The ‘Archives du Musée de la Musique’ in Paris gives the following information about your Erard, serial number 21753 : ‘Piano à queue petit modèle, Cuba pallisandre’ (translated: Grand piano, small model (=2m12) in Cuba rosewood), Made in july 1850 and sold on the 31 of january 1851, sold to Mr Pucci in Rome.
Congratulations on your find. I just know the 3 big French piano manufacturers were Erard, Gaveau, and Pleyel. I considered purchasing a Gaveau once, solely on the look of the case. The French made beautiful pianos.
Looking forward to Part Two! Old pianos can be very challenging ( = expensive} to bring back to good playing condition - I hope you were fortunate in this regard. Erard grands were parallel-strung (visible in your photos), meaning all the strings are parallel with each other, unlike modern grands where the treble and bass strings cross over each other (overstrung). Overstringing was a Steinway invention to make their pianos louder for concert halls, but parallel stringing gives a clearer sound, i.e. less "blurred". A great find. Clever name for your channel btw!
@@HermanDaenen Thanks Herman, you are correct. I should have said that Steinway "popularised" overstringing, or "made it the dominant design", to cover myself! It did in fact occur to me while I was writing the comment that someone else had probably come up with the idea earlier, and I tried looking it up, but didn't find an answer in 5 minutes so gave it away. Subsequently I found it in Rosamond Harding's book, and she credits Henri Pape. Best wishes.
Congratulations for this find, mister Jambon-Gris! Personnaly I know Erard. Like Gaveau, Pleyel and Rameau, it was a famous French, and international, piano maker in the past. Today the name is no longer exploited by the owner or the brand. An Erard grand (played by Franz Liszt) is in the collection of Le Musée de La Musique at La Philarmonie de Paris and the Salle Erard, a concert hall, still exists today in Paris. Now the big question are how is the soundboard of your Erard, how is its frame, etc etc... Anyway you'll have to work on the mechanic, the re-felting, re-stringing, etc. Big job and it will cost far more than you paid for the piano, but in my opinion, as a piano player, I think it's worthwhile. And what I heard from signor Francescangeli playing it doesn't sound so bad. Yes, far far from what it should, but not terrible. This piano must live and ring for the next century. (edit: just realized you tranlated your 1st name and name in French! hunt=chasse, gra/gray=gris, ham=jambon... 🤣)
@HIPguy commented on an earlier version of this video : " I rescued an 1863 Érard that sounds very similar. 2m12. They are the best!" and I replied : "Ah, one of the brotherhood! Yes indeed. Mine is 2m05. I like the use of the word rescue! I see your channel has some interesting things too. @HIPguy replied : Yes! The Érard grand was in bad shape, and going to be thrown away! Fortunately, through a friend of mine, he got it for me, and together we rescued it, and now it is my dearly loved piano that lives with me and also has a concert life with which people appreciate. As I know of, it's the only touring Érard piano with its original strings; which i insisted on!! The new Pauello replacements for the strings does not compare ! Never ever under any circumstances change your strings unless you absolutely must because one broke.
Beautiful storytelling. I am fascinated by this. I hope you make more videos on this Erard.
thank you for this very nice presentation! As a collector of historical instruments one always appreciates uplifting stories like yours
Gorgeous Gorgeous. The Ultimate asset once properly voiced tuned and regulated properly
The ‘Archives du Musée de la Musique’ in Paris gives the following information about your Erard, serial number 21753 :
‘Piano à queue petit modèle, Cuba pallisandre’ (translated: Grand piano, small model (=2m12) in Cuba rosewood),
Made in july 1850 and sold on the 31 of january 1851, sold to Mr Pucci in Rome.
Congratulations on your find. I just know the 3 big French piano manufacturers were Erard, Gaveau, and Pleyel. I considered purchasing a Gaveau once, solely on the look of the case. The French made beautiful pianos.
Looking forward to Part Two! Old pianos can be very challenging ( = expensive} to bring back to good playing condition - I hope you were fortunate in this regard. Erard grands were parallel-strung (visible in your photos), meaning all the strings are parallel with each other, unlike modern grands where the treble and bass strings cross over each other (overstrung). Overstringing was a Steinway invention to make their pianos louder for concert halls, but parallel stringing gives a clearer sound, i.e. less "blurred". A great find.
Clever name for your channel btw!
In fact it was Henri Pape who invented the cross-string piano in 1828
@@HermanDaenen Thanks Herman, you are correct. I should have said that Steinway "popularised" overstringing, or "made it the dominant design", to cover myself! It did in fact occur to me while I was writing the comment that someone else had probably come up with the idea earlier, and I tried looking it up, but didn't find an answer in 5 minutes so gave it away. Subsequently I found it in Rosamond Harding's book, and she credits Henri Pape. Best wishes.
Congratulations for this find, mister Jambon-Gris!
Personnaly I know Erard. Like Gaveau, Pleyel and Rameau, it was a famous French, and international, piano maker in the past. Today the name is no longer exploited by the owner or the brand.
An Erard grand (played by Franz Liszt) is in the collection of Le Musée de La Musique at La Philarmonie de Paris and the Salle Erard, a concert hall, still exists today in Paris.
Now the big question are how is the soundboard of your Erard, how is its frame, etc etc... Anyway you'll have to work on the mechanic, the re-felting, re-stringing, etc. Big job and it will cost far more than you paid for the piano, but in my opinion, as a piano player, I think it's worthwhile. And what I heard from signor Francescangeli playing it doesn't sound so bad. Yes, far far from what it should, but not terrible. This piano must live and ring for the next century.
(edit: just realized you tranlated your 1st name and name in French! hunt=chasse, gra/gray=gris, ham=jambon... 🤣)
@HIPguy commented on an earlier version of this video : " I rescued an 1863 Érard that sounds very similar. 2m12. They are the best!" and I replied : "Ah, one of the brotherhood! Yes indeed. Mine is 2m05. I like the use of the word rescue! I see your channel has some interesting things too. @HIPguy replied : Yes! The Érard grand was in bad shape, and going to be thrown away! Fortunately, through a friend of mine, he got it for me, and together we rescued it, and now it is my dearly loved piano that lives with me and also has a concert life with which people appreciate. As I know of, it's the only touring Érard piano with its original strings; which i insisted on!! The new Pauello replacements for the strings does not compare ! Never ever under any circumstances change your strings unless you absolutely must because one broke.