2021
Edité par : Oxford University Press. Oxford
ISBN : 978-0-19-756531-5
1 vol. (238 p.) ; illustrations, photographies ; 25 cm

Description

Sébastien Erard's (1752-1831) inventions have had an enormous impact on instruments and musical life and are still at the foundation of piano building today. Drawing on an unusually rich set of archives from both the Erard firm and the Erard family, author Robert Adelson shows how the Erard piano played an important and often leading role in the history of the instrument, beginning in the late eighteenth century and continuing into the final decades of the nineteenth.The Erards were the first piano builders in France to prioritise the more sonorous grand piano, sending gifts of their new model to both Haydn and Beethoven. Erard's famous double-escapement action, which improved the instrument's response while at the same time producing a more powerful tone, revolutionised both piano construction and repertoire. Thanks to these inventions, the Erard firm developed close relationships with the greatest pianist composers of the nineteenth century, including Hummel, Liszt, Moscheles and Mendelssohn. The book closes with the story of Pierre Erard's widow Camille, who directed the firm from 1855 until 1889. Her influential position in the male-dominated world of instrument building was unique for a woman of her time.

Bibliographie pp. 217-229. Index

Œuvres étudiées

Œuvres du Musée de la musique citées dans cet ouvrage :

• Piano pédalier / E.971.3.1 / Maison Erard / Paris / France / Europe / 1853
• Piano organisé / E.995.15.1 / Maison Erard / Paris / France / Europe / 1791
• Clavecin / E.979.2.5 / Erard, Sébastien / Paris / France / Europe / 1779