Adolphe Sax – How To Invent An Instrument

The story of the saxophone

- By Jeremy A. Wall

THE YEAR: 1841

THE PLACE: Exposition de L’Industrie Belge (The Belgium Industrial Fair)

Adolphe Sax stands over the wreckage, running a hand down his thick beard.

His prototype is ruined.

It was no accident. A boot kick from some rival competitor had dented and deformed the delicate metal. The massive brass instrument with a clarinet-like mouthpiece would have blown the judges away. Now it can’t even make a sound.

Furious, even after his other instruments win second prize, Adolphe storms out of the fair. I’ll go to Paris, he thinks. I’ll win bigger prizes. I’ll show them all..

STEP 1

Survive Childhood.

Seems like a no-brainer, but for the oldest son of Charles and Maria Sax, this was no easy task.

Antoine-Joseph was born on November 6, 1814 in Dinat, Belgium. By age ten, he had accidentally drunk poison, fallen out of a three-story window, drunk poison again, blown himself up in a gunpowder mishap, drunk some more poison, and nearly drowned in a river. Antoine-Joseph escaped death so many times that people started calling him “the Ghost.” The nickname stuck, even if his birth name did not. Antoine-Joseph Sax preferred to be called Adolphe.

STEP 2

Learn a Skill. Get Confident.