X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Érard


Frederick Mathushek

In 1849 Mathushek emigrated to New York (after holding a prominent position with Erard in London according to his obituary), and worked for John B. Dunham, who was one of the first piano manufacturers to introduce overstringing in America several years earlier.

Friedrich Kalkbrenner

Here he became a partner in Pleyel's Fortepiano Factory, which by the of time Kalkbrenner’s death (1849) had risen to a place second only to Erard in prestige and output.

Piano history and musical performance

Good (1986) also describes an 1894 piano made by the Erard company of Paris.


1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition

The piano manufacturer Erard sponsored a series of 20 concerts featuring Isaac Albéniz, a Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms.

Adolfo Fumagalli

In 1856 he returned to Italy and, when he arrived, was soon thereafter given an Erard grand piano from the firm as an advertising promotion.

Édouard Risler

He corresponded regularly with Reynaldo Hahn and played in the première of the Sonatine in C major of Hahn in April 1908, at the Salle Érard.

Lew Stone

In October, Stone became musical director for the Jack Hulbert show Under Your Hat which continued into 1939 and featured the Rhythm Brothers (Clive Erard, Jack Trafford, Frank Trafford).

Pleyel et Cie

In the 1980s, the Pleyel company bought out the Erard and Gaveau piano companies which also manufactured pianos in France.

The Piano Tuner

The protagonist, a middle-aged man by the name of Edgar Drake is commissioned by the British War Office to repair a rare Erard grand piano belonging to a Doctor Anthony Caroll.

War of the Succession of Champagne

Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine took on Erard's cause, as did his brother-in-law Miles, Seigneur de Noyers, and his nephew André de Pougy, Seigneur de Marolles-sur-Seine and de Saint Valérien.

On their journey to Le Puy-en-Velay, Erard was arrested by agents of the king of France but managed to escape and get to Champagne.


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