Adolphe Sax

Trained in flute and clarinet at the Brussels Conservatory and apprenticed in his father's instrument workshop, Sax sought to create an instrument bridging the timbral gap between woodwinds and brasses. In 1842, he moved to Paris with a prototype brass instrument played with a single reed mouthpiece.

Composer Hector Berlioz published an ecstatic front-page article praising Sax's invention in the Journal des Débats. Patented in 1846, the saxophone became indispensable in French military bands and later became the expressive voice of American jazz. Sax served as professor of saxophone at the Paris Conservatoire.