Originally published in Saxophone Today, May/June 2016
Saxophone Aptitude Test (SAT):
19th-Century History and Development
James Noyes
So... You think you know something about the saxophone, do you? Well, let’s just see about that! It is safe to say that the vast majority of saxophonists (professional and amateur alike) know precious little about the early history and development of the saxophone. The general belief is that the saxophone lay relatively “dormant” throughout much of the 1800s and early 1900s, only to emerge in the 1920s “craze” as an integral part of jazz and popular music, as well as symphonic and concert hall performances. Saxophonists associated with the 1920s and early ‘30s included Bechet, Brown, Carney, Hawkins, Henton, Hodges, Leeson, Mule, Raschèr, Trumbauer, and Wiedoft, just to name a few. Composers who included saxophones in their scores at this time included Bartok, Berg, Copland, Gershwin, Hindemith, Kodaly, Milhaud, Prokoffiev, Ravel, Villa-Lobos, and Weill. However, the notion that the only consequential and meaningful events in saxophone history occurred within the last 100 years must cease! The nineteenth century was a time of significant progress for the saxophone, providing a tradition and paving the way for 20th-century prosperity.
Below are fifteen questions to test your 19th-century saxophone aptitude. A discussion of the correct answers and their significance will follow. My guess is that everyone who takes this test will learn something new. Good luck!
TEACHERS: please feel free to reproduce the following test for use with your private students or for the classroom. For further information, please consult the endnotes.
1. Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in what year?
