Antoine-Joseph “Adolphe” Sax was an inventor and musician
from Belgium. Adolphe was the eldest of eleven children, only three of whom
survived to age 13. He studied flute, clarinet, harmony and solfège at the
Royal School of Music in Brussels, but he abandoned a career in performance to
create musical instruments in his father’s workshop. Adolphe made changes in
the design of the bass clarinet that are still in use. His most famous invention
is the saxophone, which combines elements of both woodwind and brass
instruments. Adolphe designed a massive family of saxophones in 14 distinct
sizes, from the tiny sopranino to the massive contrabass. Only four sizes are commonly
used today: soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. The saxophone may be made of
brass, but it’s classified as a woodwind instrument because it generates sound
with a reed. Adolphe also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba, but somehow,
none of them caught on.
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