Editing Saxophone (section)

===Early development and adoption===
[[File:Adolphe Sax.jpg|thumb|[[Adolphe Sax]], the inventor of the saxophone]]
The saxophone was designed around 1840 by [[Adolphe Sax]], a Belgian instrument maker, [[flautist]], and [[clarinet]]ist.<ref name="Saxophone" /> Born in [[Dinant]] and originally based in [[Brussels]], he moved to Paris in 1842 to establish his musical instrument business. Before working on the saxophone, he made several improvements to the [[bass clarinet]] by improving its keywork and acoustics and extending its lower range. Sax was also a maker of the [[ophicleide]], a large conical brass instrument in the bass register with keys similar to a woodwind instrument. His experience with these two instruments allowed him to develop the skills and technologies needed to make the first saxophones.

As an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and the agility of a woodwind. He wanted it to [[overblowing|overblow]] at the [[octave]], unlike the clarinet, which rises in [[pitch (music)|pitch]] by a [[interval (music)|twelfth]] when overblown. An instrument that overblows at the octave has identical [[Fingering (music)|fingering]] for both [[register (music)|registers]].

Sax created an instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece and conical brass body. Having constructed saxophones in several sizes in the early 1840s, Sax applied for, and received, a 15-year patent for the instrument on 28 June 1846.<ref name=bassax>{{cite web |url=http://www.basssax.com/adolphesax.htm |title=Adolphe Sax|publisher=BassSax.com |access-date=2007-05-07}}</ref> The patent encompassed 14 versions of the fundamental design, split into two categories of seven instruments each, and ranging from [[sopranino saxophone|sopranino]] to [[contrabass saxophone|contrabass]].  A limited number of instruments in the series pitched in F and C were produced by Sax, but the series pitched in E{{music|b}} and B{{music|b}} quickly became the standard.  All the instruments were given an initial written range from the B below the treble staff to the E{{music|b}} one half-step below the third [[ledger line]] above staff, giving each saxophone a range of two and a half octaves.  Sax's patent expired in 1866.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-saxophone.com/history-of-the-saxophone.html|access-date=2008-01-06|title=The history, of the saxophone|publisher=The-Saxophone.com }}</ref> Thereafter, numerous other instrument manufacturers implemented their own improvements to the design and keywork.

Sax's original keywork, which was based on the ''Triebert system 3'' [[oboe]] for the left hand and the ''[[Boehm system (clarinet)|Boehm]]'' [[clarinet]] for the right, was simplistic and made certain legato passages and wide intervals extremely difficult to finger; that system was later improved with extra keys, linkage mechanisms, and alternate fingerings.

Early in the development of the saxophone the upper keyed range was extended to E, then to F above the staff; 1880s era sheet music for saxophone was written for the range of low B to F.  In 1887 the [[Buffet-Crampon]] company obtained a patent for extending the bell and adding an extra key to extend the range downwards by one [[semitone]] to B{{music|b}}.<ref>Noyes, p. 119 (Noyes refers to the "Evette and Schaeffer" company, however, Buffet-Crampon had acquired Evette and Schaeffer in 1877 and was using Evette-Schaeffer as a brand for their own instruments)</ref>  This extension is standard in modern designs, with the notable exception of baritone saxophones which have keys down to low A. The upper range to F remained the standard for nearly a century until a high F{{music|#}} key became common on modern saxophones.
[[File:Charles-Antoine Cambon - Set design for the première of Rossini's Robert Bruce, Act III, Scene 3.jpg|thumb|In a rare early inclusion in an orchestral score, the saxophone was used in [[Gioacchino Rossini]]'s ''[[Robert Bruce (opera)|Robert Bruce]]'' (1846)<ref>* Weinstock, Herbert (1968), p. 238, ''Rossini: A Biography''. New York: Knopf. {{OCLC|192614|250474431}}. Reprint (1987): New York: Limelight. {{ISBN|978-0-87910-071-1}}.</ref>|alt=A painting of a stage setting based on the ramparts of Sterling Castle in the Late Middle Ages.]]
In the 1840s and 1850s, Sax's invention gained use in small classical ensembles (both all-saxophone and mixed), as a solo instrument, and in French and British military bands.  Saxophone method books were published and saxophone instruction was offered at conservatories in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and Italy.  By 1856 the French ''[[Garde Republicaine]]'' band was the largest ensemble of its time to prominently feature the instrument, using eight saxophones.  The saxophone was used experimentally in orchestral scores, but never came into widespread use as an orchestral instrument.  In 1853-54 the orchestra of Louis Antoine Jullien featured a soprano saxophone on a concert tour of the United States.<ref>Noyes, Chapter II</ref>

After an early period of interest and support from classical music communities in Europe, interest in the saxophone as a classical instrument waned in the late nineteenth century. Saxophone teaching at the Paris Conservatory was suspended from 1870 to 1900 and classical saxophone repertoire stagnated during that period.<ref name="bassax" />  But it was during this same period that the saxophone began to be promoted in the United States, largely through the efforts of [[Patrick Gilmore]], leader of the ''22nd Regiment band'', and [[Edward A. Lefebre]], a Dutch émigré and saxophonist who had family business associations with Sax.  Lefebre settled in New York in early 1872 after he arrived as a clarinetist with a British opera company.  Gilmore organized the [[World peace jubilee and international music festival|World Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival]] taking place in Boston that summer. The Garde Republicaine band performed and Lefebre was a clarinetist with the Great Festival Orchestra for that event.<ref>Noyes, Chapter III</ref> In the fall of 1873 Gilmore was reorganizing the 22nd Regiment band under the influence of the Garde Republicaine band and recruited Lefebre, who had established a reputation in New York as a saxophonist over the previous year.  Gilmore's band soon featured a soprano-alto-tenor-baritone saxophone section, which also performed as a quartet.  The Gilmore-Lefebre association lasted until Gilmore's death in 1892, during which time Lefebre also performed in smaller ensembles of various sizes and instrumentation, and worked with composers to increase light classical and popular repertoire for saxophone.<ref name="Noyes, Chapter IV">Noyes, Chapter IV</ref>

Lefebre's later promotional efforts were very significant in broadening adoption of the saxophone. Starting near the end of the 1880s he consulted with the brass instrument manufacturer [[C.G. Conn]] to develop and start production of improved saxophones to replace the costly, scarce, and mechanically unreliable European instruments that were in the American market.  The early 1890s saw regular production of saxophones commence at Conn and its offshoot [[Buescher Band Instrument Company|Buescher Manufacturing Company]], which dramatically increased availability of saxophones in the US.  Lefebre worked with the music publisher [[Carl Fischer Music|Carl Fischer]] to distribute his transcriptions, arrangements, and original works for saxophone, and worked with the Conn Conservatory to further saxophone pedagogy in the US.  Lefebre's associations with Conn and Fischer lasted into the first decade of the twentieth century and Fischer continued to publish new arrangements of Lefebre's works after his death.<ref>Noyes, Chapter V</ref>