The Story of the Saxophone
by Sigurd Raschèr
Why did Adolphe Sax ever make the saxophone?
Guesses have been as cheap as they were plentiful. One writer asserted that it was more or less a chance development from the serpent (Darwinism in instrumental evolution?), while another suggested that the inventor, “playing around” in his shop, put a clarinet mouthpiece on a bugle, blew it, shouted “Eureka!” and pronounced himself a genius; etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sax’s father was an expert instrument maker. The family came from the town of Dinant, Belgium, which boasted a century-old reputation for the many kinds of brass-ware made there. Adolphe was a small boy when Sax Sr. moved his shop to Brussels, where he quickly established himself as one of the best men in the trade. It was natural that his oldest son learned his craft from him when he was very young. And since at that time the man who made an instrument was also the one who tested it, Sax Jr. learned early to play these instruments. Soon he became aware of the tonal disparity between strings and winds, and more in detail, that between brasses and woodwinds. That is; the strings were often too weak in an orchestra when played together with the wind instruments, and likewise; the woodwinds were often overpowered by the brasses in a band. He dreamed of an instrument that would, through its tonal characteristics, bridge these haps. To accomplish this it must have traits of these groups, harmonically fused into one. It must have the flexibility of the strings, the tonal variety of the woodwinds, yet the power of the brasses.
Now that his goal was clear, experimentation could begin. And since this new instrument should produce octaves through overblowing, instead of the more complicated twelfth, as does the clarinet, a large conical tube was needed. This could be made more easily of brass then wood, yet the mouthpiece must not be that of a brass instrument. Thanks to his thorough knowledge of instrument making, Sax also knew that on a large instrument, all proportions are bigger, hence easier to correlate and control. He therefore first built a bass saxophone. This was the instrument he showed to Berlioz in the spring of 1842, the instrument that was included in the first concert in which a saxophone participated in 1844. It was the one first to appear in the score of an opera in the same year. It was the one that was patented on March 20, 1846.
Although Sax had already planned the entire family at this time, the smaller members came later. By 1853 there was also an alto–how else could William H. Fry have used it in one of his symphonies? The composer used the tenor a year later in a short orchestra piece. And the lovely solo, given to the alto in Bizet’s L’Arlésienne (1872) is familiar to every saxophone enthusiast. From its first appearance in the Paris of the 1840s, the saxophone aroused the outspoken enthusiasm of every music lover. But it also aroused the malevolent opposition of the older instrument makers who smelled a dangerous, new competitor, as well as outright sabotage on the part of many musicians that sensed a change. However, enthusiasm for the new instrument prevailed over opposition and sabotage. The genius of Adolphe sax, as embodied in the saxophone, overcame them all. And Sax himself, even though at one time affected by an otherwise incurable form of cancer, outlived his detractors (who were all but forgotten at the time of his death in 1894), leaving us as beneficiaries of his dreams, his efforts, his perseverance.
SMR + 7: The complete Saxophone family, Shushan, NY. Photo by Grey Villet.
But let us once more go back to the Belgian capital of the year 1840. Sax was barely twenty-six years old. At six, he was able to drill a clarinet’s body properly, and to twirl the cap of a horn. At the age of fifteen, in 1830, he sent two flutes and a clarinet to the Brussels Industrial Exhibition made of ivory. They were considered extremely fine specimens. He was twenty when he succeeded in building the first truly usable bass clarinet. It was greatly admired and soon used in scores by many of that day’s great composers. He had also investigated the principle of the piston valve and applied it to the old bugle thus fashioning the family of saxhorns, of which we use at least two members in every band, but with the different names: the cornet and the baritone! There is hardly an instrument in our bands which he did not improve in one way or another. His ability to play these instruments undoubtedly greatly added the master instrument maker, because he himself could, during the experimental working process, immediately determine how practical the changed instrument was. His clear understanding of the fundamental laws determining the acoustical results of an instrument’s proportions enabled him to formulate them so exactly that they are as valid today as they were then.
The time then came to go a step further. No longer was it the improvement of an existing instrument, but the bold creation of an altogether new tone tool. I wrote above that it was the total disparity between strings, woodwinds and brasses that Sax wanted to overcome in a new instrument. It almost seems as though his earlier accomplishments were but preparatory steps towards this. From his own hand we have no description of his activities that brought us the saxophone. But we know from his friend Kastner that these must have taken place in Brussels before he came to Paris. How else could Kastner have written: “Sax had sent the saxophone to the Brussels exhibition in 1841. It lay wrapped up in green when somebody malevolently kicked the package, damaging the instruments so badly that it was impossible for sax to exhibit it.” Even for a patient man, this was too much. From then on Paris was to be his home. When he arrived there, he was almost twenty-eight and lived there another fifty-two years to the end of his days.
