Virtual Tour of "Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848" Alto Saxophone by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1860 NMM 5768. Alto saxophone by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1860. The saxophone, based in part on the design of ophicleides, with a brass body and tone-holes with soldered tone-hole rims that can be closed with padded keys, but played with a wood mouthpiece and reed, rather than a cupped mouthpiece, was invented by Adolphe Sax, from whom the instrument received its name, about 1840 and patented in 1846. Sax was in Paris in 1841, where Berlioz learned about the instrument, leading to the publication of an article that he wrote about the ophicleide for the March 13, 1842, edition of Revue et gazette musicale, in which he tells of Sax replacing the ophicleide mouthpiece with that of a clarinet, noting that "the ophicléide à bec" (i.e., with a beak) "will most likely come into general use in a few year's time." Three months later, Berlioz again wrote about the saxophone, this time referring to it by name. The 1846 patent was for an entire family of saxophones; perhaps it was in that spirit that he also built an entire family of ophicleides about this time. The Museum has ten saxophones built by Sax, including one of only three bass saxes that are currently known, the other two being one in a private collection and the other at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The one shown here is one of two altos; the earlier one, built in 1857, is part of a quintet of early Sax saxophones on permanent exhibit in the Cutler Gallery. Ex coll.: Cecil Leeson, Muncie, Indiana. Transfer from Ball State University, 1994. Source:  André P. Larson, Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848, with essay by John Koster, exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003 (Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003), p. 61.   Click arrow to continue Virtual Tour of Beethoven and Berlioz Exhibition Go to Beethoven and Berlioz Exhibition Virtual Tour Index Go to Virtual Gallery Tour Index Exhibition catalog and poster available from Gift Shop National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD 57069 ©National Music Museum, 2003-2007 Most recent update: October 22, 2007 You are the 29,325th visitor to this page since May 17, 2003. The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page