Through his years of instrumental experimentation and discovery, Antoine Joseph (Adolphe) Sax conceived and brought to fruition one of the most modern instruments to become an important and viable force in the musical world. From its early beginnings in the 1840’s, it served as a bridge between the clarinet, tenor brass, and string timbres. Though Sax knew the importance of and need for this new timbre when he first conceived the idea of the saxophone, he never fathomed the success and popularity that the instrument would endure, particularly in the years after his death.

Adolphe Sax spent his childhood years in Dinant, Belgium watching and mimicking his father’s actions and skills as an instrument craftsman. At a young age, Sax began helping his father craft clarinets, specifically mastering the construction of the key work. The amount of exposure young Sax had to musical instruments must have sparked his interest in learning to perform them. After receiving the standard formal education until age 14, Sax became a music student at the Royal School of Singing. Along with vocal instruction, he also studied the flute, and later, the clarinet, which soon became his principal instrument. Sax excelled as a clarinet virtuoso and easily could have made a successful career as a performer. However, his interest in his father’s workshop was still very strong. Knowing well the many flaws inherent in the clarinet of the time and having access to the necessary tools and a developing skill in using them, Adolphe Sax experimented with ways to overcome the problems of the instrument.

By 1835, at age 21, Sax received an Honorable Mention award at the Brussels Industrial Exhibition for his innovations to a new 24-keyed clarinet. He also received criticism from fellow instrument makers that his innovations, though having fine external features, still did not overcome the acoustical problems of the clarinet. Throughout the next five years, Sax continued modifications to the clarinet and by 1840 had begun experimental construction of valved bugle horns, eventually to become known as saxhorns. Also at the same time he began construction of an instrument similar to the clarinet. The instrument with a single reed mouthpiece combined with a conical metal tube would become well known as the saxophone. The acoustic principle of a single reed combined with a conical bore instrument was not Adolphe Sax’s original invention. Many examples of conical bore instruments with a single reed had appeared throughout history before the saxophone. However, it was Adolphe Sax who put this concept to its first significant use in western civilization. This often sparks the debate whether the saxophone was an original invention or just an improvement of an already established principle.

One early debated instrument is the 19^th century Argentine signal horn, which was, in fact, a conical tube joined to a single reed. It was made from a cow’s horn and a thin bone reed attached by a strand of silk. This primitive instrument does suggest an early saxophone type design. Another example is that of a bassoon with a clarinet type mouthpiece. An 18^th century court musician, Johann Wilhelm Hesse, had replaced the double reed with such a mouthpiece. The instrument was said to have "surpassed all of the other woodwinds in sound, due to the addition of the mouthpiece." Also included in these examples is the alto fagatto, manufactured by George Wood around 1830. While the alto fagatto looked nothing like the saxophone, it did posses a conical bore and a clarinet type mouthpiece. The alto fagatto was described as an "instrument which embraced the sweetest, most admirable notes of the clarinet and bassoon, and is eminently calculated to accompany the human voice or perform solos or concertos in orchestras." A final instrument, which is often described as a predecessor of the saxophone, is the Hungarian tarogato, which dates back to at least the 12^th century. The tarogato possessed a conical bore, but in its early history was played with a double reed. It did not appear with a single reed until 1900, when W. Schunda, of Budapest, replaced the double reed. Schunda also added a system of keys to the tarogato. Since its single reed version did not appear until 1900, well after Sax’s conception of the saxophone (ca. 1838), the Hungarian tarogato does not deserve consideration as a prototype or predecessor to the saxophone. Considering the previous instruments, Adolphe Sax was not the first person to combine the conical bore and single reed instruments. However, it should be observed that Sax was the first to make a "conical body of metal with a clarinet mouthpiece and all of the holes covered with keys."

