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SEBASTIAN ERARD AND CLAUDE MONTAL.

should be brought up as an architect; and from the age of eight years he studied perspective and linear drawing, to which he added a course of practical geometry. This first education proved very useful to him in his after-career, and facilitated the discoveries which afterwards rendered him celebrated. He acquired, above all, a great aptitude in expressing his ideas by drawing, which spared him a good deal of useless expense.

His father having died, the young man was left to pursue his own course, and at the age of eighteen he went to Paris and apprenticed himself to a harpsichordmaker, in whose service he soon became a skilful workman. His great talent was quickly displayed in an extraordinary degree, so much so as to excite the jealousy of his employer.

He had not long come out of his apprenticeship before he was employed by another maker, who, aware of his skill in invention, proposed to Erard to execute an instrument of a novel description, differing from the common harpsichord; by a private engagement, however, it was settled that the name of the employer should appear upon it. When it was completed, the amateur who purchased it, delighted with its excellence, returned to make inquiries of the harpsichord-maker as to the nature of the improvements, and asked him a host of questions about the internal mechanism, which the man, taken by surprise, was wholly unable to specimens of Gothic architecture in existence, is 470 feet high, and is said to be the loftiest building in the world, with the exception of the highest of the pyramids of Egypt.

answer; at length, he was forced to confess that it was the work of young Erard.

Of this invention, which he called the clavecin méchanique, a detailed account appeared in the Musical Almanac of 1776. It was pronounced a chef-d'œuvre of invention and execution, and at once made the reputation of the young artisan.

The Duchess de Villeroi, a great patroness of the arts, took him under her protection, and it was in the Hôtel de Villeroi that his first piano was constructed. This instrument was then almost unknown in France, and had only recently been introduced in Germany. The duchess was desirous to have one, and she wished that, if possible, it should be made by a Frenchman : at her instigation, Erard determined to try his powers; and after having examined one of German construction, belonging to the inhabitants of a neighbouring house, he commenced the task, which he accomplished in a short time; and a scientific comparison being made between the two instruments, Erard's was pronounced superior.

Listened to in Madame de Villeroi's saloons, in which the most distinguished musical amateurs and professors were accustomed to assemble, it made a great sensation, and the fortune of the skilful artist was secured.

He soon established himself in business, and was joined by his brother John Baptiste. At first they encountered much opposition from the jealousy and ill-will of some of the manufacturers, but success in the end crowned their meritorious efforts, and the sale

of their pianofortes steadily increased. These instruments found their way throughout France, the Netherlands, and some parts of Germany; and in the year 1799 a commission in Hamburg sold one hundred of Erard's pianos.

Among the numerous improvements introduced by this maker, was that of adapting the instrument to voices of moderate power. For this purpose he conceived the idea of rendering the key of the piano moveable in either direction to the extent of half a note, a whole note, or a note and a half. This ingenious contrivance was first tried in a piano which he made for the queen, Marie Antoinette, whose voice was of small compass. It was also on this instrument he made the first trial of the orgue expressif, in which, by the prolonged pressure of a finger, the sound was diminished or increased at pleasure, like the inflexions of the voice. The harp was at that time a very fashionable instrument, and Erard's attention was consequently directed toward it, with the design to obviate some of the great inconveniences of its construction, as it was then made. His projects were interrupted by the outbreak of the French revolution in 1789, and he hastened to quit France for England, where he remained several years. He formed a flourishing establishment in London, his reputation there being very considerable, and the sale of his instruments proportionably large.

Returning to Paris in 1796, he produced his improved grand pianoforte, which increased his scientific

repute, and completed the numerous improvements and additions he had introduced into pianoforte-making. Returning to England, Erard, in 1811, crowned his successes by the beautiful and difficult invention of the harp with two pedals. Its success was immense : not only was the form of the instrument improved, giving it more elegance, but the richness of the sound was tripled by means of pedals and levers, skilfully combined to correspond to the same sounds of the octave on different strings. In 1815, Erard, being at Paris, presented it for examination at the Institute, when M. de Prony, in the name of the Academy of Sciences and of the Fine Arts united, made a highlyflattering report on its merits.

So many important contributions to the advancement of his art had deservedly procured for M. Erard the suffrages of learned men, artists and amateurs. He had received the gold medal at every examination of the products of French industry, and was the first musical-instrument-maker who obtained the cross of the Legion of Honour; rewards deservedly conferred on one whose life had been spent in unremitting labour for the advancement of an art which imparts so great a charm to the domestic and social circle. Happily, the personal character of M. Erard was such as to command respect and esteem. "He possessed," says M. Foucaud, "the rare quality of making himself beloved by all those employed in his service, sharing their labours, and rejoicing in their improvement. He always spoke to them in tones of encouragement,

and assisted them when in difficulties, not only by advice, but with his purse, which was always open to them. He gave pensions to aged mechanics, or such as were in extreme poverty, and carried his generosity to such a degree, that he would aid those of his own trade in founding establishments on as large a scale as his own.

"Apprentices are considered an ungrateful class, but good masters make good workmen ; and if such a man as Erard were at the head of every manufactory, we should probably hear fewer of these complaints."

This worthy man suffered, during the closing years of his life, from a most painful malady. His last work was the grand organ which he built for the chapel of the Tuileries-an admirable production, worthy the reputation of its maker.

On occasion of his death, which took place in August, 1831, his workmen paid a pleasing tribute to his memory. They raised a subscription among themselves, with the proceeds of which a bust of Erard was executed; and the day devoted to the inauguration of this monument of their affection and regret was one which deeply affected them.

Since the time of Sebastian Erard, great improvements have been made in the pianoforte, and the English manufacturers especially maintained for a long time a marked superiority in this branch of the trade. We cannot refrain, in connection with this subject, from mentioning an individual whose remarkable efforts excite both astonishment and admiration, and

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