key), others
on simple or articulated levers (see Keywork). (Fr. saxophone; Ger. Saxophon; It. sassofone).
A single-reed wind instrument invented by the Belgian-born maker Adolphe Sax (see Sax family) in about 1840, and granted a 15-year patent in 1846. Sax originally intended the instrument for use in orchestras and military bands. The saxophone combines a single-reed mouthpiece with a wide-bore conical tube of metal. Acoustically, it behaves as do other cone-bodied reed instruments, ‘overblowing’ at the octave to yield a second register (see Acoustics, §IV, 6).
In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification the saxophone is classed as a clarinet.
1. Construction and manufacture.
CLAUS RAUMBERGER, KARL VENTZKE
The
saxophone has a conical body providing a resonating air column, widening out in
the ratio of about 1:5·5, expanding at the open end into a small flare (bell).
In the 19th century and sometimes the 20th the tube was often parabolic in
shape, but nearly all saxophones are now made with a straight cone. The
instrument has 22 to 24 relatively large note-holes (each being between 40% and
60% of the respective diameter of the bore). In addition, there are two smaller
holes for overblowing, the one closer to the mouthpiece coming into operation
from a''. All the holes are controlled by keys. Sax met the requirements
of a key-mechanism that would be as simple as possible but would function
reliably in any fingering combination by amalgamating elements of the Boehm
system with the simple systems of the clarinet and oboe. Some of the keypads
are fingered directly on soldered fingerplates (the main fingering and the
short B key), others
on simple or articulated levers (see Keywork).
As the larger saxophones are of some considerable length they have from the beginning been made more manageable by introducing a U-bend, usually in the region of the third lowest hole and tilting the bell slightly forward, while the section above the main note-holes is made as a detachable crook (neck) gently curved through nearly a right angle. From the baritone size downwards, further shortening is secured by double folding at the upper end. The neck comes into direct contact with the blowing mechanism, and, as the first section of the air column, influences the tonal parameters. Because of this, many manufacturers offer necks of different measurements or materials. The soprano and sopranino saxophones are made in both straight and curved versions. Soprano saxophones have increasingly been sold with interchangeable straight and curved necks. One German manufacturer, Julius Keilwerth, and one American, L. A. Sax, make straight alto and tenor saxophones.
The sound-producing element on a saxophone is a single beating Reed which operates on the same principal as that of the clarinet (see Clarinet). The mouthpiece may be made of ebonite, wood, metal, plastic or glass. Metals used include brass, bronze, copper, high-grade steel, silver and sometimes aluminium; wood and glass are less common. The operational criteria of the mouthpiece are the dimensions of the inlet and the internal shaping of the mouthpiece as well as its material. Medium-sized inlets are generally used and are suitable for most styles of saxophone music, but for special purposes – and depending on the force exerted – they may be narrower or wider. Sax designed a mouthpiece with a long, relatively narrow inlet, and excavated to form a chamber. Such mouthpieces, in conjunction with the parabolic tubes of early saxophones, produce a soft, warm and tender tone of fine timbre that combines well with other sounds. Large ensembles, however, require that the tone of the saxophone be emphasized more; this can be achieved by narrowing the mouthpiece chamber and by changing its interior design. Traditionally, saxophone mouthpieces are made to slide over the end of the mouthpipe, which is lapped with thin cork sheet to make an airtight joint; this allows a small amount of in-and-out movement which serves for fine tuning. Mouthpieces and instruments of different periods are not always compatible. Saxophone reeds are usually made of natural fibres such as arundo donax (see Reed) although plastic reeds are also available. The strength of the reed influences the tonal colour, technical characteristics and dynamic area of the saxophone. The reed is secured to the mouthpiece with a metal ligature (although new designs of ligatures made of other materials have also been made available).
Saxophones are complex musical tools consisting of over three hundred separate parts, most of which have to be assembled by hand. Adolphe Sax used brass for his saxophones, and the majority of modern instruments are still made of this alloy. Some firms make sections of the body, or all of it, of copper, bronze or precious metals such as silver. Besides making professional instruments, some manufacturers also offer semi-professional saxophones and models for learners. In the last few years the variety of surface finishing has become much greater.
The parts of the tube (the neck, the main tube, the U-bend and the flare) are cut out of sheet metal from patterns and worked into form or bent, hammered and soldered over a mandrel. The flare is shaped in a spinning lathe or a hydraulic device. Rubbing with a lead ring over a mandrel gives the main tube its final conical shape. The note-holes are stamped out and planed or seamed. After the preparation and assembling of the small struts and supports the keywork is fitted and again subjected to surface treatment. The final assembling and checking process is then carried out, and both the mechanical and the acoustic functions of the instrument are tested. Last of all the state of the surface is closely inspected.