a. 1834
b. 1838
c. 1842
d. 1846
2. What was Sax’s reasoning for inventing the saxophone?
a. to create a flexible and powerful bass instrument
b. to replace the clarinet in the military band
c. to create a hybrid between woodwinds and brasses
d. Sax had no particular reason for inventing the saxophone
3. Which composer was enthusiastic about the saxophone?
a. Berlioz
b. Liszt
c. Rossini
d. all of the above
4. Who was the preeminent saxophonist of the 19th Century?
a. Edward A. Lefebre
b. Jean Moeremanns
c. Monsieur Soualle
d. Henri Wuille
5. Which institution had saxophone instruction prior to 1900?
a. C. G. Conn Conservatory
b. New England Conservatory
c. Paris Conservatory
d. all of the above
6. Which company first manufactured saxophones in America?
a. Buescher
b. Conn
c. King
d. Martin
7. These were characteristics of early saxophone mouthpieces:
a. barrel-shaped chamber
b. cylindrical chamber
c. square chamber
d. all of the above
8. Which of the following was not a 19th-Century innovation?
a. extended range down to written low B-flat
b. “Bis” B-flat fingering
c. “articulated” G-sharp mechanism
d. automatic single octave-key mechanism
9. Who was America’s first woman concert soloist on the saxophone?
a. Elise Hall
b. Louise Linden
c. Bessie Mecklem
d. Kathryne Thompson
10. Who was the first saxophonist to record on Edison cylinders?
a. Eugene Coffin
b. Edward Lefebre
c. Bessie Mecklem
d. Rudy Wiedoft
11. Prior to 1900, France’s Garde Républicaine had how many saxophones?
a. 4
b. 6
c. 8
d. 10
12. First American bandleader to feature four saxophones (SATB):
a. Carlos A. Cappa
b. Harvey B. Dodworth
c. Patrick S. Gilmore
d. John Philip Sousa
13. Who was the first American saxophone quartet?
a. California Saxophone Quartette
b. The First Saxophone Quartette
c. New York Saxophone Quartette Club
d. Saint Louis Saxophone Quartette
14. Which composer did not score for saxophone?
a. Georges Bizet
b. Claude Debussy
c. Richard Strauss
d. Richard Wagner
15. The first 23-piece saxophone band was organized in what city?
a. Boston, Massachusetts
b. Chicago, Illinois
c. Rock Springs, Wyoming
d. Los Angeles, California
Answer key:
1. Answer: b, [circa] 1838. According to Fred Hemke: “One observation which recurs throughout many sources places Sax in Belgium, i.e. prior to his Paris move, when the conception of the saxophone became clear in his mind. Maurice Hamel, in a series of handwritten recollections, indicated his father Henry Hamel, a very close friend of Adolphe Sax, had related that Sax created the saxophone in 1838.” The famous story of the first appearance of the saxophone at the Begium Industrial Exhibition of 1841 (January) was recalled by the composer, Georges Kastner. Wrapped in cloth and waiting to be unveiled by its inventor, the first-known saxophone was kicked by an unknown person and rendered unplayable. Considering it took C. G. Conn two years to develop its first line of saxophones (c.1890-92), it is reasonable to conclude that for Sax to have brought the saxophone to this exhibition in January 1841 meant he likely had begun the developmental process by 1838. Sax was granted a French patent for “a system of wind instruments called saxophones” in June of 1846. Anyone interested in this history, must read Robert S. Howe’s “The Invention and Early Development of the Saxophone 1840-1855,” published in Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society. Howe’s account is so compelling, if one didn’t know better, it would appear the article was written by none other than Adolphe Sax himself!
2. Answer: a, to create a flexible and powerful bass instrument. The following are Sax’s own words as presented in his patent application:
“Explanation – We know that in general, wind instruments are either too harsh or too weak in sonority; one or the other of these faults is most especially perceptible in the basses. The Ophecleide, for example, which reinforces the trombones, produces a sound so disagreeable that it must be kept out of resonant halls because of its inability to be played softly. The bassoon, on the contrary, has such a weak sound that it can only be used for accompanying and filling parts; yet for specific forte effects in orchestration it is absolutely useless. One should note that the bassoon is the only instrument of this type which blends well with string instruments...Only brass wind instruments produce a satisfying effect in outside performances...Struck by these different drawbacks, I have looked for a means of remedying these situations by creating an instrument, which by the character of its voice can be reconciled with the stringed instruments, but which possesses more force and intensity than the strings. This instrument is the Saxophone.”
3. Answer: d, all of the above. Berlioz’s support of Sax and his instruments, including saxophones, is well documented. However, most are unaware that Liszt was also enthusiastic. He stated: “...alto and tenor saxophones will be exceedingly useful, even in our regular orchestras and the ensemble has a really magnificent effect.” Rossini allegedly claimed that the saxophone “was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.” Nevertheless, Rossini did convince those at the Conservatory in Bologna to adopt the instruments of Adolphe Sax. Rossini included saxophones in his La Corona d’Italia, written for military band in 1868.
4. Answer: a, Edward A. Lefebre. Lefebre was born in The Hague, Holland in 1834. After having met Adolphe Sax (c.1850s), Lefebre embarked on a life-long mission to popularize the saxophone and to “bring his instrument into favor.” This mission took him to South Africa in 1859, England in 1869, and the United States and Canada from 1871-1911. In 1878 he made a solo tour of Germany and Scandinavia. He was the saxophone soloist with Patrick S. Gilmore’s 22nd Regiment Band from 1873-92, and with John Philip Sousa’s Band from 1893-94. Lefebre was the leader of the New York Saxophone Quartette Club (1873-1885), the Wonder Saxophone Quartette (1897-1900), and the Lefebre Saxophone Quartette (1901-1909). He published nearly 100 transcriptions and arrangements with Carl Fischer and worked for C. G. Conn and the Conn Conservatory from 1895-1900. He also promoted original saxophone music of Caryl Florio, Jean-Baptiste Singelée, and Jean-Nicholas Savari. A conservative estimate has Lefebre performing over 20,000 engagements over 50 years on three continents. Jean Moermanns was Lefebre’s successor in the Sousa band as saxophone soloist from (1894-99, 1902-5). The Frenchman Soualle (a.k.a. Ali-Ben-Sou-Alle) was an important early saxophonist of the 1850s and 1860s, introducing audiences in Australia, India and Spain to the saxophone (a.k.a. turcophone). Henri Wuille (1822-1871) was also active in the 1850s and 1860s, performing solo concerts on clarinet and saxophone. Both Soualle and Wuille were members of Louis Antoine Jullien’s famous touring orchestra in the 1850s.
5. Answer: d, all of the above. Adolphe Sax was the saxophone instructor at the Paris Conservatory from 1857 to 1870, at which time all military music classes (including saxophone) were abolished after Germany defeated France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The New England Conservatory offered classes in saxophone between the years of 1882-89, taught by William Rietzel and Eustach Strasser. Edward Lefebre taught at the Conn Conservatory in Elkhart, Indiana from 1896-1900. Numerous other institutions in Europe and America also offered saxophone at one time or another prior to 1900.
