The Érard name is intrinsically associated with the development of the piano, the brilliant innovations of that firm making it one of the most successful in Europe. Many of their inventions like the agraffe (a brass guide that spaces, levels and provides downward pressure on the strings at the nut), and the double-escapement action (which enables the rapid repetition of a note without the player having to entirely release the key), are essential design elements of today’s pianos.

This instrument is exactly the type of Érard that was purchased by Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and housed on an upper floor of his apartment at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy. Liszt composed such works as his cypress de la Villa d Este and Les jeux d’eau á la Villa d’Este on his Érard, and also used it to present concerts, and to teach pupils including Moriz Rosenthal and Isaac Albéniz.

It’s probable that this piano was originally brought to the Mount Gambier/Millicent area of South Australia when new. It’s quite likely that wealth accumulated through the wool industry may have enabled the Australian acquisition of the instrument, one of the finest types of piano available at that time. It has the serial no. 42623.

Nothing is known about the Érard’s provenance until the mid-1970s when it was purchased by John Priddle, Secretary of the Adelaide branch of the Australian Society for Keyboard Music.

Mr Priddle generously donated this piano to the ANU Keyboard Institute in June 2007.

Pitch: A435