The E-flat alto sarrusophone is the alto member of the

sarrusophone The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), who ...

family of metal

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

instruments. Its body is folded only once, and has a

bocal A bocal is a curved, tapered tube, which is an integral part of certain woodwind instruments, including double reed instruments such as the bassoon, contrabassoon, English horn, and oboe d'amore, as well as the larger recorders. In the double ree ...

that resembles the neck of a

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

. Historically it was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries principally by its inventor Gautrot and his successor Couesnon & Co., as well as Evette & Schaeffer (now

Buffet Crampon Buffet Crampon SAS is a French manufacturer of wind instruments based in Mantes-la-Ville, Yvelines department. The company is the world market leader in the production of clarinets of the Boehm system. Its subsidiary, Buffet Crampon Deutsch ...

) and

Orsi Orsi is an italian surname, and may refer to: Last name * Adolfo Orsi (1888–1972), Italian industrialist, owner of Maserati * Anaïs Orsi, climate scientist * Benedetto Orsi (died 1680), Italian painter * Carlo Orsi (fl. 1884–1894), Italian ...

of Milan. It is currently only available by custom order, from Orsi or the German instrument maker

Benedikt Eppelsheim Benedikt Eppelsheim is a German instrument maker of extreme high- and low-voiced woodwind instruments. He is the inventor and exclusive manufacturer of the ''soprillo'', a piccolo saxophone an octave above the B♭ soprano saxophone, as well as i ...

References

See also