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National Music Museum

Helen

Content Expert Saxophones
Staff member
Administrator
If you haven't yet checked out the NMM's Sax family's saxophone collection, I highly recommend a virtual visit if you can't make the trip to the University of South Dakota.

Just last month they updated their website to reflect all 11 Sax (10 father & 1 son) saxophones in their collection.

I had done a blog entry on this, and that had caught the attention of the museum's senior curator, Dr. Margaret Downie Banks. She was kind enough to comment in order clarify a question I had posed in my post about the number of horns they had in their collection.

What's also interesting, is that the NMM has, as part of its Cutler Gallery, a quartet of Adolphe Sax Saxophones. All very pretty horns indeed.
 
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Did you know that there is a bit of intrigue involved with this saxophone?

The Cecil Leeson sax collection had been on display in the library at Ball State University, where Leeson was saxophone professor. After his passing, the Musical Instrument Museum contacted Leeson's family and the family donated the collection to the museum, bypassing Ball State University.

However, the university had purchased an Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone to complete a quartet of original saxophones. The baritone was also sent to the museum, even though it was not owned by Leeson's family:

http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Saxophone/AdolpheSax/5764baritone/5764SaxBaritone.html
 
So, they still need to find:

* C soprano
* F alto
* C bass

Those are the only pitches I have more-or-less confirmed really exist. There might be a Eb/F sopranino out there and a C tenor, too. POSSIBLY a curved C bass and/or F baritone.

Of course, there are also the low A variants :).

Groove has written a good amount on early saxophones. He might have more information. I've mentioned before that I didn't really spend that much time researching 19th century saxophones. I might rectify that in the future: I had a lot of pics of A. Sax horns on saxpics.com and I do know all the patent dates, so it MIGHT be easy to do some research on.
 
Original Adolphe sax tenors in C do exist. As a matter of fact there are at least 4 of them:

1. Greenleaf collection, Interlochen, Michigan
2. University of Michigan collection [HASHTAG]#641[/HASHTAG], Ann Arbor
3. St. Petersburg, Russia, #53
4. Viadrina Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

Source - 4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments, by Phillip T. Young

The only original C soprano was probably destroyed by WWII bombing

Paul Cohen owns an original F alto, perhaps the one found by Paul Brodie

Leo Van Oostrom owns a straight alto in F or G, incomplete

I'm still hoping for a prototype ophicleide-shaped bass sax to turn up, a definite possibility, as is a conventional Adolphe sax bass in C.

None of this stuff has anything to do with modern instruments and their usefulness. However, we now know more about the original saxophone than we did 40 years after Sax's death because of the research by Fred Hemke, Paul Cohen, and other classical players.

I know from personal experience that these 150 year old saxophones by Adolphe Sax play very well, with the proper mouthpiece. They are not loud, but the tone is wonderful, the timbre is very even throughout the range, and keywork is solid and dependable.
 
I've been to that museum to see them in person. I swear, I needed a bib to control the drool.

Plus they had this audio device that allowed me to hear (with ear buds) many of the actual instruments being played.

I spent an entire day there.

It was called "America's Shrine To Music Museum" at the time and I stumbled upon it by accident. I saw a poster in a motel I was staying in on the way to the Badlands, and decided I had to go there.

If you get anywhere near Vermillion SD, go there, it's mandatory.

I've attached the poster that caught my eye.

Notes
 
I'm still trying to head up to the Musical Instrument Museum here in Phoenix. I thought I was going to be able to go last Saturday, but I ended up having to work for 9.5 hours. Probably the same for the next few weekends ....
 
Both museums have some major attractions for people interested in old horns, and both are very, very far from me. I am still planning a visit to one or the other or both, and I'd like to hear any reports from people who have visited either one.
 
...The only original C soprano was probably destroyed by WWII bombing...

...None of this stuff has anything to do with modern instruments and their usefulness. However, we now know more about the original saxophone than we did 40 years after Sax's death because of the research by Fred Hemke, Paul Cohen, and other classical players....

