The saxotromba is a valved
brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...
invented by the Belgian instrument-maker
Adolphe Sax
Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 4 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the fl ...
around 1844.
[. But for another opinion see: ] It was designed for the mounted bands of the French military, probably as a substitute for the
French horn
The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
. The saxotrombas comprised a family of
half-tube instruments of different pitches. By about 1867 the saxotromba was no longer being used by the French military, but specimens of various sizes continued to be manufactured until the early decades of the twentieth century, during which time the instrument made sporadic appearances in the opera house, both in the pit and on stage. The instrument is often confused with the closely related
saxhorn
The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a ...
.
The technical specifications of the saxotromba and the original constitution of its family are not known with any certainty. Initially, the instrument had the same vertical design as its close relation the
saxhorn
The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a ...
, with the
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
pointing upwards, though later models of both families were designed with bells that faced forwards (''pavillon tournant''). The
mouthpiece was cup-shaped, and the
bore was conical, being probably intermediate between the cylindrical bore of the
natural trumpet
A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series.
History
The natural trumpet was used as a military instrument to facilitate communication (e.g. break camp, retreat, etc.).
Even before th ...
and the conical bore of the
natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trump ...
; the taper was slower than that of the saxhorns and
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
s.
The name of the instrument combines Sax's surname with the Italian word for "trumpet" (''tromba''). In Germany the instrument is known by the name
Saxtromba; in France the term ''saxotromba'' is generally applied to another close relative, the
Wagner tuba
The Wagner tuba is a four-valve brass instrument named after and commissioned by Richard Wagner. It combines technical features of both standard tubas and French horns, though despite its name, the Wagner tuba is more similar to the latter, and ...
.
History
The saxotromba was invented by Adolphe Sax at his workshop on the Rue Saint-Georges in Paris in the early 1840s. On 13 October 1845, Sax applied for a patent "for a family of cylinder instruments called saxotrombas, intermediate between the saxhorn and the cylinder trumpet." The cylinders referred to in the patent application were
piston valve
A "piston valve" is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.
Examples of piston valves are:
* The valves used in many brass instruments
* The va ...
s which allowed the player to lower the pitch of the instrument's natural or open
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
s by one or more semitones. In 1843 Sax had patented his own version of the Berlin piston valve (i.e. the ''Berliner Pumpenventil'', which had been invented independently by
Heinrich Stölzel
Heinrich David Stölzel (7 September 1777 – 16 February 1844) was a German horn player who developed some of the first valves for brass instruments. He developed the first valve for a brass musical instrument, the Stölzel valve, in 1818, a ...
in 1827 and
Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht
Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht (10 August 18024 August 1872) was a German musical conductor, composer and inventor.
Early life
Wieprecht was born at Aschersleben, where his father was a town musician.
According to his autobiography, from a young age ...
in 1833). These were independent valves, which were not designed to be used in combination with one another, though the intonational problems that arose when they were so used could often be corrected by the player's technique. This was especially true in the case of the higher-pitched half-tube instruments, which were usually provided with just three valves, allowing the player to lower the pitch of any open note by one, two or three semitones when the valves were used one at a time, or by four, five or six semitones when the valves were used in combination. Before the invention of compensating valves (which could be used in combination without producing faulty intonation), lower-pitched instruments generally required extra valves in order to lower the pitch of an open note by more than three semitones.
On 22 November 1845 Sax was granted French Patent 2306 for a "Musical instrument, called the saxotromba, whose principles of construction may by means of slight modifications, be applied to saxhorns, cornets, trumpets, and trombones". The saxotromba was also included in another of Sax's patents, ''Brevet d'invention 8351'' of 5 May 1849. This patent was amended on 20 August 1849 and again on 23 April 1852. In these patents, Sax defined the saxotrombas in three different ways. However, the constitution of the saxotromba family was never fixed, as Sax continued to introduce new sizes of instrument in the final two decades of his life, modifying the design of the instrument as he did so. Some of his latest models had as many as six independent valves, thus obviating the need to use them in combination.