6. Answer: b, Conn. Conn was the first company to manufacture saxophones in America. These became publicly available in the spring of 1892. It is interesting to note, however, the man credited with building the first saxophone for Conn (a soprano, c.1890) was Ferdinand August Buescher, a foreman at the Conn plant in Elkhart. A Conn employee since 1875, Buescher left in 1893 and founded the Buescher Manufacturing Company in 1894, which was reorganized in 1904 as the Buescher Band Instrument Company. Conn catalogues mention Conn-made saxophones as early as 1892, while Buescher catalogues don’t list saxophones until c.1910.
7. Answer: a, barrel-shaped chamber. Sax’s patent included a sketch of a bass saxophone mouthpiece, which permits a large, excavated chamber, with no flat sides, much greater in dimension than the opening at the neck of the saxophone. This type of mouthpiece was the standard for the first 100 years. Jazz, rock, and popular styles of music have paved the way for a great variety of mouthpiece designs. The square chamber is a recent development, roughly 35 years old, and has perhaps no counterpart among any other brass or woodwind instruments.
8. Answer: c, “articulated” G-sharp mechanism. Sax held the exclusive rights to produce saxophones from 1846-66, and thus, when this patent expired, other instrument manufacturers began producing saxophones with new and (often) improved designs. In 1887, the Evette and Schaeffer Society patented a saxophone keyed to written low B-flat (low B was the original range), which also incorporated the “bis” key for the first time. A. Lecomte and Co. patented the automatic single octave key in 1888. The “articulated” G-sharp mechanism which allows G-sharp to be fingered with any of the left-hand spatula keys (low C-sharp, B, and B-flat) was advertised by Couesnon of Paris c.1908 (when it was actually added is unknown). The first American company to add an articulated G-sharp key was C. G. Conn in 1931. Note: the “front F” key was added to Conn alto saxophones in 1903 and prior to this, Buescher Manufacturing Company saxophones (as early as serial number 1,1xx) included this key as an option. It is unknown when European makers did the same.
9. Answer: b, Louise Linden (it is perhaps more accurate to say she is the “first-known” American woman concert soloist on the saxophone. Future research may provide even earlier accounts). Louise’s uncle, Johann Gottlieb Friederich “Fred” ter Linden was, by some accounts, “the first to play saxophone in America.” Certainly, he was one of the first, performing in Maine as early as the 1860s. He taught his niece, Louise, to play saxophone, and she “made an early sensation as the first woman saxophonist [saxophone soloist] in the United States” as early as 1878. Miss Linden performed as a soloist with Adolphe Neuendorff’s orchestra in 1881 on a program that also featured the renowned Walter Emerson on cornet. Mecklem’s solo career spanned from 1890 to 1895 (see answer for question 10 below). Elise Hall, of the Boston Orchestral Club fame, performed from 1900 to 1920, and commissioned over 22 works for saxophone, including compositions by Debussy, d’Indy, and Schmitt. Kathryne Thompson’s solo career began c.1911, with the Navassar Ladies Band of San Diego. She later went on to found the Thompson-D’Ippolito School of Saxophone in Los Angeles in the 1920s.
10. Answer: b, Edward A. Lefebre. For decades, the answer was thought to be “c, Bessie Mecklem,” a student of Lefebre, who made twelve Edison cylinders in 1892. However, a recently published article, “The First Solo Saxophone Recording Reconsidered,” by Thomas Smialek reveals the answer is, indeed, Lefebre himself. Newspaper accounts mention recordings of Lefebre played on phonographs in upstate New York and at the St. Louis Exhibition in 1889, the year Edison cylinders were invented. Since these early wax cylinders had a lifespan of a mere 200 plays before they were discarded or recycled, it is likely none of Lefebre’s recordings survived the continuous playback at public phonograph parlors. The earliest extant recordings of a saxophonist are cylinders made by Eugene Coffin in 1896. Coffin was a virtuoso tenor saxophonist, who dazzled listeners with his “marvelous triple-tongue execution.” He performed at President William McKinley’s inauguration in 1897. Rudy Wiedoft, of course, was one of the most popular recording artists of the 1920s.
11. Answer: c, eight. In 1856, the Garde Républicaine had a section of SSAATTBB, while in 1889, the configuration had changed slightly to SAATTTBB. The Mexican National Band of 1885 had nine saxophones (configuration unknown) and Gilmore’s “Famous 100 Men” of 1892 had ten saxophones (SSAATTBB plus sopranino and bass)!
