Images from The Cutler Gallery Quartet of Saxophones by Adolphe Sax Front:  NMM 4076. Soprano saxophone in B-flat by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1858. Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Endowment Fund, 1986. Left:  NMM 4038. Alto saxophone in E-flat by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1857. Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Endowment Fund, 1986. Center:  NMM 4039. Tenor saxophone in B-flat by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1861. Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Endowment Fund, 1986. Right:  NMM 4040. Baritone saxophone in E-flat by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1858. Purchase funds gift of Jeannette G. Abbey, Brookings, South Dakota, 1986. The Belgian-born maker, Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), invented the saxophone about 1840 and was granted a fifteen-year patent in 1846, four years after having moved to Paris. A Rare Bass Saxophone by Adolphe Sax NMM 7457.  Bass saxophone by Adolphe Sax, Paris, ca. 1876. Board of Trustees, 1999. One of four documented Adolphe Sax basses known to survive, this notable acquisition brings to ten the number of original Adolphe Sax saxophones in the Museum's collections. Five, including an alto sax made ca. 1860, came with the Cecil B. Leeson Collection, transferred to the Museum in 1994 from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The only other bass saxophone by Sax on view in a public institution is at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. This bass saxophone is of particular interest, since it is stamped with a special Adolphe Sax monogram and number. The monogram indicates that the instrument was once part of the inventor's own personal collection, according to the noted Sax scholar, Malou Haine, Curator of the Musée des Instruments de Musique in Brussels. Since the other surviving bass saxophones have closely related serial numbers, can all be dated about 1868, and are all of brass, it may be that the Museum's example was the first Sax bass to be silver-plated; hence, its inclusion in the maker's personal collection. Five additional instruments by Adolphe Sax and three by his father, Charles Joseph Sax, are also on display in the Cutler Gallery.   Click arrow to continue Cutler Gallery Tour Go to Cutler Gallery Tour Index Go to Virtual Gallery Tour Index National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD   57069 ©National Music Museum, 1996-2008 Most recent update: April 30, 2008 You are the 158,321st visitor to this page. The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page