There is little agreement as to the actual number of saxotromba models that were ever made, this number varying from source to source from as few as three to as many as nine. The oldest surviving specimen of saxotromba dates from 1849, a three-valved instrument now in the
Basel Historical Museum
The Basel Historical Museum (german: Historisches Museum Basel) is one of the largest and most important museums of its kind in Switzerland and a heritage site of national significance. It opened in 1892. The museum is divided into three building ...
, while the youngest surviving example is a six-valved instrument from 1864 now in the
Musée de la Musique in Paris. After Sax's death, his son Adolphe Edouard continued to manufacture saxotrombas into the twentieth century; an undated model at the Museum of Musical Instruments, Theatre and Cinematography in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
is thought to have been manufactured sometime between 1895 and 1907.
Throughout this period the saxotromba made occasional appearances in the opera houses of France, especially in the onstage ''
banda'' at the
Paris Opéra
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
, of which Sax was musical director from 1847 until 1892. It did make at least one notable operatic appearance in the onstage ''banda'' of
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
' ''Henry VIII'' (1883), which includes parts for two tenor saxotrombas in E. The saxotromba was also at this time a regular member of many brass bands throughout Europe, though the instrument disappeared from the inventories of the French military in 1867.
Sources
*One of the earliest descriptions of the saxotromba occurs in
Jean-Georges Kastner
Jean-Georges Kastner, born 9 March 1810 in Strasbourg, died 19 December 1867 in Paris, was a composer and musicologist.
Biography
Kastner's parents were Johann Georg Kastner, from Dettwiller, and Marie Salome Pfeiffer, from Woerth. Despite his ...
's ''Manuel général de musique militaire'' (1848):
''The saxo-tromba is a new instrument invented by Ad. Sax. This instrument is made of brass; it is equipped with a system of piston valves and has a cup-shaped mouthpiece. The timbre of the saxo-tromba resembles somewhat that of both the saxhorn and the trumpet; but it is less sombre than the former and less strident than the latter.''
*In 1855, in a revised version of his ''
Treatise on Instrumentation'', the French composer
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
described several of Sax's newly invented instruments, including the saxotrombas:
''These are brass instruments with mouth-piece, and with three, four, or five cylinders, like the axhorns Their tube, being more contracted, gives to the sound which it produces, a character more shrill, partaking at once of the quality of tone of the trumpet and of that of the bugle. The number of the members of the family of saxotrombas equals that of sax-horns. They are disposed in the same order, from high to low, and possess the same compass.''
*In 1910 W. L. Hubbard defined the term ''saxotromba'' — without any suggestion that the instrument was obsolete at the time of writing — in the following words:
''A valve instrument of the trumpet family having a narrow tube and the quality of whose tone is less delicate than that of the horn and more refined than that of the saxhorn. It is found in seven sizes: soprano; sopranino; alto; tenor; bass; low bass, and contrabass.''
*According to ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', the saxotrombas were "pitched in B and E, with an additional member in F, and they were designed to replace French horns in military bands".
The saxotromba family
Writing in his ''
Treatise on Instrumentation'' in 1855, Berlioz stated unequivocally that the number of saxotrombas was equal to the number of saxhorns, which he set at nine. Sax's patent application for the saxhorns (1845), however, only included five instruments, the other members being added in the 1850s. The original family comprised a soprano in 3' E, an alto in 4' B, a
tenor in 7' E, a
baritone in 9' B, and a bass in 9' B. The latter two instruments were of the same size, pitch and compass, differing only in bore.
If, as Berlioz stated, the saxotromba family corresponded in number, size and range to the family of saxhorns, then it would appear that there were originally four different sizes of the instrument: a soprano in 3' E, an alto in 4' B, a tenor in 7' E, and a bass in 9' B (though, once again, these may have been referred to by other names).
Kastner (1848) includes an image of seven different sizes of saxotromba, all of them with vertical bells:
Of the five original saxhorns, only the bass was a whole-tube instrument capable of sounding its
fundamental tone (or first harmonic). The narrower bore of the saxotrombas, however, meant that all members of this family were half-tube instruments (like the trumpets and
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
s), whose natural downward ranges extended only as far as the second harmonic.
