Adolphe Sax (in Montmartre Cemetery) - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Note : the only entry to the cemetery is at N48 53.123 E2 19.849.

Adolphe Sax was born in Dinant in Wallonia, Belgium. His father, Charles-Joseph Sax, was an instrument designer himself, who made several changes to the design of the horn. Adolphe began to make his own instruments at an early age, entering two of his flutes and a clarinet into a competition at the age of fifteen. He subsequently studied those two instruments at the Royal School of Singing in Brussels.

Having left the school, Sax began to experiment with new instrument designs, while his father continued to produce conventional instruments to bring money into the household. Adolphe's first important invention was an improvement of the bass clarinet design which he patented at the age of 20.

In 1841, Sax relocated permanently to Paris and began work on a new set of instruments which were exhibited there in 1844. They were valved bugles, and although he had not invented the instrument itself, his examples were so superior to those of his rivals that they became known as saxhorns. They range in approximately 7 different sizes, looking somewhat similar to the euphonium and also paved the path to the creation of the flugelhorn. Today, they are widely used in concert bands and sometimes in orchestras. The saxhorn also laid the groundwork for the modern euphonium. He also developed the saxtromba in 1845, though this survived only briefly.

The spread of saxhorn instruments throughout the world was ferocious. The superior saxhorn valves were accepted as state of the art and still largely unchanged today. The advances made by Adolphe Sax no doubt leading to the formation of the famous British Brass Band movement who exclusively adopted the saxhorn range. An example of which are the Jedforest Instrumental Band who formed in 1854 within the Scottish Borders only a decade after Saxhorn models became available.

The late 1830's and/or early 1840s saw Sax inventing the clarinette-bourdon, an early (and unsuccessful) design of contrabass clarinet. Most significantly, at this time he developed the instrument for which he is now best known, the saxophone, though his new invention was actually patented in 1846. The saxophone was invented for use in both orchestras and concert bands. The composer Hector Berlioz wrote approvingly of the new instrument in 1842. By 1846 Sax had designed, on paper at least, a full range of saxophones (from soprano to bass). Although they never became standard orchestral instruments, the saxophones made his reputation, and secured him a job teaching at the Paris Conservatoire from 1867.

Sax continued to make instruments later in life, as well as presiding over a new saxophone class at the Paris Conservatoire. However, rival instrument-makers attacked the legitimacy of his patents and mounted a lengthy campaign of litigation against Sax and his company, driving him into bankruptcy twice (in 1856 and 1873). The prolonged legal struggle may also have undermined his own health; he suffered from lip cancer between 1853 and 1858 but made a full recovery.

He died in 1894 in Paris and was interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre.

Description: See Above. Date of birth: 11/06/1814 Date of death: 02/04/1894 Area of notoriety: Other Marker Type: Monument Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 09:00 - 17:30 Fee required?: No Web site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for waymarks in this category, you must have personally visited the waymark location. When logging your visit, please provide a note describing your visit experience, along with any additional information about the waymark or the surrounding area that you think others may find interesting.

We especially encourage you to include any pictures that you took during your visit to the waymark. However, only respectful photographs are allowed. Logs which include photographs representing any form of disrespectful behavior (including those showing personal items placed on or near the grave location) will be subject to deletion.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.