How To Invent An Instrument: The Story of The Saxophone

By Jeremy A. Wall

This Article First Appeared in Muse (Cricket Media) May/June 2021

Illustration by Roxanne Wheeler

STEP 1
Survive Childhood.

Seems like a no-brainer, but for the oldest son of Charles and Maria Sax, this was no easy task.

Antoine-Joseph was born on November 6, 1814 in Dinat, Belgium. By age ten, he had accidentally drunk poison, fallen out of a three-story window, drunk poison again, blown himself up in a gunpowder mishap, drunk some more poison, and nearly drowned in a river. Antoine-Joseph escaped death so many times that people started calling him “the Ghost.” The nickname stuck, even if his birth name did not. Antoine-Joseph Sax preferred to be called Adolphe.

STEP 2
Learn a Skill. Get Confident.

When he wasn’t blowing himself up or gulping poison, Adolphe the Ghost spent his time learning to play music and studying the family business. Adolphe’s father Charles was one of Belgium’s premier instrument makers.

At age 14, Adolphe enrolled at the Royal School of Singing, studying flute, clarinet, and yes, singing. He became an excellent clarinetist, but it was the design of instruments that interested him most. In 1830, when

he was just 15, he entered two flutes and a clarinet made out of ivory in the Belgium Industrial Fair. This was a huge exhibition in which inventors competed for the gold medal. Serious bragging rights were at stake. Five years later, Adolphe won honorable mention.

By 27, Adolphe was known as a talented musician who could play almost any instrument well. Working alongside his dad, Adolphe had redesigned the bass clarinet, changing it from an unplayable tube of wood to a more modern instrument fit for the symphony. Soon he had the attention of famous composers, including Hector Berlioz, a big shot from France.

Adolphe’s confidence grew with his abilities. He developed a habit of challenging his competitors to musical showdowns in public places—which he would win. This made him something of a celebrity, but not exactly popular with other musicians and instrument makers.

STEP 3
Identify a Problem.

Despite his early successes, Adolphe was concerned. The woodwind family of instruments wasn’t complete. There were oboes, flutes, clarinets, and bassoons. Yet something was missing. . . something loud to fill out the bottom range of notes. Sure, the deep - voiced bassoon and bass clarinet sounded great when playing with a few violins. But the brass instruments blew them away! Adolphe set out to create a new instrument that “[by] its tone, could combine with strings but which was stronger and more full.”

STEP 4
Find Inspiration Everywhere. Experiment and Improve.

Adolphe borrowed most from one instrument when it came to his new creation. Nope, it wasn’t the clarinet. It was an instrument called the ophicleide (off-eh-klide).

The ophicleide is a large brass instrument with a trombone-like mouthpiece and a flared bell pointing upward. Unlike most brass instruments, the ophicleide changes notes by opening and closing large holes in its body called tone holes. The ophicleide also features a conical bore, meaning

it starts narrow at the mouthpiece and gets wider towards the bell. This shape and mechanism is similar to woodwind instruments like the oboe and bassoon.

Even though the ophicleide shares some characteristics with woodwind instruments, Adolphe thought the loud brass instrument made “such an unpleasant sound that it cannot be used indoors.”

Adolphe tried putting a modified bass clarinet mouthpiece on the big brass monster. He must have felt like he was on to something, because he kept going. He altered the shape of the ophicleide, keeping the flared
bell at the end but making the body skinnier. Drawing on his bass clarinet work, and borrowing from the flute system, Adolphe adjusted the size and placement of the keys and tone holes. All these elements together created a more woodwind-like sound. One that could play in tune, crank up the volume, and still “preserve perfect smoothness over its whole range.”

Soon Adolphe had his first prototype: a massive bass version of the brass/ woodwind hybrid. He believed this new group of instruments could replace other woodwinds. No more weak bassoons or clarinets. His instrument would reign supreme! If only knew what to call it . . .

STEP 5
Tell the World! Marketing Is Key.

Adolphe had a knack for branding. In his life he’d create Saxhorns, Saxotrombas, and Saxtubas. When it came to his woodwind/ophicleide combo, Adolphe must have believed he found a truly new sound. He gave his instrument the name Saxophone, meaning Sax-sound. Adolphe’s first attempt to show off
the saxophone didn’t go well. After his prototype was destroyed and he was awarded a disappointing second place in the 1841 Belgium Industrial Fair, Adolphe decided it was time leave his hometown. He packed up and moved to the instrument-making capital of the world: Paris, France.

In 1842, Adolphe gave his new buddy Hector Berlioz a sneak peek at the saxophone. Berlioz loved it. “[The] sound is absolutely new and does not resemble any of the timbres heard till now in our orchestra,” Berlioz wrote.

Adolphe premiered his bass sax to the public in an 1844 concert. The Parisian crowd applauded like mad when he held a big, long note at the end. A new sound!

The following year, Adolphe won a contract to make saxophones, along with other brass and woodwind instruments, for the French military. This was a huge deal, worth tons of money. Things were going well for the kid from Dinat! There was just one problem: the other instrument manufacturers of Paris were not a fan of this new guy taking away their business. They decided Adolphe Sax had to be stopped. Permanently.

STEP 6
Don’t Get Murdered.

The Parisian instrument makers formed a coalition with the sole purpose of ruining Adophe Sax. They broke into his workshop, and they bribed his employees to give up company secrets. They even hired a hitman. Once again, Adolphe the Ghost escaped death.

A bomb went off under his bed. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite bedtime
and the explosion missed him. Later, the assassin killed a man thinking it
was Adolphe returning home in the evening. (It was actually one of Adolphe’s employees.)

They weren’t able to murder him, so his enemies took him to court. They accused him of stealing ideas and sued him for anything they could think of. Adolphe won nearly every case, but all those battles were expensive. Adolphe eventually ran out of money and was forced close down his shop.

STEP 7
Have the Last Laugh.

Adolphe Sax died a poor man in 1894. Other than a few orchestral appearances in work from composers like Debussy, Ravel, and Berlioz,
his saxophone kept a low profile, performing small parts in military bands. The instrument remained something of an oddity through the end of the 1800s. It was played on theater stages and in circuses—often for comical effect.

It would take a new century and a new type of music for Adolphe’s invention to truly shine: Jazz.

In the hands of artists like Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, and many, many others, the saxophone grew to become one of the most popular and recognizable instruments in the world.

Adolphe Sax, the Ghost, lives on today in each wailing moan and sorrowful cry of the instrument that carries his name.