Overview
Christopher Ganer, (fl. 1775 – 1811) was born in Leipzig and had moved to London before 1775, the date of his earliest surviving instrument. His extant oeuvre consists of around 130 small pianofortes. These are of good conservative workmanship and his nameboards show decorative flair.
The most celebrated owner of a Ganer piano forte was Jane Austen, who delighted in music, practised the piano every day and possessed ‘a large collection of music by the most celebrated composers’. She possessed her Ganer piano whilst writing the first version of Pride and Prejudice in 1795-97. When the family moved from Hampshire to Bath, her ‘piano forte in a handsome case (by Ganer)’ was advertised in the sale of the Austen family furniture at Steventon Rectory; it sold for £8.
In 1808, when she settled at Chawton, she expected to lay out 30 guineas for a new instrument.