Adolphe Sax the Creator of the Saxaphone

1766 Words4 Pages

Adolphe Sax didn't know what kind of monster he created, but as history bluntly tells us, it wasn't any four-eyed, flying, purple people eater. Adolphe came upon a horn that would capture many imaginations, save a couple of military bands, define jazz, and win over lame highschool kids like Lily. This colorful history has more kinks in it than your standard garden hose, people have terrorized it, belittled it, outlawed it, and (last, but not least) demonized it. The saxophone, though one of the youngest players in the music world today, has more castatrophes and triumphs in it's history than the brass family rolled up together (and thrown at lame highschool kids like Brekke.) Why is this so? Where did it start? Marco? Polo? Well it started one fine day...

Adolphe, the hero for the first part of the story, was born in Brussels on November 19, 1814. His father, Charles Sax, was Belgium's chief instrument maker and he was intent on passing the trade on to Adolphe. But, much like the history of the sax, Adolphe encountered many accidents to hinder these dreams. Adolphe wasn't a graceful boy and was prone to accidents like nearly drowning, falling down stairs, and the occasional fire in father's workshop. None the less by his teens he was showing exceptional skill at instrument making. In Belgium there was a convention every year, the Brussels Industrial Exposition. At fifteen Adolphe submitted a clarinet and two flutes of ivory (1830). Before he was twenty he had created a new fingering system on the soprano clarinet and redesigned the bass clarinet. Bass clarinets, beautiful and boisterous instruments, were once unreliable and unplayable instruments. Adolphe turned the monster into an elegant, regal low wind that (gasp) played in tune. But he was turned down from first place, not because of quality, but age. On the bias of age, judges roasted Adolphe, claiming he would not be appreciative of the honor at such a young age. Not appreciative of their conclusion, he turned to Paris.

At twenty-eight (1842) he set off for Paris, then the instrument-making capital (still is), to set up shop. Filled with more ambitious ideas and brilliance than his father, he stomped into town and made as much noise settling in as possible. Now to really paint this picture you must have the scenario.

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