Sarrusophone

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The sarrusophone is a family of transposing musical instruments patented and placed into production by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. It was named after the French bandmaster Pierre Auguste Sarrus (1813-1876) who is credited with the concept of the instrument (it is not clear if Sarrus benefited financially from this association) and its intended use was to serve as a replacement for the oboe and bassoon in bands, the tones of which lack the carrying power needed for the outdoor band music of that era.

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Sizes and ranges

The sarrusophone was manufactured in the following sizes and had the following theoretical ranges:

As can be seen, the non-transposed range of the sarrusophone is nearly identical to that of the saxophone. The traditional conventional range of the saxophone is written Bb-F. Initially, Gautrot advertised the range of the sarrusophone to high F as well, but later fingering charts indicated a range to high G. Sometime after 1868, Gautrot also released a fingering chart indicating fingerings higher still up to a top B-flat, giving a range of three full octaves.

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Construction

All members of the sarrusophone are made of metal, with a conical bore, and the larger members of the family resemble the ophicleide in shape. Like the oboe and bassoon, all sizes of sarrusophone were originally designed to be played with a double reed. Later, single reed mouthpieces were developed which resemble alto or soprano saxophone mouthpieces, and attach to the bocal.

The fingering is nearly identical as that of the saxophone; the similarity caused Adolphe Sax to file and lose at least one lawsuit against Gautrot, claiming infringement upon his patent for the saxophone. Sax lost on the grounds that the tone produced by the two families of instruments are markedly different, despite their mechanical similarities. However, because the sarrusophone never reached wide acceptance, makers were not inclined to develop its mechanism to the same extent as that of the saxophone. Although there are likely exceptions, features of the sarrusophone's mechanism generally include:

  • Non-automatic octave keys (necessary to produce the "standard" top 4th of its range). From sopranino through bass, 2 octave keys. The contra basses (and perhaps some basses) have 3
  • No articulated G#, bis Bb, F# trill keys or 1/1 and 1/2 Bb as found on the saxophone. The top and bottom key stacks are not linked
  • The key for low Bb is activated by the left thumb as opposed to the left little finger as on the saxophone
  • A key for rapid alternation across the C-D break. This key can also be used to play high D as well (This may be taken to be an equivalent of the high D palm key of a saxophone)
  • No palm keys for playing the top range. Using the non-automatic register keys, 3rd harmonics are easily available, rendering palm keys unnecessary.
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Use in classical music

The sarrusophone is rarely called for in orchestral music. However, around the turn of the 20th century, the contrabass sarrusophones in EEb and CC enjoyed a vogue, the latter as a substitute for the contrabassoon, (the French model patterned after the German Heckel model, having been introduced later around 1906 by Buffet et al.) so that it is called for in, for example, Maurice Ravel's L'heure espagnol (1907) and Arrigo Boito's Nerone (1924). Igor Stravinsky included a part for contrabass sarrusophone in Thereni. The composer Paul Dukas used the contrabass sarrusophone to great effect in 1890 in his The Sorcerer's Apprentice, where the instrument begins the bassoon's macabre dance motif (familiar to all who recall Disney's animated film Fantasia). These parts are nowadays all played on the contrabassoon. In general when the term "sarrusophone" is used, it usually refers to the EEb contrabass which appears to have been made in larger numbers than any other size. It should be pointed out that although the CC contrabass was perhaps envisoned for these and other orchestral works, few instruments were made and those that did exist, were most likely the property of the orchestras that they were made for. The CC contrabass has a range that is identical to the contrabassoon, while the EEb contrabass, while having the same written range as the CC, due to its key, lacks the lowest 3 notes of the contrabassoon's range (C, B, Bb).

The EEb contrabass has also been used as an alternative to the EEb contrabass saxophone, which due to its large size is impractical in many musical situations, especially marching.

Until recently, the BBb contrabass had the distinguishing feature of being the lowest pitched reed instrument ever placed in production, since it is capable of producing a low A-flat, one semitone lower than the lowest note on the standard piano and the extended range contrabassoon's low A. However, the German instrument maker Benedikct Eppelsheim has recently introduced a brand new instrument called the "Tubax" (a saxophone hybrid), one model of which, the BBb subcontrabass, also has A-flat as its lowest pitch.

The French firm of G. Leblanc for many years (1950s-1980s?) featured photographs of its EEEb octocontra-alto and BBBb octocontrabass clarinets, instruments that could play lower still, in its advertising. However, despite their notoriety and frequent citing in books on musical instruments and in on-line discussion forums, these instruments were never placed in production and were, perhaps, more along the lines of engineering achievements and curiosities (despite the fact that the EEEb model could be a viable instrument, it is said that only three were made). Even then, it appears that few BBb contrabass sarrusophones were ever built, the EEb being much more portable and perhaps, practical.

