Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 152
Scan 152
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
26 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 132. See the scan on archive.org.
1effected by the "Association Générale des Ouvriers," and patented by them. In 1887 the instrument was again improved by MM. Evette and Schaeffer, and by M. Millereau; the exact nature of the improvements formed the subject of patents in France, and is of too technical a nature to be described at length here. Of late years several additional fingerings, and improved mechanism, have been effected by M. Fontaine Besson. In Belgium, as in France, the saxophone is in common use, and the Belgian makers M. Albert and M. Charles Mahillon, of Brussels, keeping pace with recent improvements, produce large numbers of these instruments.
3With application of the so-called Boehm system to the clarinet by Klosé, came the desire to apply a fingering somewhat similar to the saxophone; and the first makers who succeeded in producing instruments thus constructed were MM. Lecomte. As, however, Boehm's invention related principally to the division of the bore, and the position and size of the lateral holes, the name "Boehm-saxophone" seems hardly correct; the proportion of the bore and disposition of the holes remaining the same, the alterations being only as regards mechanism and fingering. The saxophone, though inferior to the clarinet both as regards compass, quality of tone, and articulation, is, nevertheless, of considerable value in military bands; and it has recently been adopted at the Royal Military School of Music. Up to the present time it has not been received as an integral part of any military band in England.
5There is a complete family of these instruments formed as follows:
7I.
8Sopranino in f'.
9Soprano in c'.
10Contralto in f.
11Tenor in c.
12Baryton in F.
13Bass in C.
15II.
16Sopranino in e'b.
17Soprano in bb.
18Contralto in e'b.
19Tenor in Bb.
20Baryton in Eb.
21Bass in Bb.
23I. are intended for use in the orchestra; II. in military bands.
25In France the use of four or five of the varieties of these instruments is common. In Belgium those most employed are the contralto, tenor, and baryton.
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