The oldest-known preserved saxophone built by its inventor, Adolphe Sax, will soon be on display at Brussels’ Musical Instrument Museum. The 1846 instrument was recently purchased by the King Baudoin Foundation and is on long-term loan to the museum.
At the museum, it will be the centerpiece of a collection of historic instruments by the Belgian-born Sax and other members of his family, also instrument designers. Sax’s father was a clarinet maker, and Sax first worked there before moving to Paris and opening a shop of his own and designing instruments also of his own. Besides the saxophone and saxhorn, he developed a number of brass instruments, including the saxotromba and saxtuba. None achieved the popularity of the saxophone.
The horn is marked “Saxophone baryton en mi b breveté, Adolphe Sax à Paris.” The instrument was originally intended mainly for marching bands, but has become a staple of jazz, pop, rock and classical music. For all the success of his instruments, Sax himself did not do well, and died in poverty in Paris.