There are two main theories of why Sax envisioned a conical metal instrument to be played like a woodwind, with a reed mouthpiece. Since he left no personal account suggesting how he conceived the instrument, it is necessary to examine these two prominent theories. Due to his expert knowledge of the clarinet, many assume that the saxophone was invented because of a desire to create a clarinet-like instrument that would overblow at the octave, instead of the twelfth. This reasoning is feasible. While Sax worked to improve the clarinet, he was never completely satisfied. In his experiments, he could have continued to push the limits and length of the cylindrical bore tube until accidentally creating a new instrument, the saxophone. Though feasible, this explanation is highly unlikely. Sax’s acoustical knowledge would have told him that achieving an instrument that overblows at the octave with a conical bore (like the saxophone) would destroy the clarinet’s characteristic cylindrical bore tone qualities. Furthermore, an attempt at creating a conical bore clarinet would produce an instrument of similar length, resulting in a soprano saxophone. However, we know through accounts of Hector Berlioz, an admirer of Sax’s earlier inventions, specifically his modifications to the bass clarinet, that the first saxophone was of the bass register. Berlioz documents in his Treatise on Instrumentation (1843) that the B flat bass saxophone was the first created. The 1843 addition contained this description of the first saxophones:

The other common theory of Sax’s reason for developing the new instrument is his desire to bridge the gap between brass and wood instruments. A new instrument would solve this problem for both military bands and symphony orchestras, but he also saw room for improvement in the orchestra between the woodwind and string sonorities. This new instrument would bring together the power of the brass and the softness of the wood sonorities, a balancing of the two. Sax would, of course, want to hear the anticipated sound of this new creation. Rather than spending many hours in the workshop creating something from scratch that would fail to fulfill his intention, he most likely decided to combine parts of existing brass and woodwind instruments in order to sample the outcome. Another aspect of this theory is that Sax replaced the brass mouthpiece of an ophicleide with the mouthpiece of a bass clarinet. Though the range is limited, a reenactment of such would prove to produce a sound similar to the modern saxophone, making this a probable theory. Also confirming the merit of this scenario is that Adolphe’s father, Charles, was well known as an excellent ophicleide maker and Adolphe has already been noted for his experiments with and improvements on the clarinet and bass clarinet. The fact that the ophicleide was a bass instrument also supports Berlioz’s account of the first saxophones’ similar bass quality.

Secondary sources must be considered to determine the exact date of the invention of the saxophone. Various sources include the dates 1838, 1840, 1841, 1842, and 1846. Since the patent for the saxophone was obtained in 1846, the earlier dates are perhaps more likely. Maurice Hamel indicated to his father, Henri Hamel, in a collection of hand-written letters, that Sax had created his saxophone by 1838. Both were close friends of Sax, and this source places the saxophone’s invention well before Sax moved to Paris in 1842. One of the first accounts of a completed saxophone was at the Brussels Industrial Exhibition of 1841. Sax took a collection of his instruments, of which one was thought to be a saxophone. Before the exhibition began, he left his collection unsupervised and in his absence, an instrument wrapped in cloth, assumed to be the saxophone, suffered severe damage and had to be withdrawn from the exhibition. Many historians conclude that since Sax had drawn so much attention to himself for the quality of instruments that he was producing in the years prior to the exhibition, fellow instrument makers developed an envy of his superior instruments, further concluding that the damage to the saxophone was pure malice. After the incident at the 1841 exhibition, the development and whereabouts of the saxophone remained in flux. The documentation between 1841 and February 3, 1844, when the saxophone received its first public performance, is relatively non-existent and inconclusive. The one conclusive exception is an article by Hector Berlioz published in the Journal des Debats on the 12^th of June 1842, which is deemed by saxophone scholars as "the birth certificate of the saxophone." Berlioz writes:

This documentation further supports the idea that the instrument referred to resembles the modern bass saxophone.

Moving to Paris in the spring of 1841, Sax developed a friendship with Berlioz, which proved to be an important influence on his career. Berlioz’s article in the Journal des Debats about the saxophone and Sax’s other instruments made the young inventor’s name and work known by all who were connected with musical life in Paris. With the help of his influential friends, he soon received money with which to open his own workshop. Sax was the envy of other Parisian craftsmen. He was one of the only manufacturers of woodwind and brass instruments. Unlike the heads of other factories, Sax oversaw the production of every component of his instruments and remained personally involved with the building and development of the saxophone.