Acoustic principles
The saxotromba was a half-tube brasswind instrument. It was constructed in such a way that the column of air inside the instrument was capable of vibrating at a number of different pitches that corresponded to the notes of the
harmonic series. These pitches are known as the instrument's
natural or normal modes of vibration, each one being a natural harmonic or open note. By vibrating their lips at the correct frequency, the player is able to compel the instrument's air column to vibrate at the correct pitch; by
lipping, they can correct the minor intonational defects that inevitably arise on account of the discrepancies between the natural harmonic series and the
tempered scales of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
.
Like the modern valve
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
and
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
, the saxotromba employed harmonics two through eight. Being a half-tube instrument, the fundamental or first harmonic was not available on the saxotromba. Harmonics higher than the eighth were certainly feasible, but it is unlikely that military musicians would ever have been required to venture above the eighth harmonic. The seventh harmonic was too much out of tune to be lipped; this partial was generally avoided by trumpeters and cornet players after the introduction of valves.
In order to provide a saxotromba with a chromatic compass from the second harmonic upwards, it is essential to provide the player with some means of lowering the pitch of the third harmonic by as many as six
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s, this being the size of the gap between the second and third harmonics. Three independent valves will reduce the pitch of a natural or open harmonic by two, one and three semitones respectively. Used singly or in combination, these can bridge the gap between the second and third harmonics, though the player will be required to correct by lipping the faulty intonation produced when independent valves are used in combination. The gaps between the higher harmonics are smaller still, so no more than three valves are required to provide a saxotromba with a full chromatic compass; this is true even if the seventh harmonic is not used.
Furthermore, by using all three valves in combination while
overblowing
Overblowing is the manipulation of supplied air through a wind instrument that causes the sounded pitch to jump to a higher one without a fingering change or the operation of a slide. Overblowing may involve a change in the air pressure, in the ...
the second harmonic, the player can extend the lower end of the instrument's compass downwards by six semitones to a note three whole tones below the second harmonic:
Presumably the fourth valve, where present, would have lowered the pitch of an open note by a perfect fourth, or five semitones, removing the need to use certain faulty combinations of the first three valves. In the early nineteenth century, when four valves were applied to a half-tube instrument they generally lowered the pitch of a natural harmonic by two, one, three and five semitones respectively. Berlioz notes that in the case of "an instrument ''with four cylinders'', the chromatic compass of the low part of this instrument no longer stops at the
ritten
Ritten (; it, Renon ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy.
Territory
The community is named after the high plateau, elevation , the Ritten or the Renon, on which most of the villages are located. The plateau forms t ...
F#
_tritone_below_the_second_harmonic.html" ;"title="tritone.html" ;"title=" tritone"> tritone below the second harmonic">tritone.html" ;"title=" tritone"> tritone below the second harmonicbut goes down to the first C [i.e. the written fundamental]". He notes, however, that the "first low note of the tube's resonance ... is too bad to be employed". This would seem to imply that the fourth valve of the saxotromba did indeed lower the pitch of a given harmonic by 5 semitones, so that all four valves in combination would lower an open note by a
major seventh
In music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as ''major'' because it i ...
. It is doubtful, however, whether four independent valves were ever used in combination to produce such low notes.
The fifth valve, where present, probably lowered the pitch of an open harmonic by 6 semitones. Later models of saxotromba were provided with six independent valves, lowering the pitch of an open harmonic by one through six semitones, thus removing completely the need to use any valves in combination.
Compass
Like the saxhorn, the saxotromba was a
transposing instrument
A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which music notation is not written at concert pitch (concert pitch is the pitch on a non-transposing instrument such as the piano). For example, playing a written middle C on a transposing i ...
. Its music was always written in the
treble clef
A clef (from French: 'key') is a Musical notation, musical symbol used to indicate which Musical note, notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff (music), stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to ...
as though for an instrument pitched in 4' C, but the actual sounds produced depended on the size of instrument used. For example, if a piece of music were performed on a soprano saxotromba in 3' E, it would sound a
minor third
In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...
higher than written.
