Saxophone 1/7

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The saxophone, saxophone, or, simply, sax, is a simple reed aerophone musical instrument. The saxophone is included in the family of woods and not brass because, although the body of the instrument is normally made of metal (often just brass), it has among its ancestors the flute and the clarinet from which it inherited the structure (its inventor created it starting from the shape of the bass clarinet) but not the material. The emission of sound is caused by the vibration of a reed, obtained from a common reed (Arundo donax). The length of the vibrating air column (and therefore the height of the sound produced) is modified through holes in the body of the instrument (controlled by keys). It was invented by Adolphe Sax (from whom it took its name) in 1840 and patented on 22 June 1846. It has had a great and fast expansion in many genres of music thanks to its qualities of expressiveness and ductility.

In general, the sax family is present in almost all modern musical genres (even if it is less represented in rock and roll and electronic music in general): even the trend towards synthetic and sampled music has only affected its popularity. Because of his recent invention, in classical music the saxophone is a bit penalized by the limited literature, but it is still present, even with important roles, in symphonic orchestras (remember the solo for alto sax in "The old castle" from the Pictures of an Exhibition of Mussorgskij orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922). There is also a growing body of original chamber music for saxophones (often in quartets) and transcriptions. Equipped with a powerful voice and great projection of sound, the saxophone has a wide band use (for example it is widely used in U.S. military bands): for this reason it was almost immediately present in early jazz formations, a musical genre of which has become the international symbol.

History of the saxophone

The Belgian Antoine Joseph Sax, known as Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), tried all his life to improve wind instruments: he invented devices to improve their intonation, sound and ease of execution, filing 33 patents.

After concentrating on various aerophones and, above all, on clarinets, Sax built an instrument that joined the simple reed mouth of the clarinet and the body of the ophicleid, an instrument of the family of conical brasses and equipped with a system of keys similar to the clarinet, the oboe and the transverse flute. This "hybrid", while belonging to the family of woods and having the technical flexibility, allows a large volume of sound, comparable to that of brass. The saxophone made its first public appearance in 1841 at the Exposition de l'Industrie in Brussels in the form of a brass C bass.

In 1844, the saxophone was also presented at the Industrial Exhibition in Paris. On February 3 of the same year the composer Hector Berlioz, a great friend of Sax, conducted in concert his choral Sacred Song (Hymne Sacrée), transcribed by the author for all the new instruments produced by Adolphe Sax, including the saxophone. The original score of this piece has been lost but has been reconstructed and rearranged for saxophone ensemble by Jean-Marie Londeix. In December, the saxophone debuted at the orchestra of the Paris Conservatory in Georges Kastner's opera "Le Dernier Roi de Juda".

Berlioz praised the instrument several times, from a famous article in June 1842 to the flattering chapter dedicated to the saxophone in the famous "Treatise on Instrumentation", as did Gioachino Rossini who, already during his stay in Paris in 1844, declared, taking as a witness his publisher Troupenas: "with the saxophone, it is the most beautiful pasta sonora that I know". Gaspare Spontini too, after visiting Sax's workshop, declared in an extremely flattering way: "After the repeated invitations of Mr. Sax, manufacturer and inventor of numerous wind instruments, I went to his factory to meet them and listen to them. There, I had to do justice in a striking way in the presence of many different artists, and address compliments and acknowledge the best merits to the engineer, manufacturer and inventor Mr. Sax, whose flugelhorn cylinders (Saxhorn), bass clarinets and soprano, as well as saxophones above all, seemed to me to produce excellent and captivating effects ...".

On March 21, 1846, Sax filed his patent for "a family of twenty-key instruments called Saxophones" which included eight instruments. The reorganization of regimental music and the adoption, in 1845, of Sax instruments (saxophones, saxhorns, saxtrombe and saxtubes) by the bands of the French army, put Sax in the position of having the monopoly for the supply of his instruments. To promote this outcome, he had organized a public "clash" between two bands, on April 22, 1845 at the Champ de Mars, which was attended by 20,000 spectators and a qualified jury. The 45 elements playing traditional instruments were outclassed by the 38 elements equipped with instruments invented or perfected by Sax.

His patent expired in 1866 and the Millerau company had the Saxophone-Millereau patented, with a forked key for fa?. In 1881, Sax extended his original patent, lengthening the bell to house the hole of the low si? and adding a spokesman to play the fa? and the high sol.

Between 1886 and 1887, the Association Des Ouvriers invented the trill key for the right hand, the half-hole system for the first fingers of the hand, the tuning adjustment ring and the double key, and perfected the mechanism whereby the key for the sol sharp could be held down together with any finger in the right hand, and made other improvements to Fa? forked and si? grave. In 1888, Lecomte invented the simple octave key and roller systems for the Double Bass model at mi?.

Sax was the first saxophone teacher at the Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris, from 1857 until the Franco-Prussian War closed in 1870. In Italy, the Conservatory of Bologna adopted the instruments of Sax on the advice of Gioachino Rossini in 1844 and already in 1884 in the organic plan of the Corpo di Musica Municipale of Milan (today's Civica Orchestra di fiati of the City of Milan) there are a soprano saxophone, a contralto and a tenor.

After alternate and stormy events, the industrious and brilliant Adolphe Sax died in misery in Paris in 1894.