It is noted that when Sax originally developed this new family of instruments, he conceived it in two groups, each group extending from contra bass to sopranino. The original orchestral family, pitched in F and C, and the military family, pitched in E flat and B flat were both included in the patent of 1846. The French patent, #3226, was hand written by someone other than Sax, perhaps a copyist, and only signed by the inventor himself. The patent reads as follows:

• No. 1. Saxophone in E flat — tenor, fundamental note: B in written pitch is D in concert pitch.
• No. 2. Saxophone in C — descending to B flat in its key. The same instrument can also be made in the key of B flat — it consequently descends to concert A flat which is B flat in it written key.
• No. 3. Contrabass saxophone in F — it can also be made in E flat.
• No. 4. Bourdon saxophone in C, it can also be made in B flat.
• The Saxophones No. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are in the same keys as the preceding instruments at the octave higher.

It is noted that Sax also included a fingering chart for each of the saxophones described in his patent and provided two drawings as well. The descriptions of the saxophones in the patent show, once again, that Sax was initially concerned with the lower voices of the family.

Even with Berlioz’s enthusiastic support for the saxophone prior to the 1846 patent, the instrument failed to achieve immediate popularity. Though he spoke highly of the saxophone and its creator in published writings, Berlioz scored only one work that included the saxophone. It was an arrangement of one of his own vocal works Chant sacre (arranged in 1844). Very few other composers used the saxophone in the orchestra in the 19^th century. The works that were written, however, are well known to most saxophone scholars. The composer to give the saxophone its first public unveiling in a major ensemble work, was Sax’s friend and supporter Jean Georges Kastner. The opera Le Dernier Roi de Juda was performed at the Paris Conservatory on December 1^st, 1844, and included one saxophone in the score (B flat bass). Other works included the operas Hamlet (1868) and Francoise de Rimini (1882) by Thomas, L’Arlesienne Suites (1872) by Bizet, the ballet Silvia (1876) by Delibes, and the operas Herodiade (1877) and Werther (1892) by Massenet. These pieces often used the saxophone for effective solo passages. Camille Saint-Saens composed the symphonic poem La Jeunesse d’Hercule (1877), utilizing the soprano saxophone in F. This was one of the earliest highly demanding saxophone parts. It was extremely difficult to find a saxophonist in Paris who was capable of performing the part since the saxophone class at the Paris Conservatory had been discontinued due to a lack of the French military funds that supported it. Sax had been the first professor of saxophone at the Paris Conservatory, appointed in 1857. In 1870, because of the lack of financial support, his position was eliminated. Sax offered to continue teaching the class without pay in order to produce trained performers to cover parts written for the saxophone. This offer yielded no response from the Conservatory, leaving Sax to focus his efforts on the instruction of military musicians.

The saxophone class lay dormant until 1942, when Claude Delvincourt, director of the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, appointed Marcel Mule the second professor of saxophone in the history of the conservatory.

Though the saxophone, compared to the development of other woodwind instruments, has had minimal changes since its original form, there have been several modifications. The most noteworthy is the near extinction of the orchestral group of saxophones at the end of the 19^th century. This extinction can be attributed to three main reasons. The established repertoire of the orchestra, fundamentally grounded in the symphonic works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, had no use for these orchestral oddities. Composers of the second half of the 19^th century did include the saxophone in their orchestral compositions; however, the orchestral repertoire was still dominated heavily by the composers mentioned above. The new music written for the saxophone often had to be rescored without the saxophone because players envious of Sax’s creative success refused to play the instrument. With only a few below average musicians willing to perform it, leading composers discontinued including the saxophone in their orchestral compositions. With the performance opportunities for saxophonists dwindling, the quantity and quality of performers also continued to decline. Many of Sax’s fellow instrument makers, who envied his success, attempted to sway composers and performing artists from supporting Sax and his saxophones. Another factor preventing success of the new instrument was the German prejudice against Sax’s superbly crafted instruments. This prejudice, along with Wagner’s personal scorn for the instrument, prevented the advancement of the saxophone in the orchestra. Finally, counteracting its failure in the orchestra, the E flat and B flat saxophones were rapidly gaining an important role in French military bands. The success of these instruments further overshadowed the need for the orchestral counterparts.