He opened a shop in Paris and went to work. Sax visited composers and invited them to come, here, and see his instruments. They would best be able to appreciate them. One of the first to come was Hector Berlioz, a man vividly interested in new possibilities. Had he not composed, only a few years after Beethoven’s death, a Symphony Fantastique and more recently a Symphonie funebre et triomphale for band?
In Sax’s workshop Berlioz listened to every instrument and asked many questions of the eager young inventor. Great must have been the latter’s joy when he saw a few days later (June 12, 1842) in the Journal des Debats, to which Berlioz was a regular contributor, and article about this visit. After some introductory sentences, Berlioz gives a short character sketch of Sax saying “he can this and act,” and gives a description of the new soprano and bass clarinet, followed by the “Birth certificate of the Saxophone”:
Le Saxophone, named after its inventor, is a brass instrument with nineteen keys, whose shape is rather similar to that of the ophicleide. Its mouthpiece, unlike that of most brass instruments, is similar to the mouthpiece of the bass clarinet. Thus the saxophone becomes the head of a new group–that of the brass instruments with reed. It has a range of three octaves beginning from the lower B-flat under the staff (bass clef); its fingering is akin to that of the flute or the second part of the clarinet. Its sound is of such rare quality that, to my knowledge, there is not a brass instrument in use nowadays that could be compared to the saxophone. It is full, soft, vibrating, extremely powerful, and easy to lower in intensity. As far as I am concerned, I find it very superior to the lower tones of the ophicleide, in accuracy as well as in the solidity of the sound. But the character of such a sound is absolutely new, and does not resemble any of the timbres heard until now in our orchestras, with the sole exception of the bass clarinet’s lower E and F. Owing to its reed, it can increase or diminish the intensity of its sounds. The tones of the higher compass vibrate so intensively, that they may be successfully applied to melodic expression. Naturally this instrument will never be suitable for rapid passages, for complicated arpeggios but the bass instruments are not destined to execute light evolutions. Instead of complaining, we must rejoice that it is impossible to misuse the saxophone and thus to destroy its majestic nature by forcing it to render mere musical futilities.
As I wrote above, it was the bass saxophone the inventor had made at that time. Notation for that instrument was given in bass clef a century ago, not in treble clef, as is common today. Berlioz’ description of the range must be understood with this in mind. Nor should it surprise us that its range is given as three octaves, because Sax was used to “overblowing” on clarinet and flute, and used this technique on the saxophone routinely. When he demonstrated the saxophone another time for a group of composers and musicians, he mentioned that it might be wise not to ask for tones above the key-range in orchestra parts. How well this advice was followed! It seems that no one during his lifetime studied the saxophone thoroughly enough to include the high register! It was altogether forgotten and considered for a time an error, even a freak. Today we know better: every serious student begins early to build the foundations for a wide range by plaing a few overtones daily on the completely closed instrument. That is: we finger low B♭ and play on this fingering (no octave key, please!) middle F, then also the B♭ above it, and the B♭ below it. To “hear” the tone before we play it, greatly enhances our effort. We might call this “pre-hearing.” By and by we can play more overtones and combine these exercises with others, until we climb dependably above the “old range.” In my Top Tones (1941) I have given many basic exercises, explanations and fingerings for all this and much more. Other publications on this issue have come out since.
Our instrument’s literature abounds in works for which the player needs the range beyond high F, here are only a few tones, there are more than an octave. Yet not every student who wants to become acquainted with some of these works has already mastered the high register. This need not be a reason to shun them all together, but he should have enough respect for the composer to play them only for study purposes, that is, not in a concert. Professional performances must wait until we can play what the composer demands, no matter what the occasion. Then we are also accorded the respect earned by artists on other instruments.
Our literature is rich in works of all categories. There are almost countless sonatas, concerti, suites, as well as all forms of smaller pieces. As yet, most of them are for alto, yet more and more are given to use by enthusiastic composers for tenor, soprano, even baritone and contrabass. There is a veritable goldmine of well-transcribed and published Baroque music for saxophone and piano. We also have a good beginning of a repertoire for saxophone quartet, a form of ensemble which has found many friends in the last few years. Most of these works are for SATB, yet there are also AATB quartets. Besides these, there are many excellent arrangements available, mostly smaller works for young players. Indeed a far cry from the Berlin of 1932, where it was not easy to find another three saxophone enthusiasts.