Adolphe
Sax & the Saxophone
by Mr. Rodney J.Croft
Adolphe Sax, born in November 1814 in Dinant on the river
Meuse in Belgium, became a prolific inventor whose inventions
included the saxophone, patented in Paris in 1846. It is one
of the most instantly recognizable of all musical instruments
and has for many years been inextricably linked to the jazz
genre. The history of Sax and the origin of his invention provide
an interesting story.
Adolphe's father, Charles Sax, at the age of fifteen, became
an apprentice cabinetmaker in Brussels, and at this time he
played a serpent (a now obsolete large wooden S-shaped bass
wind instrument) in a local musical society. A serpent was
an expensive instrument so Charles Sax made his own; a skill
he would return to.
The advent of the machine age brought about a surge in the
Belgian textile industry and Charles Sax took a job in a factory
making cotton-spinning machines. Following Wellington's defeat
of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 the Belgian economy
and the textile industry slumped, leading to the closure of
factories and the loss of Charles Sax's job.
Charles Sax then returned to his previously honed skills and
began to make musical instruments including serpents, flutes,
and subsequently bassoons, clarinets and brass instruments.
He even began making string instruments including pianos, violins,
harps and guitars.
His son Adolphe therefore grew and developed in this environment
of musical instrument manufacture. He began to be increasingly
involved in his father's business and developed both as a craftsman
and as a player of the flute and clarinet. He attended the
Royal School of Singing in Brussels where he developed his
playing abilities to a very high proficiency, particularly
on the clarinet.
There are various theories as to
why and how the saxophone originated. One belief is that
Sax discerned a tonal gap in the Symphony Orchestra between
the cellos and the brass section. It is possible to appreciate
the success of bridging this gap when hearing the tenor saxophone
solo line in Ravel's Bolero. Or perhaps it was Sax's efforts
to find a bridge between the woodwind and bridge in a Military
band. Another theory surrounds a search for a brass instrument
with stronger volume dynamics than the wooden clarinet family.
Whichever of all the theories is correct one thing seems
certain; Sax was searching for a previously undiscovered
sound either in timbre and or volume dynamics. No doubt he
experimented with a number of different ideas but it is thought
he finally combined an ophicleide (a euphonium-like sounding
instrument) with a bass clarinet mouthpiece. The ophicleide,
from the Greek "serpent and key," was
invented in 1817. It superseded the serpent, and Sax had access
to ophicleides in his father's workshop. The ophicleide was
basically a bass keyed bugle and was a conical brass instrument
with the brass cupped mouthpiece and replaced it with the single
reed mouthpiece of a bass clarinet thereby creating a conical
bore brass instrument with a single reed. The saxophone was
born!
The first saxophone was a bass and subsequent models followed-eight
models were patented in 1846. Now the following are available:
sopranino and soprano (both usually straight but can also be
curved), alto, tenor, baritone and bass. In 1857 Sax was appointed
instructor of the saxophone at the Paris Conservatory.
Sax also made major changes to the keys and articulation of
the bass clarinet much of which lasts to this day. He also
manufactured brass instruments including the Saxhorn for Military
bands and won large contracts for French Army Regiments. He
was so successful, a number of attempts were made by rivals
to spike his instruments prior to crucial military band competitions
in the Tuilerie Gardens in Paris, and there were also assassination
attempts, which gladly he escaped. However, he suffered multiple
lawsuits from rivals who tried to steal his patents and towards
the end of his life was in abject poverty. Chabrier, Massenet
and Saint-Saens petitioned the Fine Arts Minister to come to
his aid. He died in Paris in February 1894.
Adolphe Sax will always be remembered for his wonderful invention-the
Saxophone. So, but for the Battle of Waterloo-where would Jazz
be?#
Rodney Croft is a Consultant General and Vascular Surgeon
in London, England. He is also a professional saxophonist.