I just finished a book on harmony clarinets, and it is eye opening to read just how many historic instruments were destroyed by the bombing offensives during World War II. Much of what was preserved in Germany (and, to a lesser extent, Great Britain, France and Belgium) was destroyed, often in a piecemeal fashion. The book is replete (REPLETE, I tells ya) with listings that read like "Only the lower joint and half of the bell survives", "...of which only the mouthpiece survives" and so on.

Apparently, Dinant was a significant target for the bombing offensive, this due to the industrial concentration there.

And, I sure would like to see some of this research by Paul Cohen (who looks very much like me, for some strange reason). I have always enjoyed what little I have seen published in the otherwise horrid Saxophone Journal, and would love to get it all printed up in the same place.
 
Anybody wants to have a gathering at Vermillion, I'm in.
 
I just finished a book on harmony clarinets, and it is eye opening to read just how many historic instruments were destroyed by the bombing offensives during World War II. Much of what was preserved in Germany (and, to a lesser extent, Great Britain, France and Belgium) was destroyed, often in a piecemeal fashion.
To me, it's not that surprising. I think it's more surprising how much remains, particularly in Germany. All you have to do is watch the Military Channel (cable; by the folks that brought you the Discovery Channel) for a couple hours.

However, "piecemeal" seems cruel. Were they melted down or burnt for the war effort, SOTSDO?

=============

I'll check my Paul Cohen Topical Index, when I have a chance and see what articles he wrote regarding the 19th century saxophones. I'll try to remember to shoot him an e-mail, too. We can also include Groove in that list (as mentioned). There are also the superb books by Wally Horwood (I should sell my copy of Adolphe Sax and his Saxophone. It's fetching about $200 on amazon.com).

A long while ago, I had mentioned about putting together a better list of all known Adolphe Sax saxophones. I kinda lost interest, but there are quite a few more out there than are in most lists.
 
There are also the superb books by Wally Horwood (I should sell my copy of Adolphe Sax and his Saxophone. It's fetching about $200 on amazon.com).

I didn't know it was out of print. After years of buying every book about the saxophone, sometimes at ridiculously high prices, it's nice to know that someday I might recover some of the cost.
 
Terry said:
And, I sure would like to see some of this research by Paul Cohen (who looks very much like me, for some strange reason). I have always enjoyed what little I have seen published in the otherwise horrid Saxophone Journal, and would love to get it all printed up in the same place.

I am beginning to make some of my articles available as PDF scans from the Saxophone Journal. I've compiled some into four small volumes call the "PC Reader" (I-IV), and many others are about to be similarly compiled into thematic volumes.

Paul Cohen
 
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Oooh. I'd even pay a fee for those, especially if they were searchable.

Awhile back, I did scan all of the Vintage Saxophone Revisited articles I had from the magazines, as kind-of an easier way of accessing them, rather than wading though all that paper. That + Paul Cohen's Topical Index made searching easier. However, I didn't have the text searchable and I'm missing a couple issues.
 
Welcome Paul. Do you have a location for those PDFs yet?

I have my four PC reader volumes ready, but not posted anywhere. The other columns are scanned but not consolidated into theme volumes. Not sure when that will take place.
I dont have the expertise to know how or where to post them for download.

If all of my articles were scanned, perhaps they could be sent to me, as I will compile them into logical order, then make them available through some type of posting.

Paul Cohen
 
That would certainly be welcome...

...buy you still haven't accounted for the fact that you're going around and putting on a visual impression of moi.

Sure, you're probably a better saxophone player, sure, you're probably smarter than I am, and sure, you probably weigh less than I do.

But, I was doing "me" first, if I recall the age difference correctly.

Perhaps if the courts would mandate a change of eyewear style, the resemblance would not be so striking...

Seriously (as if anything I ever do or write could fall in that category):

The only reason that I have ever opened a copy of the Saxophone Journal is to see what Paul had to say. In the mass of mushy jazz musician interviews and overwrought articles on technique, his writing stood out as a beacon of clarity and reason. Too bad that it is so specialized that it has had trouble finding an appropriate vehicle to carry it to the specialist public.
 
I can try to get them to you, Paul. However, they're not that great of scans. I'll put 'em in a zip file on my website and e-mail you a password. It'll be a bit, though: several things that are trying to grab my attention!
 
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