In the following table, all possible saxotrombas mentioned in the literature have been included with their probable ranges, even those whose existence is in doubt; the four in bold are probably the original models of 1845. The table follows Forsysth (1914), who restricted the compass of all the saxhorns to harmonics two through eight, and set the lower end of the compass of the half-tube saxhorns a
tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...
below the second harmonic. Several other sources imply that the ninth and tenth harmonics were also in regular use (on some models, at least), extending the upper range by two whole-tones. I have assumed that all of the saxotrombas - even the contrabass models, if they ever existed - were half-tube instruments. It should be remembered that the fundamentals (shown here at their sounding pitches) were not available:
Richard Wagner and the saxotromba
In November 1853, the German composer
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
began the composition of the first of his ''
Ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
'' operas, ''
Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...
''. A few days later he drafted a provisional list of the musical instruments he intended to use in the work. It was written on one side of a sheet of paper the other side of which contained an early draft of the opera's opening scene. This list includes the following items:
In October of the same year Wagner had paid a visit to Adolphe Sax's workshop on the Rue St Georges in Paris, where he had seen several new instruments, including the saxhorns and saxotrombas. Wagner must have felt that the saxhorns would make suitable adjuncts to the large complement of horns he intended to use in the ''Ring'', as their appearance in the list of instruments in parenthesis after the "8 Hörner" clearly indicates that he originally intended four of his horn players to double on them.
As for the "Saxtromp", this is clearly an abbreviation of ''Saxtrompete'', Wagner's German translation of ''saxotromba''. It seems clear, then, that Wagner's original plan was to use a saxotromba as the bass member of his trumpet group; but between then and 1876, when the ''Ring'' was given its premiere, Wagner fell out with Sax and altered his plans more than once. In the event, the three trumpets were supported by a bass trumpet designed especially for the occasion by the instrument maker C. W. Moritz.
Nevertheless, we can deduce that one of the early saxotrombas was pitched in E, was equipped with four piston valves, and had a compass that was presumably capable of playing the bass trumpet part in ''Das Rheingold'' (which is notated throughout for an instrument in E, sounding a major sixth lower than written). This latter covers almost two-and-a-half octaves from sounding C3 (one octave below middle C) to G5 (at the top of the treble clef). This four-valved saxotromba in E presumably corresponded to the tenor saxhorn, whose sounding range according to Berlioz ran from A2 to G5, thus encompassing the bass trumpet part in ''Das Rheingold''. The top note, however, would have been produced by overblowing the tenth harmonic (sounding G5) while engaging the second valve (lowering the open note by one semitone to G5).
Saxotromba or saxhorn?
The
organologist
Organology (from Ancient Greek () 'instrument' and (), 'the study of') is the science of musical instruments and their classifications. It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how i ...
Evgenia Mitroulia has recently questioned the very existence of the saxotromba as an instrument in its own right. She argues that the instruments known today "as the alto and baritone saxhorns are in fact the alto and baritone saxotrombas". By taking accurate measurements of extant instruments, Mitroulia has concluded that "Sax's plan for creating two distinct complete families of brasses, the saxhorns and the saxotrombas, never came into realization. Sax's commercial trick regarding the existence of a saxotromba family has now been exposed".
Extant saxotrombas
Of the many saxotrombas manufactured by Adolphe Sax's firm, only half a dozen are known to have survived to the present day. The following table also includes three instruments of unknown location which may no longer be extant. Note that most of these instruments are identified as "saxhorn or saxotromba", which supports Mitroulia's claim that the saxotrombas were saxhorns in all but name:
Mitroulia & Myers (2008)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
''The Trumpets in Bach's Music'' - requires access
– the caption says 1860, but this is the eighth instrument (1864) in the table of extant saxotrombas.
Saxotromba with three valves and ''pavillon tournant''
Baritone saxotromba with ''pavillon tournant''
{{Authority control
Brass instruments
B-flat instruments
E-flat instruments