Posts Tagged ‘Erard Piano’

Sebastian Erard Pianos

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

Sebastian Erard was born in Strasbourg, Germany in 1752.  He showed a lot potential as an mechanical architect.  When he was 16 his father passed away and he was moved to Paris.  He got a job with a harpsichord maker.  After some time his speed, accuracy and excitement got him fired by his jealous supervisor.  However, by this time a lot of musicians and music instrument makers had come to not only know him but, respect his work.

Erard

Erard

 

By the time he was 25 he had started building pianos in a small workshop in a hotel owned by a duchess.  He built his first Pianoforte in 1777 in his Paris“factory”.  15 years later he move to Great Marlborough Street in London where he stayed for almost 20 years.  By this time he had built pianos for Louis XVI and for Marie Antoinette.

Erard Pianoforte

Erard Pianoforte

 

In 1796 he returned  to Paris and started immediately making grand Pianofortes with some noticed improvements. He returned   a couple of years and returned back to Paris where with his new creation of the double-movement harp.  Until his death in 1831 at the age of 79 he made Pianofortes and Harps.

Erard Pianos has been long associated as one of the finest pianos in the world.  Erards were greatly used by Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Verdi and Sir Paderewski (who travelled with his own personal Erard) were among the list of composers and musicians who appreciated his work.

 

I have only had the priveledge to play on an Erard once.  It was a beautiful restoration that was superbly done.  Although the sound was “different” it was a seriously nice piano that deserves a lot of respect  because of the “updates” and improvements that Mr. Erard would implement and encouraged others to do the same.

 

Until then

 

Ric Overton

 

Posted by Ric Overton of http://PianoSD.com via http://MaxMorganDesign.com

Sauter Pianos

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

I have begun a study of the history of some of our famous piano makers over the centuries.

There have been some absolutely captivating builders.  Among them of course was Sebastien Erard, Jonas Chickering, Theodore Steinway, Johan Ibach, Ignaz Bosendorfer and of course Joseph Brodmann along with one of my favorites; Carl Sauter.

Little is known of some of these guys in the U.S. because the importing of pianos at that time but, Europe has a totally different idea of music, music making and the building of fine instruments than in other parts of the world. But I am very captivated by Mr. Sauter.

Here is the story.  Johann Streicher owned a piano company called Streicher pianos.  Streicher had risen to fame because Ludwig van Beethoven had purchased several instruments from them and the Streicher was his personal favorite, in fact he often requested that  a Streicher piano be provided for his concerts.  The company had attracted  much attention and got the attention of a young man named Johann Grimm.

Some time after Johann had joined Streicher Pianos, Mr. Streicher passed away and left his company to his daughter Nannette, a freind of Beethoven and extremely close to another composer and artist of this era named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  They actually performed together on Streicher pianos on several occasions.

After several years of service to Streicher, Mr. Grimm decided to branch out on his own.  He created what was to become the Sauter Piano Company in 1813.  To date this piano company is the oldest family owned piano manufacturer and the oldest continuous running piano maker in the world.  The company has always been controlled, owned and operated by a Sauter.

Today, Urlich Sauter is in charge and continues to make pianos in his factory in Spaichingen, Germany at the foothills of the infamous Black Forest.  They continue to manufacture pianos with the concept that Johann Grimm used in 1813 but have integrated  modern day technologies. Today the factory is a state-of-the-art factory that is quite impressive and builds approximately 450 pianos a year.  In Europe, Sauter is highly regarded as one of the finest instruments available.  In the U.S. there are only a few dealers that carry the instrument.

Once you have the opportunity to experience the Sauter piano I am sure you will agree that this instrument is one that quietly grabs your attention and seems to say “is that all you got, come on get with it”.

More on some of the other famous manufacturers coming soon

Until then-

Ric Overton

posted by Ric Overton of http://PianoSD.com via  http://MaxMorganDesign.com

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