Other modifications were minor and merely added technical facility. Keys and connecting bars were added to allow trills to specific notes, as was a single octave key.

With the lack of interest of performers and orchestral composers, Sax found it advantageous to give public performances of the saxophone. In 1842, a performance before Lieutenant-General Comte de Rumigny of the French Military, proved beneficial as well as performances before accomplished musicians and band composers. These performances sparked an interest in the performance of the saxophone and lead to the interaction of Sax and de Rumigny.

The emergence of the saxophone into French military bands was due in large part to the connection Sax had with Lieutenant-General Comte de Rumigny. De Rumigny had visited Sax in Belgium around the time that the saxophone was being invented. He had heard of Sax’s fine quality instruments and was looking to outfit the struggling bands of the French military with top quality equipment as well as reform the standard instrumentation of these bands. Not only did Sax demonstrate many of his other instrument creations and modifications, he also showed de Rumigny his prototypes of the saxophone. Soon the saxophone made its first appearance in the French military bands. Without a strong rooted orchestral saxophone to compete with, the E flat and B flat saxophones had more room to thrive as an outdoor instrument in these military bands. The reformation of the French military band instrumentation, now completely left up to Sax, usually included his new saxophone. De Rumigny and the commissioners of Sax praised the new addition, stating that it possessed

At the time of the saxophone’s inclusion, the instrument was rarely used in most bands. This was because little interest was shown in writing for such an unknown instrument. When saxophone parts were included, they were written in bass clef and could be performed on either saxophone or bassoon. Until the saxophone became more widely known and popular with instrumentalists, bassoons were expected to play the written saxophone parts. The first saxophones to be used in military bands were the E flat baritone and the B flat bass saxophone. The inclusion of the entire saxophone family, did not take place until 1856, when directors and composers of French military bands began to write for them specifically, preferring them to the bassoon. To aid in publicizing his new instrument, Sax began transcribing older band masterpieces. He also commissioned pieces to include his new instrument. By 1867, the saxophone had gained the respect of some instrumentalists and became standard in military bands. While Sax’s prior instruments dissipated from bands, the saxophone upheld its relations as a basic element of these ensembles. The influence and superiority of the French military band movement upon the instrumental world provided the positive environment to aid in the saxophone’s growth and development. Also aiding the development of the saxophone was the first method for saxophone written between 1844 and 1845. George Kastner, the secretary of the Commission of French Military Music was the author. The purpose of the method was to provide instruction as well as popularize the saxophone in the military bands. The method book, titled The Complete and Systematic Method for Saxophone covered fundamental music materials, such as scales, key signatures and rhythms. It also included a fingering chart as well as a transposition guide. In his method, Kastner also included this explanation for Sax’s invention:

Kastner and Sax had a close relationship and Sax’s influence on this method book is assumed.

Despite the limited use in orchestral compositions, solo saxophone repertoire prior to 1900 had a unique advantage in that Sax owned and operated his own publishing house in Paris, dating back to the late 1850’s. As a creator of new instruments, Sax knew that in order for them to survive, there must be appropriate solo repertoire. He published around 200 compositions, 35 of which were for various saxophones with piano. Some of the first composers who wrote for the saxophone were Joseph Arban, Jules Demersseman, and Hyacinthe Klose, including the most prolific composer for the new instrument, Jean Baptiste Singelee. The majority of their compositions were used by the Paris Conservatory for students’ yearly examinations. These works are structurally and harmonically reserved. They do, though, have virtuosic qualities. These compositions were to ensure that the saxophone would have a small, but important, repertoire, encompassing soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones. Many of these pieces are still worthy of performance today. Bruce Ronkin, saxophonist and historian, states:

The conception of the saxophone was very detailed and precise from the beginning, though its use and musical role were yet to be determined. Adolphe Sax was a creator and an inventor, mainly for the purpose of solving instrumental problems and improving timbre deficiencies. He worked extremely hard for many years to give his instruments every chance of survival and success. Sax did not live to experience or benefit from the true success of the saxophone, which occurred in the early 20^th century (1920’s). Not even his influential friends and his masterful creations could protect him from the jealousy of the instrument-making industry that affected the saxophone’s fate during its inventor’s lifetime. Others in the industry often paid musicians to boycott his instruments. From Adolphe Sax’s first days in Paris, the Association of Instrument Manufacturers had pursued him in court. Most cases pertained to the legality of his patent of the invention he called the saxophone. Though Sax usually won all litigation against him, the costly court battles dwindled his funds, preventing him from both maintaining his factory and renewing his patents. In the 1860’s, when his patent finally expired, the saxophone became public domain and was immediately copied by other manufacturers. Deprived of the revenue from these copies, Sax became impoverished. Soon following, in the 1870’s, his factory went bankrupt and was forced to close down. His military contracts were soon cancelled and he was forced to make a living as a bandmaster at the Paris Opera until his death on February 4^th, 1894. Though he died a poor man, the musical world is much richer because of his endeavors.

Selected Bibliography

Berlioz, Hector. Grand traite d’ insrumentation et d’orchestration modernes.

Berlin: Adolf Martin Schlesinger, 1843.

Considered a scholar on instrumentation and orchestration, Berlioz writes on theories as well as describes acoustical factors and includes brief histories on the instruments.

Gee, Harry R. Saxophone Soloists and Their Music. Bloomington: Indiana

University Press, 1986.

Annotated bibliography of saxophone soloists and solos, includes brief biographical history on Adolphe Sax. Also includes early ensemble literature and history of instruction.

Harvey, Paul. Saxophone. London: Kahn and Averill, 1995.

Provides basic facts, which are required to understand the classification history and influence the saxophone has had on the musical world since it conception.

Hemke, Fred L. "The History of the Saxophone" (DMA diss., University of

Wisconsin, 1975).

Explores in depth the beginning developmental process of the saxophone as well as its first uses and its rise to prominence.

Horwood, Wally. Adolphe Sax — His Life and Legacy. Bramley, Hampshire,

England: Bramley Books, 1979.

An authoritative source on the life of Adolphe Sax and his influence on instrument making of the 19^th century, including in depth detail on his most prominent discovery, the saxophone.

Ingham, Richard,ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone. Cambridge,

United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Concise historical view of Adolphe Sax and his most prominent invention, the saxophone. Includes many articles from the 19^th century.

Kochnitzky, Leon. Adolphe Sax and His Saxophone. New York: Belgian

Government Information Center, 1949.

Concise history of Adolphe Sax’s creation which bears his name, the saxophone. Also includes scholarly writings and articles from prominent composers of the time on Sax’s most admired and controversial instrument.

Kool, Jaap. Das Saxophon. Leipzig: J.J. Weber, 1931.

In depth literature on the science behind and the creation of the saxophone. Explores many of the acoustical properties of the saxophone.

Lindemeyer, Paul. Celebrating the Saxophone. New York: Harvest Books,

1996.

Documents the obscure origins of the saxophone in France and Belgium and follows it through its immense popularity through the present.

Londeix, Jean-Marie. 150 Years of Music for Saxophone. Cherry Hill, NJ:

Roncorp Publications, 1994.

Documents every piece of musical literature that includes a saxophone part, with brief descriptions and history of Adolphe Sax.

Teal, Larry. The Art of Saxophone Playing. Evanston, Ill: Summy-Birchard

Company, 1963.

Historical introduction of Adolphe Sax and the saxophone. In depth study of the acoustics of the saxophone as well as techniques for the advancing saxophonist.

Rousseau, Eugene. Marcel Mule: His Life and the Saxophone. Shell Lake,

Wisconsin: Etoile Music Inc., 1982.

A biographical sketch of one of the pioneers of the saxophone in the classical medium.