In the concert band literature, Percy Grainger used the EEb contrabass in the original scoring of his children's march "Over the Hills and Far Away". In early 20th century Italian band scores, parts for the Bb tenor, Eb baritone, and Bb bass sarrusophones as well as the contrabass are common. It appears that higher members of the sarrusophone family were not as popular as the lower members. For the most part, the use of the sarrusophone was primarily in France, Italy and Spain. During or after World War I, US Military personnel noted the use of the contrabass sarrusophone in French military bands and thereafter, commissioned the U.S. firm Conn to manufacture the EEb contrabass for use in U.S. military bands beginning in approximately 1921, as per Conn's advertising of the time. The initial order was for 148 instruments. The instrument was offered for sale to the general public as well, but production appears to have ceased in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Beginning in 1921, the John Philip Sousa band used the Conn sarrusophone for an unknown period of time. In Germany, the instrument was practically unknown (although, curiously, Heckel stated in its 1930 catalog that sarrusophones could be made on demand), and in England, there may have been limited use of the instrument, but it never caught on there. In 1908 when Sir Thomas Beecham wished to perform the work "Apollo and the Seaman" by the British composer Josef Holbrooke (who had included parts for several sizes of sarrusophones), the sarrusophone parts had to be played by performers brought over from France. Paderewski included three Eb contrabass sarrusophones in his Symphony in B Minor ("Polonia").

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Use in jazz

A very unusual example of the sarrusophone in jazz is on the 1924 recording by the Clarence Williams Blue 5 of "Mandy, Make Up Your Mind," with the sarrusophone played by the jazz soprano saxophone and clarinet virtuoso Sidney Bechet. One can conjecture that the sarrusophone played was most likely a contrabass with a single reed mouthpiece, as Bechet was not a trained double reed player. It is interesting to note that Bechet later denied having ever played the sarrusophone!

In the 1970s and 1980s the late American jazz musician Gerald Oshita (based in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area and associated with Roscoe Mitchell) played avant-garde jazz on an EEb contrabass manufactured by Conn. More recently (1990-2006), recordings using sarrusophone have been released by saxophonists Scott Robinson, Lenny Pickett, James Carter, and Paul Winter.

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Present status

The sarrusophone is now obsolete and only used as a novelty upon occasions. However, there appears to be a resurgence of interest in the instrument and there are amateur players (mostly the EEb contrabass) now in several regional concert bands in the United States.

The tone of the sarrusophone is less clear but much reedier than that of the saxophone. In humorous terms, the sarrusophone can be said to sound rather "industrial" or perhaps "unrefined." New sarrusophones can still be bought by request from the Orsi Instrument Company, in Italy. Historically, Orsi, Rampone (later Rampone & Cazzani), Buffet (under the ownership of Evette & Schaeffer), Conn (Eb contrabass only), Gautrot and Couesnon (Gautrot's successor) were the best known and possibly, only makers that produced in quantity.

The somewhat harsh tone quality of the sarrusophone and the need for a double reed may have contributed to it not becoming a standard member of the wind band. The need for a contrabass pitched woodwind has existed since at least the 19th century. During the 19th century and into the 20th there were sporadic attempts by Sax, Buffet, Besson and others to build a successful contrabass clarinet in either Eb or Bb. In the early 1930's, upon the suggestion of the American Bandmaster's Association, the French firm Selmer succeeded when they introduced their Eb contrabass model (the popular Eb and Bb contrabass models by the French firm LeBlanc not being placed into production until the late 1940's, although invented earlier). It can be conjectured that the compactness and musical qualities of these instruments may have contributed to the non-use of the sarrusophone, as they are now very common in musical circles ranging from junior high school through professional.

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The Rothphone

The rothphone, also known as the rothophone or saxarrusophone, is a sarrusophone hybrid that is rewrapped to look like a saxophone. It was manufactured by the Italian maker Roth of Milan and was introduced around 1900, but found no popular acceptance. They are, nowadays, even less common than the sarrusophone. They came in sizes from soprano to bass. It had a less conical bore than both the saxophone and the sarrusophone. As per advertising of the time, the well known American saxophone manufacturer, Buescher imported a number of these instruments into the United States during the late 1920s or early 1930s, perhaps as an answer to Conn's production of the contrabass sarrusophone.

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Mistaken identity

Another obscure deep toned double reed instrument called the "reed contrabass" or "contrabasso ad ancia" is frequently mistaken for the contrabass sarrusophone. This instrument was developed by the Belgian maker Mahillion in the 1860s based on a slightly earlier design by the Czech maker Chervany, some time after the introduction of the sarrusophone. This instrument has a much wider bore than the contrabass sarrusophone and is acoustically unlike any other woodwind instrument in that the bore is so wide in fact, that only one key at a time needs to be open to produce a given note. Hence, for the most part, only one key is opened at a time to produce a note, save the two octave keys. All of the keys on this instrument, except for the very lowest (producing the lowest D on the piano), lie normally closed. This instrument seems to have found use only in Italy, where it is still manufactured by the Orsi firm. However, both this instrument and all of the sarrusophones are still considered "special order" items.

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External links

de:Sarrusophon fr:Sarrusophone it:Sarrusofono no:Sarrusofon nn:Sarrusofon

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