la Blancherie established his reputation. The
support of the Duchess of Villeroy was a major stepping stone in his early career as she
provided him with a workshop in the Hôtel de Villaroy where in 1877 he made her a
square piano based on English models. In 1785 Erard gained the protection of Louis XVI
against the guild of instrument makers who were trying to stop him making pianos. He
supplied several pianos to Marie-Antoinette including a clavecin mécanique dated 17 79
with pedals for crescendo effects and a square piano dated 1781 (the year Erard
established himself at no. 13 rue du Mail.
The first grand pianos were probably built shortly before 1790 as the Erard archives
mention five ‘pianos forme clavecin’ in 1791. The earliest extant dated 1791 is in the
Paris Museum of La Villette as another instrument in a private collection with an
apocryphal label dated 1790 appears to be a few years later. According to Fétis, Jean-
Baptiste Erard (1749-1826) came to help his brother while he was at the Hôtel de
Villaroy (Pièrre said he was there from the very beginning), and the two brothers
established the Société Erard in 1786. In 1792, if we follow Pièrre Erard, Sebastien was
in London to establish the English factory at 18 Marlborough Street, and it is possible
that he went to England several times before then. The London Erard factory seems to
have specialised in harps as the earliest London Erard piano seems to date from about
1830.
Some of the early instruments made by Erard already show every sign of inventive genius,
such as the mechanical harpsichord, combination piano and the transposing piano,