World's Coolest Belgian

'Cool' and 'Belgian' are not two words that you see together that often, but if you've got this far you probably agree with me that Adolphe Sax was a pretty cool guy.

He was born on 6th November 1814 in Dinant Belgium and was called Antoine Joseph Sax. He was always known as Adolphe, so perhaps his parents couldn't agree. His father, Charles Joseph Sax was a carpenter and cabinet maker who eventually became successful musical instrument maker. The family moved to Brussels when Adolphe was young. Here he learnt instrument making from his father and studied the Flute and Clarinet, reaching such a high standard that the composer Kuffner dedicated a clarinet duet to him when he was aged just 20. At the same time he was designing and exhibiting instruments and this, fortunately for us, was the path in life he chose to pursue.

The design for the saxophone grew out of his work on making a workable Bass Clarinet (I think we can let that one go - I played one of those things before I saw the light.). His Bass Clarinet design improvements are used in the modern instrument. Sax also invented the complete range of brass instruments know today as Saxhorns but we will ignore that as brass players are nasty and loud.

In 1841 Sax moved to Paris after he was contacted by the French army. They had heard of his talent as an instrument designer and this persuaded him to move, along with his being refused a prize by the Brussels Exhibition jury on the grounds of being too young. He arrived with little money but managed to set up a factory with loans from various benefactors including Hector Berlioz (another great guy who wrote some lovely bits for the saxophone, including it in many orchestral works.)

He designed the first saxophone as a bass instrument and it made its first public appearance in 1844 playing as part of a sextet of Sax's instruments playing a specially arranged version of Berlioz's 'Chant Sacre'. The legend goes that Sax was still making adjustments to the instrument during the performance. Sax soon realised that a whole range of instruments could be made and his patent of 1846 listed 8 sizes.

He also had to contend with the jealousy of other Parisian instrument makers. Like many geniuses he was also rather tactless and was outspoken and critical of other instruments of the time. This culminated in an attempt on his life which only failed because one of his staff was mistaken for him and stabbed to death.

Sax's success meant he could expand his premises and add a concert hall where he could demonstrate his instruments. The saxophone's popularity began to spread around the world, and in 1857 Sax was appointed Professor of the Saxophone at he Paris Conservatiore. He also started a music publishing company and commissioned several works for the saxophone.

All was not perfect however as his competitors brought many lawsuits challenging his patents, and the Franco-Prussian War meant that he lost many of his supporters, as well as his job as professor of the saxophone. In the end these lead to his eventual bankruptcy, the sale of his factory and instrument collection. His sons carried on his name with a small factory in Paris and Sax died in 1894 at the age of 79.

Sax was an eccentric genius, his life blighted by the jealousy of those less talented than him, but leaving a legacy that the Saxophonists of the world can be grateful for.