Notes on this instrument

The tenor was the last member of the saxophone family built by Adolphe Sax to see the light. For identification, here you can find a very reliable list of Adolphe Sax serial numbers; https://www.euchmi.ed.ac.uk/am/gdsl.html

I played this Sax instrument on my CD “For Now and Forever”, with an original wooden Sax mouthpiece, accompanied by Martien Maas on a 1843 Erard grand piano. It was important to pair this saxophone with a contemporary piano, because of the tuning (A=435 Hz), the sound and the dynamic spectrum. Listen below to two works.

In my doctoral thesis I investigated the 19th century saxophone sound.

This instrument was restored by Nico Bodewes, Amsterdam. The images below give a detailed view of the restoration process, as documented by Nico.

During a so called ‘Blended Intensive Programme’ at the Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg in 2023, students were able to play on Adolphe Sax saxophones from my collection.