Saxotromba, F, E and E-flat
Maker
Adolphe Sax
Date1848
Place MadeParis, France, Europe
Serial No.5130
SignedEngraved on bell: Adolphe Sax & Cie,,
Paris,, 5130,, Stamped on bell underneath signature: AS [monogram] PARIS [inserted in “S” of monogram]
Markingsnone
DescriptionBrass, double loop, double-L-shaped tuning slide after valve section (alternatives for 6-ft F and E missing), upright bell, three Berlin piston valves of Sax's design (1, ½, 1½), screw alignment.
The instrument was made between January and March 1848 according to the serial number. It represents a "saxotromba en fa (tons de mi et mi bémol), pour faire la partie de cor dans la musique de cavalery" [the saxotromba in F (E and E flat) to play the part of the horn in the cavalry music] (George Kastner, Manuel Général de Musique militaire, Paris 1848). Eugenia Mitroulia has established (based on the 1845 patent by Adolphe Sax) that surviving alto instruments of this kind all resemble the narrow-bore saxotromba, not the wider bore of the alto saxhorn.
DimensionsHeight: 649 mm
Tube length: 1958 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slide): 11.3 mm, 11.2 mm, 11.2–12.2 mm, 11.2 mm
Bell diameter: 173 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1996 from Tony Bingham, London, England.
Published ReferencesEugenia Mitroulia, “Saxotromba: Fact or Fiction,” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 35 (2009): 136 and 409.
Sabine Katharina Klaus, Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 3: Valves Evolve (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2017), pp. 130-131, 134-135, 300.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07166
On View
Not on view
Adolphe Sax & Cie
1846-1854 ca.
