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Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe"Sax (French:[ɑ̃twanʒozɛfadɔlfsaks]; 6 November 1814 – 7 February 1894)[a] was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented thesaxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented thesaxotromba,saxhorn andsaxtuba, and redesigned thebass clarinet in a fashion still used in the 21st century.[1][2] He played the flute and clarinet.
Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on 6 November 1814 inDinant, in what is now Belgium, toCharles-Joseph Sax and 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.[6][unreliable source?] At the age of three,[6][unreliable source?] he drank a bowl full ofacidic water, mistaking it for milk, and also swallowed a pin.[7] He received serious burns from a gunpowder explosion[6][unreliable source?] and once fell onto a hot stove.[7] 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.[6][unreliable source?]
His mother once said that "he's a child condemned to misfortune; he won't live".[6][unreliable source?] He became known locally as "the ghost-child of Dinant".[7]
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 clarinet design, 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 Berlioz was 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 thesaxotromba family, 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 band movement, 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 fromsopranino tosubcontrabass, although not all were built. ComposerHector Berlioz wrote 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 likewoodwinds yet project loudly likebrass instruments led to their inclusion inmilitary bands in France and elsewhere.[15]
During theCrimean War (1853–1856), Sax made two more inventions, though neither was ever actually built: First, he designed the "Saxotonnerre", a massive,locomotive-poweredorgan which was supposed to be so loud as to be heard across all of Paris at once.[16] The second was developed in response to the Crimean War'sSiege of Sevastopol where theFrench military and its allies were locked in a destructive conflict. As a potential solution to such lengthy sieges, Sax thus designed the "Saxocannon", agiant cannon whose half-tonround shots would be powerful enough to completely destroy an "average-sized city".[17]
Sax's reputation eventually helped secure him a job teaching at theParis Conservatory in 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.[6]
Sax suffered from lip cancer between 1853 and 1858 but made a full recovery. In 1894 he died of pneumonia in Paris, in poverty,[18] and was interred in section 5 (Avenue de Montebello) at theCimetière de Montmartre in Paris.
Williams, Gavin (2019). "Introduction: Sound Unmade". In Williams, Gavin (ed.).Hearing the Crimean War: Wartime Sound and the Unmaking of Sense. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xv–1.ISBN978-0190916756.