12. Answer: c, Patrick S. Gilmore. While Harvey Dodworth is considered to the be the first to use a saxophone in his band, just after the Civil War (c.1865), Gilmore is credited as the first American bandleader to incorporate an entire SATB quartet of saxophones into the instrumentation of the military band (1873). It wasn’t until after the European tour of 1903, that Sousa felt it necessary to have four saxophones (AATB) in his band. Nineteenth-century bandmaster Carlos A. Cappa was an opponent of adding new instruments to the wind band.
13. Answer: b, The First Saxophone Quartette. This group, under the leadership of Eustach Strasser, was formed in 1869 in Philadelphia. Strasser first played saxophone with the Mendelsohn Quintet in Philadelphia in 1868 and toured with Gilmore during the European tour of 1878. The New York Saxophone Quartette Club was comprised of the four saxophonists in Gilmore’s Twenty-second Regiment Band from 1873-1885. Gilmore presented the saxophone quartet for the first time on a program from 15 January 1874, where they performed “Andante and Allegro” by Jean Baptiste Singelée. The Saint Louis Saxophone Quartette was organized in the 1870s and performed regularly as “an agreeable feature in the concers of the Kinights of Pythias Band at Schnaider’s Garden.” They disbanded in 1880, but were performing once again by 1892. The California Saxophone Quartette was organized in 1896 by Frank Willard Kimball of San Luis Obispo, California. Kimball, a saxophone soloist since 1883, planned a concert tour of “mammoth proportions” throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It is unknown if such a tour ever took place.
14. Answer: d, Richard Wagner. The most famous 19th-century saxophone solo excerpts come from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne (1872). This music was reworked into orchestral Suites No. 1 and No. 2, both of which are still in the modern orchestral repertoire. Madame Elise Hall, through the intermediary Georges Longy, commissioned Claude Debussy to write his Rapsodie [Mauresque] pour Orchestre et Saxophone obligé in 1901. Debussy’s structurally complete short score was finished in 1903. This score remained with the composer until he died in 1918, at which time Debussy’s manuscript was given to Jean Roger-Ducasse, who carefully prepared the full orchestral score following Debussy’s instructions and compositional methods. André Caplet conducted the premiere in 1919. Note: Contrary to popular belief, Ducasse did not finish composing Rapsodie; it was completed in 1903 by Debussy himself. Strauss scored for four saxophones (C soprano, F alto, F baritone, and C bass) in his Sinfonia Domestica written in 1903. However, the saxophone parts simply double other instruments within the orchestra, and thus, it can be heard performed with or without saxophones. While Wagner never scored for saxophone (he referred to Sax as a “terrible person”), the saxophone can today be heard in performances of Tristan und Isolda. In act III, Wagner suggests a “powerful, even rough, folk instrument, of a natural naivete” for the shepherd’s call signifying the arrival of the ship carrying Isolda. The sopranino saxophone was used for this shepherd’s call in the 1999 performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The Vienna Opera and English National Opera used the saxophone in Tristan in the early 1980s (and presumably still do).
15. Answer: c, Rock Springs, Wyoming. O. P. Thayer’s Saxophone Band was touted as “The Most Unique Band of Wind Instruments in America.” Comprised of 18 saxophonists (SSSSAAAAAATTTTBBBBs), two clarinetists, two drummers and one drum major this band was perhaps the first of its kind in North America, dating from 1902. The first bass saxophone manufactured by C. G. Conn was made for Thayer’s Saxophone Band and delivered in 1902.
Comments or Questions:
James Noyes
83 Park Terrace West, #3E
New York, NY 10034
(212) 567-7617
A native of Iowa Ctiy, saxophonist James Noyes first appeared as a woodwind specialist with Disney’s All-American College Orchestra, and has since performed with the Long Island Philharmonic, Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, New York Arts Ensemble, David Amram, the Doobie Brothers, and others. His debut solo recording, Imaginings, was released in 2012. As a scholar of saxophone and Debussy, his articles appear in Saxophone Journal, Saxophone Symposium, and The Musical Quarterly. He gave his New York recital debut with the SURGE Saxophone Quartet on 5 November 2000 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as winner of the Artists International competition. Formerly on the faculty at the Penn State School of Music (State College, PA), Dr. Noyes currently resides in the Inwood section of New York City and serves on the faculties of William Paterson University, Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division (former Theory Department Chair), and as Artistic Director of MOSA (Music at Our Saviour’s Atonement), a concert series in Washington Heights. He is also the composer of Equinox Liturgy (2006), The Way of Ascension (2013), and the Festival of Light (2014), all of which enjoy continuous use.
