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The saxhorn is a valved brass instrument
Brass instrument

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. They are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" ....
 with a tapered bore and deep cup-shaped mouthpiece
Mouthpiece (brass)

File:Embouchure profil.jpgOn brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player's lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air contained within the instrument, giving rise to the standing wave pattern of vibration in the air column....
. The sound has a characteristic mellow quality, and blends well with other brass.

saxhorns form a family of seven instruments (although at one point ten different sizes seem to have existed). Designed for band use, they are pitched alternately in E-flat and B-flat, like the saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
 group.






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Encyclopedia


The saxhorn is a valved brass instrument
Brass instrument

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. They are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments" ....
 with a tapered bore and deep cup-shaped mouthpiece
Mouthpiece (brass)

File:Embouchure profil.jpgOn brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player's lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air contained within the instrument, giving rise to the standing wave pattern of vibration in the air column....
. The sound has a characteristic mellow quality, and blends well with other brass.

The saxhorn family

The saxhorns form a family of seven instruments (although at one point ten different sizes seem to have existed). Designed for band use, they are pitched alternately in E-flat and B-flat, like the saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
 group. There was a parallel family built in F and C for orchestral use, but this seems to have died out.

There is much confusion as to nomenclature of the various instruments in different languages. This has been exacerbated by the debate as to whether the saxhorn family was truly new, or rather a development of members of the previously existing cornet
Cornet

Not to be confused with coronetThe cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical Bore , compact shape, and mellower tone quality....
 and tuba
Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
 families. The saxhorn is also commonly confused with the flügelhorn, a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 instrument which has a different configuration and predates the saxhorn. This confusion is not helped by the fact that most instruments referred to today as flügelhorns are actually soprano saxhorns.

The following table lists the members of the saxhorn family as described in the orchestration texts of Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
 and Cecil Forsyth
Cecil Forsyth

Cecil Forsyth was an English composer and musicologist. He was born in Greenwich on November 30, 1870, and he died in New York on December 7, 1941....
, the J. Howard Foote catalog of 1893, and modern names.

Foote Berlioz Forsyth Modern
--- Sopranino in C/B-flat --- ---
--- Soprano in E-flat Sopranino in E-flat Sopranino/Soprano in E-flat
--- Alto in B-flat Soprano in B-flat Soprano/Alto in B-flat
Alto in E-flat Tenor in E-flat Alto in E-flat Alto/Tenor in E-flat
Tenor in B-flat Baritone in B-flat Tenor in B-flat Tenor/Baritone in B-flat
Baritone in B-flat Bass in B-flat Bass in B-flat Baritone/Bass in B-flat
Bass in E-flat Contrabass in E-flat Bass in E-flat Bass in E-flat
Contrabass in E-flat Contrabass in B-flat Contrabass in B-flat Contrabass in B-flat
--- Contrabass in low E-flat --- ---
--- Bourdon in B-flat --- ---


History

Saxhorn
Developed during the mid to late 1830s, the saxhorn family was patented in Paris in 1845 by Adolphe Sax
Adolphe Sax

Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgium musical instrument designer and musician , best known for inventing the saxophone....
. Sax's claim to have invented the instrument was hotly contested by other brass instrument makers during his lifetime, leading to various lawsuits. Throughout the mid-1850s, he continued to experiment with the instrument's valve pattern.

Saxhorns were popularized by the distinguished Distin
Distin

The Distin family constituted a musical group that toured Europe in the mid to late 19th century. After visiting Paris, the family purchased an entire complement of Saxhorns from the company of Adolphe Sax....
 Quintet, who toured Europe during the mid-nineteenth century. This family of musicians, publishers and instrument manufacturers had a significant impact on the growth of the brass band
Brass band

A brass band is a musical group generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles which include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, wind bands or wind ensembles....
 movement in Britain during the mid-to late-1800s.

The saxhorn was the most common brass instrument in American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 bands. The over-the-shoulder variety of the instrument was used, as the backward-pointing bell of the instrument allowed troops marching behind the band to hear the music.

Contemporary works featuring this instrument are Désiré Dondeyne
Désiré Dondeyne

D?sir? Louis Corneille Dondeyne is a French conductor, composer, and teacher born in Laon in the Aisne d?partement July 21, 1921.He studied music at the conservatory in Lille and beginning in 1936 at the Conservatoire de Paris....
's "Tubissimo" for bass tuba or saxhorn and piano (1983) and Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organ , and ornithology. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupr? among his teachers....
's "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum" (1984).

Discography

  • Saxhorn et piano - Hybrid'Music Label - october 2008
David Maillot, saxhorn - Géraldine Dutroncy, piano - Works by Eugčne Bozza, Marcel Bitsch, Jacques Castérčde, Alain Bernaud, Henri Tomasi, Claude Pascal, Gérard Devos and Roger Boutry.

See also

  • Alto Horn
    Alto horn

    Althorn redirects here. For the village in Essex, see Althorne.'Genis redirects here. For the Tales of Symphonia character, see List of characters in Tales of Symphonia#Genis Sage....
  • Baritone
    Baritone horn

    The baritone horn, or simply baritone, is a member of the brass family of instruments. Like others of the family, the tuba, euphonium, alto horn, flugelhorn and bugle the instrument has a conical bore....
  • Flugelhorn
    Flugelhorn

    The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical Bore . Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the keyed bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus predating Adolphe Sax's innovative work....


External links