Since the mid-20th century saxophones have been manufactured in all parts of the world; there are firms in Brazil (Weril), Japan (Yamaha; Yanagisawa), China and Taiwan, as well as Europe and the USA.
Saxophones
were conceived as a family of instruments, although the terms used to
distinguish between the different sizes did not develop until later. Military
band instruments were pitched in E and B, orchestral ones in F and C. The latter kind are no
longer made. Each group comprised the seven sizes of sopranino, soprano, alto,
tenor, baritone, bass and contrabass. With the exception of the soprano
instrument in C, all saxophones are transposing instruments. The standard
(written) compass today is b–f''' or f
'''. In Sax's original design the compass
was b–f'''. Baritone saxophones for professional performance
usually have a lengthened tube with a low A key. Some saxophones also have a g'''
key. (Sounding compasses of the saxophone family are shown in Table
1.) At the request of musicians, saxophones with an extended compass
have sometimes been made, e.g. tenor instruments with a range of three octaves
and alto saxophones with a four-octave range. For example, the saxophonist
André Beun used a hole bored in the mouthpiece (with a special key to close it)
as a third hole for overblowing, and thus, while retaining the normal
fingering, he was able to play his instrument a 6th higher. Special flageolet
fingering can extend the range of traditional saxophones by about one to one
and a half octaves upwards. The intonation and colour of the highest register
clearly depend on the type of construction, the combination of mouthpiece and
reed, and the performer's skill. Alto and tenor saxophones are by far the most
frequently played sizes, followed by the soprano and baritone instruments. The
sopranino, bass and contrabass saxophones are not played very often. At the end
of the 20th century the contrabass (in E) was made only by the Italian firm of Orsi.
Saxophones
are held by a neck strap, although sopranino and soprano instruments can be
played without this aid, like a clarinet. Because of their great weight,
baritone and bass saxophones can be mounted on a frame with rollers enabling
them to be moved into any comfortable position for performance. In line with
the usual practice of European wind instruments, the left hand is placed above
the right, closer to the mouthpiece. The right thumb has no key to manipulate
but is used to support the instrument. The left thumb rests on a plate and
operates the octave mechanism. The closing of the main keys 1 to 3 by the left
hand and 1 to 3 by the right hand (‘six-finger fingering’) produces (written) d'.
The note-holes and keys are arranged so that when the fingers are continually
taken away an ascending melodic D minor scale (without the closing tone) is
produced. The same fingering produces d'' to c''' with the addition of the octave
keys. There are four more note-holes, operated by the little fingers, to extend
the range down to b. Since the saxophone produces d'''–f'''
(also f''' and
g''') not by second-stage overblowing with partial use of the basic
fingering, but by further shortening of the resonator tube in first-stage
overblowing mode, there are four to six note-holes for this purpose in the
upper part of the body.
The
saxophone is blown in much the same way as the clarinet, but the mouthpieces of
the two instruments differ, and saxophone reeds are rather broader. (In
principle, a soprano saxophone reed will vibrate at the same register of a B clarinet, and vice versa,
but whereas the soprano saxophone reed measures about 14 × 32 mm, that of the
French clarinet is about 13 × 31 mm). The blowing resistance of the saxophone
is rather less than that of the clarinet, with a slightly greater through-put
of air at the same time. Hardly any other wind instrument can produce such
different timbres, ranging from the silky, tender tone of classical saxophone
playing to the full sound of mainstream jazz and the aggressive sound of the
rock and fusion musicians. The determining factors are the saxophonist's own
style and the kind of mouthpiece and reed fitted, rather than the type of
saxophone used.
The nine Belgian patents taken out between 1838 and 1842 by Charles-Joseph and Adolphe Sax in Brussels, for improvements to various different kinds of wind instruments, are indicative of the atmosphere of innovation in which the saxophone was invented about 1840. Having assisted in his father's workshop and trained as a musician, Adolphe Sax was very familiar with problems in the manufacturing and use of the wind instruments hitherto available. His attempts to eradicate displeasing tonal differences and disproportions between brass and woodwind instruments by finding a new timbre led to the trial of various combinations, particularly in bass ophicleides. It is therefore not surprising that the prototype of a new bass wind instrument ‘invented’ by Adolphe Sax, according to J.-G. Kastner as the result of sudden inspiration, should have been a combination, modification and extension of elements familiar from the construction of brass and woodwind instruments: a metal body resembling that of the bass ophicleide with an extended keywork mechanism, combined with a modified mouthpiece like that of the bass clarinet. Sax first described the new instrument as a ‘new ophicleide’ or ‘ophicleide à bec’, and wrote that it was ‘intended to replace the ophicleide’. The instrument was introduced for the first time as a ‘saxophone basse en cuivre’ at the second Brussels Industrial Exhibition of August 1841; the term saxophone has been in general use since Berlioz described it by that name in June 1842.
