Adolphe Sax Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Childhood & Early Life

Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was born on 6 November 1814 in Dinant, Belgium. He was the son of an instrument builder, Charles-Joseph Sax (1791-1865), who supplied instruments to the Royal House of Orange in the Netherlands.

Education

Adolphe Sax studied at the Royal School of Music in Brussels (1828) where he learned to play the clarinet.

Rise To Stardom

In 1838 at the Industrial Exposition in Brussels he demonstrated his twenty-four value system on the bass clarinet. Adolphe Sax was by then starting to develop and patent new instruments including an organ and a piano-tuning tuner.

Career

In 1841 he demonstrated the saxophone for the first time at the Brussels Industrial Exposition, and shortly afterward he moved to Paris, France. Adolphe Sax met Hector Berlioz, the composer and music critic who championed his work, praising Sax’s instruments. In a relatively short period, the devices gained popularity with composers and started to be incorporated in operatic orchestras.

Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone in 1846. He was not a particularly good businessman and faced bankruptcy on some occasions.

Awards & Achievements

Adolphe Sax was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Industrial Exposition (1849).

Personal Life

Adolphe Sax died on the 7 February 1894.