Frederick Hemke, “The Early History of the Saxophone,” (D.M.A. diss, University of Wisconsin, 1975), 10.
Ibid, 15-6.
James Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre (1834-1911): Preeminent Saxophonist of the Nineteenth Century,” (D.M.A. diss, Manhattan School of Music, 2000). Also see James Noyes, ‘Lefebre’s Last Band: From Gilmore to Sousa (1892-94),’ Saxophone Symposium 26 (2001), 123-5.
Ibid, 46.
Robert S. Howe, “The Invention and Early Development of the Saxophone, 1840-1855,” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society XXIX, 2003, 97-180.
Ibid, 47-8.
Ibid, 296.
Wally Horwood, Adolphe Sax 1814-1894, (Baldock, England: Ergon, 1983), 51.
Ibid.
Noyes, ‘Edward A. Lefebre...,’ 20-51.
Michael Hester, “The Saxophone Soloists with the Sousa Band,” Saxophone Journal (March/April 1997): 64. Also see Michael E. Hester, “A Study of the Saxophone Soloists Performing with the John Philip Sousa Band, 1893-1930,” (D.M.A. diss., University of Arizona, 1995).
Hemke, “The Early History...,” 343-5.
Ibid, 331-333, 345-8.
Hemke, “The Early History...,” 254.
Joseph Murphy, “Early Saxophone Instruction in American Educational Institutions,” (D.M.A. diss, Northwestern University, 1994), 169.
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 138.
Ibid, 123-5.
Paul Bro, “The Development of the American-Made Saxophone: A Study of Saxophones Made by Buescher, Conn, Holton, Martin, and H. N. White,” (D.M.A. diss, Northwestern University, 1992), 63-5.
Hemke, “The Early History...,” 82-3.
Ibid, 89.
Bro, “The Development of the American-Made Saxophone...,” 51.
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 163.
Ibid, 58-60
For further information, see William Henry Street, ‘Elise Boyer Hall, America’s First Concert Saxophonist: Her Life as Performing Artist, Pioneer of Concert Repertory for Saxophone and Patroness of the Arts,’ (D.M.A. diss, Northwestern University 1983).
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 177.
For further information on Bessie Mecklem and Etta Morgan, see Betsy Miller, “Two Early Saxophonists,” as found in Paul Cohen, “Redefining the Saxophone—Professional Women Saxophonists from the 19th Century: Bessie Mecklam & Etta Morgan,” Saxophone Journal 26, No. 5 & 6 (May/June & July/August 2001).
Thomas Smialek, “The First Solo Saxophone Recording Reconsidered,” The Saxophone Symposium 36-37 (2013-2014), 1-38.
Ibid, 7-10.
Harry Gee, Saxophone Soloists and Their Music 1844-1985, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1986), 15-6.
Murphy, “Early Saxophone Instruction...,” 5.
The Musical Courier (New York), 22 July 1885, 36.
Harry Hindson, “Aspects of the Saxophone in American Musical Culture, 1850-1980,” (Ph.D. diss, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1992), 174.
Murphy, “Early Saxophone Instruction...,” 13-4.
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 192-3.
Hester, “Saxophone Soloists with Sousa...,” 35.
Hemke, “The Early History...,” 410.
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 21, 39.
Ibid, 29-31.
Ibid, 31-2.
Ibid, 83.
Ibid, 171-2.
James Noyes, “Debussy’s Rapsodie pour Orchestre et Saxophone: Myths and Misinformation Exposed, A Masterpiece Revealed,” lecture at 12th World Saxophone Congress, Montréal, 7 July 2000.
Sigurd M. Rascher, “Tristan and the Saxophone,” The Saxophone Symposium (Winter 1988), 14.
Paul Harvey, “The ‘Wagnerian Saxophone,’” The Saxophone Symposium (Fall 1981), 20.
As heard by the author, who was present at the 6 December 1999 performance.
Harvey, “The ‘Wagnerian Saxophone,’” 20.
Noyes, “Edward A. Lefebre...,” 174-5..
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