Erard A Passion for the Piano

Robert Adelson is Professor of Organology and Music History at the Conservatoire de Nice-Universit? C?te d'Azur. Between 2005 and 2016 he was curator of the collection of historical musical instruments at the Mus?e du Palais Lascaris in Nice and since 2017 he is curator of the Camac collection of historical harps. His numerous publications explore the history of the piano and the harp, opera and the sociology of music. In 2019, he received the Frances Densmore Prize, awarded by the American Musical Instrument Society.

Figures
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