Saxophone History

THE STORY OF THE SAXOPHONE

The Early Years

From the Story of the Saxophone

The Middle Ages gave us a variety of new instruments and gradually the elements of the modern military band were gathered together. The development of these bands was encouraged by all the French kings from Louis XIII on, and by the Revolution they were completely organised and flourishing throughout the Empire.

It was not until 1814 that new instrument creations began to appear again, and it was in that same year, on November 6th, that a child was born in Dinant-Sur-Meuse, Belgium, whose name was destined to be heard around the world.

Even in his youth Antoine (later to be known as Adolphe) Joseph Sax became well known by his wonderful creations. He displayed great musical ability, and his father, Joseph Sax, who was a celebrated wind instrument maker, took great pains to encourage both his musical and his inventive genius.

Young Antoine was entered at the Brussels Conservatoire de Musique, where he studied Clarinet and Flute. The celebrated master, Bender, made of young Sax a clarinet player of great skill, but this skill was never applied professionally. Antoine’s natural bent was mechanical, so he returned to his father’s workshop, where he applied himself to the task of improving the clarinet.

In 1842 he moved to Paris, where he opened a modest workshop on rue St. George. He became actively interested in Opera and created the opera band, for which he designed and made many special instruments, and his superiority over all other instruments makers in Paris was so marked that Sax soon had to enlarge his quarters so as to handle the many orders for his instruments.

Then in 1846 Sax invented the instrument which bears his name. He made a quartet of instruments, the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone, adding four new voices to the world of music. This was the crowning event in the life of the inventor, though Sax did not realise the importance of his accomplishment.

In 1859 there was a change in Concert Pitch, making it necessary for every military band and orchestra in France to procure new wind instruments. This was Sax’s opportunity. For through his friends at court he had secured a practical monopoly for the supply of wind instruments of his manufacture to the French army. But as is often the way of all great men of genius, Sax continued in creative pursuits rather than turn to fortune hunting. Although he exhibited his instruments in London in 1862 and took the Grand Prize in Paris in 1867, his fortune continued to decrease until finally his factory in Paris passed into other hands, and his magnificent collection of musical instruments was sold under the hammer.

There was a time in the career of Sax when he could have retired with a fortune. He had friends in high places and the assistance of prominent musicians such as Berlioz, Halevy and Kastner. He had won the favourable comments of the French press and applause of all Europe. All this gave him a position rarely reached by men in middle life, but there came such a sharp turn. Over his grave the grass grew green in the summer of 1894, a good quarter of a century before his invention, was to be hailed as the worldwide success it was to become. We have to wonder what would Adolphe would have made of the saxophone’s lead role in bringing about a musical revolution: jazz.

The Saxophone in the Twentieth Century

Very soon after the advent of jazz, the typical front line of trumpet, clarinet and trombone was soon augmented by the saxophone, an instrument which was to supercede those as the most universal symbol of jazz. One of the main manufacturers of saxophones was the Buescher Company of Elkhart. The following is another extract from it’s marketing publication, "The Story of the Saxophone" (1926)