Description
Book SynopsisErard: A Passion for the Piano 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.
Trade ReviewThe infusion of new perspectives and insights into the lives of the Erard brothers and their immediate family does much to position Adelson's new book as a meaningful and valuable contribution to Erard scholarship...Adelson's book, meticulously researched, is an accessible and enticing chronicling of the Erard family and their firm's history. Integrating the contents of a previously undiscovered archive with an already sizeable body of documentary evidence is no small feat. Adelson has produced a work that is deeply informative, yet flows with ease. With this wide appeal, it stands to become the go to volume for gaining understanding of the people and pianos behind the formidable Erard firm. * Elly Langford, The Galpin Society Journal *
An excellent and eminently readable book. * Tilman Skowroneck, Eighteenth-Century Music *
The text is replete with felicitous wordings ...This also makes it a very enjoyable, pleasant reading! * Marvin J. Ward, CVNC *
This is a valuable book for music historians and those interested in the history of the piano and pianism in the 19th century. * K. Boyd, CHOICE Connect, Vol. 59 No. 8 *
Drawing on newly-discovered family archives, this vivid and fascinating book combines narrative verve and impeccable scholarship to tell the story of the Érards in an age of revolution and discovery, from Louis XVI to Queen Victoria. Their contributions to the harp and piano are with us today, as is the great music they inspired. * Christopher Clarke, Early keyboard specialist and piano builder *
Erard is a valuable, welcome addition to historical business studies. * Pheaross Graham, H-France Review Vol. 23 *
Erard: A Passion for the Piano provides an invaluable service in assembling and conveying a considerable wealth of background information concerning the Erard piano business and its historical context, details about the piano itself and Sébastien Erard's contribution to its development are sparse and unreliable. A definitive work on Erard and the piano remains to be written. * Fred Sturm, Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association vol. 80 *
Table of ContentsFigures Abbreviations Editorial note Erard family tree Introduction Acknowledgements 1. Making a harpsichord sound like a piano 2. Founding a workshop 3. Square pianos and piano-organs 4. A modern business 5. Harps, the Revolution and London 6. The French grand piano 7. Gifts for Haydn, Beethoven and many others 8. Financial struggles 9. Faster and louder: the double-escapement action 10. Liszt and the introduction of the new piano 11. Piano wars 12. Family strains and secrets 13. Mendelssohn and the Erards 14. Passing the flame 15. Camille Erard and the end of the Erard Empire Afterword Notes Bibliography
