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"Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848" |
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NMM 5768. Alto saxophone by Adolphe Sax, Paris, 1860. The saxophone, based in part on the design of ophicleides, with a brass body and tone-holes with soldered tone-hole rims that can be closed with padded keys, but played with a wood mouthpiece and reed, rather than a cupped mouthpiece, was invented by Adolphe Sax, from whom the instrument received its name, about 1840 and patented in 1846. Sax was in Paris in 1841, where Berlioz learned about the instrument, leading to the publication of an article that he wrote about the ophicleide for the March 13, 1842, edition of Revue et gazette musicale, in which he tells of Sax replacing the ophicleide mouthpiece with that of a clarinet, noting that "the ophicléide à bec" (i.e., with a beak) "will most likely come into general use in a few year's time." Three months later, Berlioz again wrote about the saxophone, this time referring to it by name. The 1846 patent was for an entire family of saxophones; perhaps it was in that spirit that he also built an entire family of ophicleides about this time. The NMM has ten saxophones built by Sax, including one of only three bass saxes that are currently known, the other two being one in a private collection and the other at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The one shown here is one of two altos; the earlier one, built in 1857, is part of a quintet of early Sax saxophones on permanent exhibit in the Cutler Gallery. Ex colls.: Hewitt A. Waggener, Los Angeles; Cecil Leeson, Muncie, Indiana. Transfer from Ball State University, 1994. |
NMM 5768. Alto saxophone in E-flat by Adolphe Sax, Paris, 1860. Serial number 20139. Engraved, vertically, on right side of bell: (script) No 20139 / Saxophone alto en mi b breveté / Adolphe Sax à Paris / Fteur de la Mson Milre de l’Empereur / [sideways AS monogram]. Brass. Later, clear lacquer. Fingered range: low B-natural to high F. Dual octave keys. No touchpieces or rollers on E-flat, low C, G-sharp, low C-sharp, or low B keys. Neck lengthened to place saxophone in low pitch. Length: 606 mm. Bell diameter: 139 mm. Ex colls.: Hewitt A. Waggener, Los Angeles; Cecil B. Leeson, Muncie, Indiana. Transfer from Ball State University, 1994.
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Literature: "Four Original Adolph Sax Instruments Given to BSU," The Muncie Star (March 17, 1974).
Malou Haine and Ignace de Keyser, Catalogue des Instruments Sax au Musée Instrumental de Bruxelles (Brussels: Musée Instrumental, 1980), p. 240.
Phillip T. Young, 4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments (London: Tony Bingham, 1993), p. 203.
Mark Hulsebos, "Cecil Leeson Legacy is Preserved in Collections and Displays," The Saxophone Symposium 7, No. 4 (Fall 1982), pp. 16, 18-19.
Mark Hulsebos, "Cecil Leeson Legacy is Preserved in Collections and Displays," Indiana Musicator 38, No. 4 (May 1983), cover, pp. 10-11.
Robert S. Howe, "The Invention and Early Development of the Saxophone, 1840-1855," Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 29 (2003), p. 173.
André P. Larson, Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848, with essay by John Koster, exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003 (Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003), p. 61.
"Instrumental Innovations," Wall Street Journal (December 7, 2007), p. W4.
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