Adolphe Sax

- Antoine-Joseph Sax was born in 1814 in Dinant, Belgium. During which was ruled by France.

- His father, Charles Joseph Sax was an instrument maker. He built wind instruments, pianos,
guitars, and harps. Adolphe became his father’s Apprentice while he studied Singing and the
Flute.

- Oldest of 11 children, very accident-prone child. A list of accidents: Fell off a 30-story building
(Then assumed dead), swallowing a pin, being burned in a gunpowder explosion, falling onto a
hot cast iron frying pan, being poisoned by varnish fumes, being hit on the head with a
cobblestone, and nearly drowning in a river. His nickname was “Little Sax the Ghost”.

- At the age of 15 he designed two Flutes and Clarinets then he studied the Flute and Clarinet at
the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. (Circa 1829)

-At the age of 20 (Circa 1834), he designed a 24-key clarinet. It caught the attention and
admiration of Francois Antoine Habeneck, the conductor of the Paris Opera Orchestra while it
was stationed in Brussels.

- In 1840, he presented 9 inventions at the Belgium Exhibition (including an organ, a piano

tuning process and a sound-reflecting screen). However, the judges felt that Sax was too young
to receive the gold medal, and instead awarded him the vermeil (gilded silver)

-He got the attention of Fromental Halévy, French opera composer. The composer Halévy
wrote to him of the hope that composers had in his inventions:
"Hurry and finish your new family of instruments (saxophones) and come and succour
to the poor composers that are looking for something new and to the public that is
demanding it, if not to the world itself."

- In 1842 this growing fame motivated him to move to Paris, France which was considered at
the time to be the center of arts in Europe.

- He arrived in Paris with only 30 Francs and had to live in a Shed in Rue Saint-Georges, Paris.
borrowing money was the only way for him to survive. His fortunes changed when he met
Hector Berlioz (Symphony Fantastique). Exactly how they met is up to debate.
These two would become the best of friends. In a critique of Sax, Berlioz was quoted as saying
in the French Newspaper Journal des Débats on June 12, 1842;

“M. Adolphe Sax, from Brussels […] is a man with a penetrating mind, clear-headed,
obstinate, with an endurance equal to any challenge, highly skilled, always prepared to
replace in their specialties workmen who are incapable of understanding and realizing his
plans; he is simultaneously a calculator and an expert in acoustics, if need be a caster, turner
and engraver. He thinks and acts; he invents and executes’.”
 He finishes his article with “Composers will owe much to M. Sax once his new
instruments have come into general use. He must persevere; he will not be lacking in
encouragement from lovers of the art of music”

-Berlioz’s critique of Sax helped propel him to star-dom.

-Included Sax’s instruments in Berlioz’s “Treatise on Orchestration”, published in 1843/4 and
reissued in 1855. A book based on the instrumental practices around the time of Berlioz, as well
as describing a commentary on Berlioz’s use of orchestral instruments.

-A few examples of the instruments Adolphe has invented include; Saxhorns, A Tenor Valve
Trombone, Saxtubas and Saxophones.

-March 21, 1846 Sax patients the Saxophone after planning on it for four years. Adolphe
challenged his competitors by saying “ I shall wait another year before registering this patent.
We shall see whether, by then, a maker will have produced a true saxophone!”

Sources:
http://www.famousinventors.org/adolphe-sax
http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-history-composers-and-
performers-biographies/adolphe-sax
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoine-Joseph-Sax
http://www.hberlioz.com/Europe/brussels.htm
http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/BerliozTreatise.html
http://www.dinant.be/en/inheritance/adolphe-sax
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/652387
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/504593
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501685
http://www.historytoday.com/history-today/birth-antoine-joseph-
%E2%80%98adolphe%E2%80%99-sax