ERARD, SEBASTIEN (1752-1831), French manufacturer of musical instruments, distinguished especially for the improve ments which he effected in the harp and the pianoforte, was born at Strasbourg on April 5, 1752. He constructed (178o) in Paris his first pianoforte, one of the first manufactured in France. He was soon overwhelmed with commissions, and sent for his brother, Jean Baptiste, in conjunction with whom he established in the rue de Bourbon, in the Faubourg St. Germain, his famous piano manufactory. On the outbreak of the Revolution he went to London where he continued to make pianos. Returning to Paris in 1796, he began to build grand pianofortes, made in the English fashion, with improvements of his own. In 1808 he again visited London, where, two years later, he produced his first double-movement harp. In 1812 he returned to Paris where, in 1823, he crowned his work by producing his model grand piano forte with the double escapement. He died at Passy on Aug. 5, I 83 I . (See also HARP and PIANOFORTE.)