CULTURE - ABOUT ADOLPHE SAX - AND THE SAXOPHONE
All is culture - and culture is everything. This is what many people say and think. I will now and then present sides of Belgian culture, which you might know or not know.
Today I will start by telling about a famous Belgian. His name is ADOLPHE SAX. He libed in the years 1814-94. And why is he famous? Because he invented the SAXOPHONE. A very special instrument, even revolutionary at the time of its invention. Today it is known, used and appreciated all over the world.
Below see photos of the inventor and of one of his own saxophones. Very nice work, indeed!
A bit about himself: He was born in the Belgian town of Dinant in the Ardennes - at the Meuse river. His parents were both instrument makers, so young Adolphe ( he was one of their 11 kids ) walked around their workshop and got ideas. When he was 15, he had made a number of instruments, which were presented on an important exhibition. He was about to win the first prize. But the committee thought he was too Young, so he got prize no. two. The self-contious boy got very angry and said: If I am too young to get the first prize, I am too old to cheat! And he pulled out of the exhibition!
By the way, he was about to be seriously killed seven times when he was a boy. He fell down from the third floor in their house. He was also about to drown in the river. He was drinking a poisonous drink he believed was milk. And he was also swallowing a needle. His mother was convinced that he would die very young. But that did not happen.
His personal invention, the SAXOPHONE, is in many ways special. Though it is normally made of brass it belongs to the wood-wind instruments. Why? Because it has a piece of wood, normally bambus, inside. Without that, no sound. The saxophone can play over 2 1/2 octaves. In the beginning the saxophone was not part of a normal orchestra. It was in particular used for military music. And Adolphe Sax sold more than 20.000 saxophones to the French army. He lived part of his life in Paris - and was known to be a very hot tempered person. He went bankrupt three times.
The big breakthrough as an instrument also in symphony orchestras came later with Maurice Ravel's Bolero. In that the saxophone is a very important instrument. See and listen here:
Later the saxophone became a very important instrument in jazz. Lots of well-know jazz musicians played on it - such as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ben Webster, Count Basie and Stan Getz. Danish Jesper Thilo is also among them.
President Bill Clinton plays "the sax" and was very close to join the festivities in Dinant, in 1994 on the occasion of a hundred years since the death of Adolphe Sax. Instead he played in a restaurant in downtown Brussels.
Adolphe Sax is a very important person for the music loving Belgians. Just as Toots Thielemans and singers like Jacques Brel and Salvatore Adamo also are. I might come back to them later.
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