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Adolphe Sax

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Adolphe Sax
Adolphe Sax
Sax in the 1850s
Born
Antoine-Joseph Sax

(1814-11-06)6 November 1814
Dinant,Provisional Government of Belgium(present-dayBelgium)
Died7 February 1894(1894-02-07)(aged 79)
Paris, France
Burial placeMontmartre Cemetery(Cimetière de Montmartre), Paris, France[citation needed]
48°53′16″N2°19′49″E/ 48.88778°N 2.33028°E/48.88778; 2.33028
Occupation(s)Inventor, musician, musical instrument designer
Known forInventor of the saxophone
Saxophone produced by Sax

Antoine-Joseph"Adolphe"Sax(French:[ɑ̃twanʒozɛfadɔlfsaks];6 November 1814 – 7 February 1894)[a]was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented thesaxophonein the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented thesaxotromba,saxhornandsaxtuba,and redesigned thebass clarinetin a fashion still used to the present day.[1][2]He played the flute and clarinet.

Early life

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Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on 6 November 1814 inDinant,in what is now Belgium, toCharles-Joseph Saxand his wife Marie-Joseph (Masson).[3]While his given name was Antoine-Joseph, he was referred to as Adolphe from childhood.[4][5]His father and mother were instrument designers themselves, who made several changes to the design of theFrench horn.Adolphe began to make his own instruments at an early age, entering two of his flutes and a clarinet into a competition at the age of 15. He subsequently studied performance on those two instruments as well as voice at theRoyal Conservatory of Brussels.[4][5]

Sax faced many brushes with death. As a child, he once fell from a height of three floors, hit his head on a stone and was believed dead. At the age of three, he drank a bowl full ofacidicwater, mistaking it for milk,[6]and later swallowed a pin. He received serious burns from a gunpowder explosion and once fell onto a hot cast-iron frying pan, burning his side. Several times he avoided accidental poisoning and asphyxiation from sleeping in a room where varnished furniture was drying. Another time young Sax was struck on the head by a cobblestone and fell into a river, almost dying.[7]

His mother once said that "he's a child condemned to misfortune; he won't live". His neighbors called him "little Sax, the ghost".[7]

Career and later life

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After leaving the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Sax began to experiment with new instrument designs, while his parents continued their business of making conventional instruments. Sax's first important invention was an improvement inbass clarinetdesign, which he patented at the age of 24.[8]He relocated permanently to Paris in 1842 and began working on a new set of valvedbugles.While he did not invent this instrument, his examples were much more successful than those of his rivals and became known assaxhorns.Hector Berliozwas so enamoured of these that he arranged in February 1844 for one of his pieces to be played entirely on saxhorns.[9]They were made in seven different sizes and paved the way for the creation of theflugelhorn.Today saxhorns are sometimes used inconcert bands,marching bands, and orchestras. The saxhorn also laid the groundwork for the moderneuphonium.[10]

Sax also developed thesaxotrombafamily, valved brass instruments with narrower bore than the saxhorns, in 1845, though they survived only briefly.[4]

The use of saxhorns spread rapidly. The saxhorn valves were accepted as state-of-the-art in their time and remain largely unchanged today. The advances made by Adolphe Sax were soon followed by theBritish brass bandmovement, which exclusively adopted the saxhorn family of instruments.[11]A decade after saxhorns became available, the Jedforest Instrumental Band (1854)[12]and The Hawick Saxhorn Band (1855)[13]were formed in theScottish Borders.

The period around 1840 saw Sax inventing theclarinette-bourdon,an early unsuccessful design ofcontrabass clarinet.On 28 June 1846 he patented the saxophone, intended for use in orchestras and military bands.[14]By 1846 Sax had designed saxophones ranging fromsopraninotosubcontrabass,although not all were built. ComposerHector Berliozwrote approvingly of the new instrument in 1842, but despite his support, saxophones did not become a standard part of the orchestra. Their ability to play technical passages easily likewoodwindsyet project loudly likebrass instrumentsled to their inclusion inmilitary bandsin France and elsewhere. Sax's reputation helped secure him a job teaching at theParis Conservatoryin 1857.[15]

He continued to make instruments later in life and presided over the new saxophone course at the Paris Conservatory. Legal troubles involving patents continued for over 20 years, with rival instrument makers attacking the legitimacy of his patents and Sax suing them for patent infringement. He was driven into bankruptcy three times: in 1852, 1873 and 1877.[7]

Sax suffered from lip cancer between 1853 and 1858 but made a full recovery. In 1894 he died of pneumonia in Paris, in poverty,[16]and was interred in section 5 (Avenue de Montebello) at theCimetière de Montmartrein Paris.

Honors and awards

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In his birthplaceDinantin Belgium theMr Sax's Houseis dedicated to his life and saxophones.

Notes

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  1. ^Many sources give alternative dates for Sax's death, mainly 3 and 7 February. A sign at Sax's grave in Montmartre says 7 February, for example. However, 4 February appears inBaker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians(8th ed.,Nicolas Slonimsky); and in both the first and second editions of theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

References

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  1. ^Rice, Albert R. (2016)."The bass clarinets of Adolphe Sax: his influence and legacy".Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap.70:91–105.ISSN0771-6788.JSTOR26623035.
  2. ^von Steiger, Adrian (2016)."Sax figures: can we deduce details of Adolphe Sax's instrument production from the sources?".Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap.70:129–148.ISSN0771-6788.JSTOR26623037.
  3. ^Fit for a King: An Ivory Clarinet by Charles Joseph Sax.
  4. ^abcHubbard, W. L. (1910).The American History and Encyclopedia of Music.Toledo, Ohio: Squire Cooley. p. 454.ISBN1-4179-0200-0.
  5. ^abRichard Ingham (1998).The Cambridge companion to the saxophone.Cambridge Companions to Music.Cambridge University Press. pp.1–2.ISBN978-0-521-59666-4.
  6. ^Kochnitzky, L. (1949).Adolphe Sax and his Saxophone.Рипол Классик.ISBN978-5-87233-344-9.
  7. ^abcRémy, Albert. "Adolphe Sax".Ville de Dinantwebsite. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  8. ^Cottrell 2013,pp. 12–13.
  9. ^Cottrell 2013,p. 18.
  10. ^Boyd, Clark (3 December 2013)."Meet the 'dangerous Belgian' who invented the sax".The World.Public Radio International.Retrieved3 February2018.
  11. ^T. Herbert,The British Brass Band: a Musical and Social History(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 4–5.
  12. ^"Band Time Line".
  13. ^"Hawick Saxhorn Band - Welcome to Hawick Saxhorn Band; our band was formed in 1855 and we are based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders. We are part of a tradition of music making dating back to 1809 wh - History".
  14. ^Hart, Hugh (28 June 2010)."June 28, 1846: Parisian Inventor Patents Saxophone".Wired.Retrieved15 April2021.
  15. ^Fred L. Hemke,The Early History of the Saxophone,(DMAdissertation),University of Wisconsin,1975, 249–250.OCLC19033726 (all editions),OCLC65652818 (all editions).
  16. ^"Adolphe Sax Obituary".New-York Tribune.10 February 1894. p. 12.Retrieved6 November2015– viaNewspapers.com.Open access icon
  17. ^abCottrell 2013,p. 33.
  18. ^"200 Belgian Francs banknote 1995 Adolphe Sax".
  19. ^"Adolphe Sax's 201st Birthday".

Bibliography

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