The winds of change
A brief history of the saxophone The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian luthier and musician. He spent his childhood experimenting in the workshop of his father’s musical instrument shop, before studying the flute and clarinet at the Brussels Conservatory. Examining the balance between brass and woodwind in musical arrangement, he identified a range that no instrument covered.
Although it wasn’t patented until 1846, the early saxophone sprung to prominence in the 1840s. When Berlioz was shown the new instrument, he showered Sax in praise, featuring it prominently in his Chant sacré. Sax publicised his creation at the 1844
Paris Industrial Exhibition, and the following year French military bands replaced their horns and bassoons with E flat and B flat saxes. Once the original patent expired in 1866, other instrument makers began to alter and advance the design. The main alteration was simplifying the key work, as Sax’s was seen as too awkward.
At Sax’s death in 1894, his son took the reins of a renewed patent and saw the pre-war rumble of saxophone interest precede huge popularity during the 1920s jazz age. After the Henri Selmer Company purchased Sax’s factory, the 1930s ‘cigar cutter’ model emerged, with the bent-in-the-middle shape familiar in alto saxophones today. Throughout the century experimentation continued to improve intonation, streamline fingering and increase range.