Sax then set about the development of a saxophone family from the original bass model. By the time the bass saxophone was first officially performed in public, in the première of Kastner's biblical opera Le dernier roi de Juda (1 Dec 1844), there were already several other sizes of the instrument. However, it was not until 21 March 1846 that Sax applied for a French patent for ‘a new system of wind instruments, called the saxophone’. His claim comprised the following new features: a metal body in the form of a parabolic cone; a mouthpiece with a single reed and a much enlarged interior; a range of instruments in eight sizes; and a series of keys derived from those of the flute and clarinet, with two octave keys. After some changes to the sizes and their descriptions, the series of gradations used to describe the family was established in 1850 as follows: sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass. The compass during this pioneering period of development was between two and a half and three octaves.
As a musician, Adolphe Sax was also the first to promote his new instrument. He introduced it in 1841 in Brussels and 1842 in Paris, played it in public on various occasions in 1844, and in 1845 organized (and won) a public competition between his ‘systems’ and traditional brass band instruments. From 1846 to 1848 saxophones were used for teaching purposes at the Gymnase Musical Militaire in Paris. In 1853 Sax founded an ensemble of his own with five saxophones. In 1854 he had the instrument reintroduced into French military bands, and he himself taught a saxophone class for military bandsmen at the Paris Conservatoire from 1857 to 1870. From 1858, as a publisher, he encouraged the composition and distribution of works for his range of saxophones. His invention won him the highest awards at all the Paris Expositions until 1867.
Many French composers and music critics appreciated the musical opportunities offered by a new instrument, and at this early period they were enthusiastic in describing their impressions of the sound of the saxophone; the instrument was praised for its tonal compass and the quality and boundless variety of possible nuances. It was said that the saxophone's wealth of sound (full, soft, sonorous, powerful) placed it beyond comparison with other musical instruments then in use. According to Kastner (Manuel général de musique militaire, 234–5), Adolphe Sax had created
an instrument with an entirely new sound – powerful, far-reaching, expressive and beautiful. With its unique tonal quality, it offers the best imaginable link between the very high voices of the orchestra and the very weak ones or those with a very uneven timbre … Uniting strength and charm, it does not drown out the one kind and cannot be drowned out by the other – it is a perfect instrument.
Berlioz emphasized the grand, almost priestly sound of the lower register, and said that the saxophone was ‘the finest voice we have’ for works of a solemn nature.
After a five-year extension of the period during which it was protected by patent, the saxophone became free for general development in 1866. From that time on, other French manufacturers were permitted to make saxophones, and they developed and patented their own models. Two fundamental changes to the basic model and its component parts were the adoption of the combination of keys and the fingering of Boehm clarinets in the left hand by Goumas (1875), and the introduction of automatically selected octave keys, and rollers on the little-finger keys, by Lecomte (1888). Major makers of the saxophone (besides Sax) during the first 100 years of its existence included the French firms Millereau/Schoenaers (1866–1928), Gautrot/Couesnon & Cie (1868–1980), Buffet-Crampon/Goumas/Evette & Schaeffer (from 1868), Dolnet (1880–1984), Pierret (1906–73), Selmer (from 1921), and Leblanc (from 1920); in the USA, Conn (from 1888), Buescher (1894–1963), and King (1916–66); the German firms Adler (1902–52), and G.H. Hüller (1921–53); and the Czech maker Kohlert (1900–45).
