History of the Saxophone
The saxophone was invented by, Adolphe Sax who was born on 6th November 1814 in Dinant, in Brussels. He came from a musical background, where his father was a maker of musical instruments. Adolphe himself was influenced by his father’s great passion for making musical instruments. Adolphe attended Brussel’s Conservatory, where he studied the clarinet and flute. He was just twenty years old when he constructed his first saxophone. He used a mouthpiece with a single-reed and a conical shaped brass tube for the basis of the body. In 1841, Adolphe Sax first revealed his creation a (C bass saxophone), to the composer Hector Berlioz. Hector Berlioz had been quite impressed by the unique tone and versatility of Adolphe’s instrument. A year later on 12 June 1842, Berlioz published an article in the “Journal des Debats” a Paris publication, giving a description of the saxophone. Adolphe had received rights to a patent for his invention in March 1846 and went on to create saxophones with of 14 varieties. Ranging from the E flat alto to the F contrabass. The most common references, which most are more familiar with are, the tenor saxophone, the alto, the soprano and the baritone saxophone and the bass. Out of the 14 variations, these are the only five that remain in use today.
The alto saxophone is a reduced version of the tenor saxophone whereas the soprano is similar in looks to a clarinet but much higher in pitch. The baritone of course, being one of the larger and lower pitched, of the five instruments with the soprano, being the lightest and highest in pitch. In 1847 a school for the saxophone was set up at “Gymnase Musical” a French military band school.
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