Faster and louder

Sébastien Erard’s most famous invention for the piano was the double-escapement action, which allows the pianist to rapidly repeat a given note without completely releasing the key, thus rendering the key and the hammer totally independent from each other. This action revolutionised the design of piano mechanisms and had a profound impact on music written for the instrument. Far from being an isolated discovery from the 1820s, Sébastien’s invention was the culmination of a lifetime of searching for ways to make the piano more responsive to the musician’s touch, all the while maintaining a powerful tone.