The saxophone began to be taught at music colleges and conservatories, such as Paris (1857–70, but not again until 1942), Brussels (from 1867), Lille (from 1879), Berlin (Stern Conservatory from 1902; Musikhochschule from 1931), and Trinity College of Music, London (from 1931). At first the instrument was taught by clarinettists, with the aid of gramophone records, or was very often self-taught from printed tutors, which were thus of great significance for the acceptance and distribution of the saxophone. Most 19th-century saxophone tutors were published in Paris; these include works by Kastner (1846), Victor Cornette (c1854), L.-A. Mayeur (1868, 1879 and 1896) and H.E. Klosé (1877–81). The spread of the saxophone to other countries (Germany, Britain, the USA) is reflected in the range of tutors that appeared in the early 20th century, including works by: Victor Thiels (Paris, 1903 and Leipzig, 1929); John Fitzgerald (London, 1904); N. Fedorow (Leipzig, 1907 and 1926); Benjamin Vereecken (New York, 1917); Kathryn E. Thompson (Los Angeles, 1922); Gustav Bumcke (Hamburg, 1926); Rudy Wiedöft (New York, 1927); Ruby Ernst (New York, 1928); Ben Davis (London, 1932); Jimmy Dorsey (New York, 1934); and Erich Rochow (Berlin, 1941). Many of these writers were also noted performers (L.-A. Mayeur, Victor Thiels, Gustav Bumcke, Rudy Wiedöft and Jimmy Dorsey). Rudy Wiedöft (1893–1940) is referred to by some as the father of saxophone playing in the USA and considered to be one of the most revered saxophonists ever to take up the instrument. Other outstanding soloists to emerge during the 19th century and first half of the 20th include the Europeans Henri Wuille (1822–71), William Wooton (1832–1912), Marcel Mule (b 1901), Sigurd Rascher (b 1907), Michael Krein (1908–66), and Ingrid Larssen (b 1913), and the Americans Edouard A. Lefèbre (1834–1911), Elisa Hall (1853–1924), Jascha Gurewich (1896–1938), Sidney Bechet (1897–1957), Bennie Krüger (1899–1967) and Cecil B. Leeson (b 1902).
Some 150 compositions for saxophone are known to have been written by 1930; after that date the achievements of Mule, Rascher and Leeson caused the number of compositions for and with saxophone to rise considerably. However, the saxophone has remained something of a minority instrument in the orchestra. Following the example of Adolphe Sax's own promotion of his instrument, the formation of saxophone quartets (Mule, 1928; Bumcke, 1931) encouraged the composition of new chamber music works for quartets or similar ensembles, by Glazunov in 1932, Pierné in 1934, Rivier in 1938 and Bozza in 1939. Orchestral works and operas which incorporate saxophones in the score include: Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet, 1868; Bizet, L'Arlésienne, 1872; Massenet, Hérodiade, 1881, and Werther, 1892; Strauss, Symphonia domestica, 1902–3; Milhaud, La Création du monde, 1923; Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, 1924; and Ravel, Bolero, 1928. Solo concert pieces for saxophone have been composed by Gilson, 1902; Florent Schmitt, 1918; Debussy, 1904/1919; Borck, 1932; Hindemith, 1933; Ibert, 1934; Glazunov, 1936; and Frank Martin, 1938. By 1994, Londeix and Ronkin could list, among other pieces, some 250 solo concertos with orchestra, 2100 works for saxophone and piano, and 300 original compositions for saxophone quartet.
Saxophones were also employed in military bands from the time of their invention. French bands initially had two saxophones as standard (1845–8); this number rose to eight after 1854, but dropped back to four in 1894. Different countries employed varying numbers of saxophones; in the European military band competition at the Paris Exposition of 1867 the Parisian Garde performed with eight, the Garde Impériale with six, the Imperial Russian Band with eight, and the Dutch and Belgian bands with four saxophones each. In Italian military bands three saxophones were introduced in 1901; statistics for 1884 mention eight saxophones in Spanish bands and as many as ten in Japanese bands. Saxophones did not become standard in German and Austrian military bands until 1935, when they were first introduced into the Luftwaffe wind band. Around the turn of the century saxophone quartets also played with regimental bands in the garrison towns of Karlsruhe (1896), Diedenhofen (1896), Potsdam (1898) and Berlin (1905); there was a saxophone sextet in Chemnitz, and other military bands had one or two saxophones. In the USA, the success of the Paris military band with its six saxophones at the peace celebrations in Boston in 1872 inspired P.S. Gilmore, bandmaster of a New York military band, to include saxophones in his own ensemble in 1873, with E.A. Lefèbre as soloist. Sousa added three saxophones to his band in 1892. In general, however, American military bands had only alto and baritone saxophones around the turn of the century, adding a tenor instrument in 1911 and a bass in 1920.
Military and touring bands, circus and music hall performances all contributed to the dissemination of the saxophone before the First World War, and its popularity grew so much in the USA after 1918 that there was said to be ‘a veritable epidemic of saxophone mania’. Saxophones were recommended as the ideal musical instrument for old and young, home and church, beginners and advanced performers, and they were produced to a high standard of quality and sold in large quantities. Unusually talented soloists such as Wiedöft and Krüger encouraged this trend with their popular gramophone records in the 1920s, and saxophone bands with up to 100 players existed. Saxophones became increasingly prominent in the field of jazz after about 1920. Their use became characteristic of Kansas City jazz, a style that developed around 1925 and produced such outstanding soloists as Lester Young (1909–54), Coleman Hawkins (1904–69) and, later, Charlie Parker (1920–55). When the Big Bands became popular in the swing era of the 1930s, saxophones were among their leading instruments. Performers who came to prominence in the 40s and 50s include Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderly (1928–75), John Coltrane (1926–67), Herb Geller (b 1928), Lee Konitz (b 1927), Emil Mangelsdorff (b 1925), Gerry Mulligan (1927–96), Bud Shank (b 1926) and Phil Woods (b 1931). Jazz and classical saxophonists of the next generation include Bill Evans (b 1958), Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Frederick Hemke, Bernd Konrad, Dave Liebman (b 1946), Jean-Marie Londeix, Branford Marsalis (b 1960), Leo van Oostrom, Paquito d'Rivera, Eugene Rousseau and Heiner Wiberny.
Since the 1960s the saxophone has become increasingly popular in both amateur and professional contexts, and has been increasingly used also in pop and rock music, one of its main assets being that it offers very individual expressive possibilities. Excellent teaching materials for both classical and jazz performance, and the constant improvement in the availability of tuition, are enabling more and more people of different ages to take up the saxophone. Conferences have been held by the World Saxophone Congress since 1969, and periodicals and journals are published. Artistic standards continue to rise, and technical improvements continue to be made. Younger players in particular are increasingly able to combine classical, jazz, rock and other styles into their music, and additional techniques such as the use of multiphonics and microtones continue to be explored. The Centre Européen de Saxophone opened in 1995 in Bordeaux, which aims to collect and store in its archives as many sources as possible relating to the instrument, with the emphasis on the position of the saxophone in classical and contemporary art music.
J.-G. Kastner: Manuel général de musique militaire (Paris, 1848/R)
H. Berlioz: ‘Le saxophone’, Journal des débats (13 April 1851)
O. Comettant: Histoire d'un inventeur … Adolphe Sax, ses ouvrages et ses luttes (Paris, 1860/R)
J. Kool: Das Saxophone (Leipzig, 1931/R); trans. L. Gwozdz (Baldock, Herts., 1987)
F.L. Hemke: The Early History of the Saxophone (DMA diss., U. of Wisconsin, 1975)
C.V. Gold: Saxophone Performance Practices and Teaching in the United States and Canada (Akron, OH, 1977)
W. Wilkins: The Index of Saxophone Music (Magnolia, AR, 1979)
M. Haine: Adolphe Sax (1814–1894): sa vie, son oeuvre et ses instruments de musique (Brussels, 1980)
M. Haine: ‘Les licences de fabrication accordées par Adolphe Sax à ses concurrents’, RBM, xxxiv-xxxv (1980–81), 198–203
W. McBride: ‘The Early Saxophone in Patents 1838–1850 Compared’, GSJ, xxxv (1982), 112–21
E. Rousseau: Marcel Mule: his Life and the Saxophone (Shell Lake, WI, 1982)
F. and Y. Billard: Histoires du saxophone (Paris, 1986)
H.R. Gee: Saxophone Soloists and their Music (Bloomington, IN, 1986)
B.E. Ronkin: The Music for Saxophone and Piano Published by Adolphe Sax (DMA diss., U. of Maryland, 1987)
P. Harvey: Bandroom Jottings (Baldock, 1989)
M. Helsebos: Cecil Leeson: the Pioneering of the Concert Saxophone in America from 1921 to 1941 (diss., Ball State U., 1989)
C. Jacques, ed.: Le saxophone, i (Paris, 1989)
V. Ivanov: Saksofon (Moscow, 1990)
J. Singer: ‘Die Wiederentdeckung der Werke von Charles Koechlin’, Oboe, Klarinette, Fagott, vi/2 (1991), 68–80
T.W. Smialek: Clay Smith and G.E. Holmes: their Role in the Development of Saxophone Performance and Pedagogy in the United States (DMA diss., U. of Georgia, 1991)
J.-M. Londeix and B. Ronkin, eds.: 150 Years of Music for Saxophone/150 ans de musique pour saxophone (Cherry Hill, NJ, 1994) [bibliographical index]
K. Ventzke, C. Raumberger and D. Hilkenbach: Die Saxophone: Beiträge zu ihrer Bau-Charakteristik, Funktion und Geschichte (Frankfurt, 1994)
K. Ventzke: ‘150 Jahre Saxophonpatent: Bemerkungen zur Frühgeschichte der Saxophone’, Tibia, iii (1996), 190–94
R. Ingham, ed.: The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone (Cambridge, 1998)