The Missing Saxophone Recovered(Updated)
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THE MISSING SAXOPHONE: Why the Saxophone Is Not a Permanent Member of the Orchestra by Mathew C. Ferraro Submitted to The Dana School of Music in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music in History and Literature YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY May 2012 The Missing Saxophone Mathew C. Ferraro I hereby release this thesis to the public. I understand that this thesis will be made available from the OhioLINK ETD Center and the Maag Library Circulation Desk for public access. I also authorize the University or other individuals to make copies of this thesis as needed for scholarly research. Signature: ____________________________________________________________ Mathew C. Ferraro, Student Date Approvals: ____________________________________________________________ Ewelina Boczkowska, Thesis Advisor Date ____________________________________________________________ Kent Engelhardt, Committee Member Date ____________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Gage, Committee Member Date ____________________________________________________________ Randall Goldberg, Committee Member Date ____________________________________________________________ James C. Umble, Committee Member Date ____________________________________________________________ Peter J. Kasvinsky, Dean of School of Graduate Studies Date Abstract From the time Adolphe Sax took out his first patent in 1846, the saxophone has found its way into nearly every style of music with one notable exception: the orchestra. Composers of serious orchestral music have not only disregarded the saxophone but have actually developed an aversion to the instrument, despite the fact that it was created at a time when the orchestra was expanding at its most rapid pace. This thesis is intended to identify historical reasons why the saxophone never became a permanent member of the orchestra or acquired a reputation as a serious classical instrument in the twentieth century. iii Dedicated to Isabella, Olivia & Sophia And to my father Michael C. Ferraro iv CONTENTS Abstract.............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication.......................................................................................................................... iv Figures................................................................................................................................ vi Preface............................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I. CONSPIRACY, SABOTAGE, AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SAXOPHONE ......................................................................................................2 Adolphe Sax.........................................................................................................................2 The Early Saxophone...........................................................................................................4 The Early Success of the Saxophone...................................................................................8 Creating Enemies...............................................................................................................18 Opposition Begins..............................................................................................................21 Early Repertoire.................................................................................................................27 Early Saxophone Instruction..............................................................................................30 CHAPTER II. THE SAXOPHONE’S PATH INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ............................40 Military Bands and Wind Bands........................................................................................41 Vaudeville and Its Negative Connotations ........................................................................45 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................54 Epilogue .............................................................................................................................56 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................58 v FIGURES 1.1 Sketch’s from Sax’s Original Patent...................................................................... 7 1.2 Early bass saxophones ........................................................................................... 7 1.3 Ophicleide player...................................................................................................10 1.4 Sax’s Factory at no. 10 rue neuve Saint-Georges in Paris, 1848...........................13 1.5 Concert held at Sax’s factory in Paris....................................................................13 1.6 Adolphe Sax (ca. 1844)..........................................................................................18 1.7 Score of Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne..................................................................37 1.8 Alto saxophone solo in the score of L’Arlésienne .................................................38 1.9 Score of Richard Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica ................................................39 2.1 Saxophone section of Patrick Gilmore’s band (1889) ...........................................44 2.2 The Six Brown Brothers (ca. 1916) .......................................................................48 vi PREFACE Although my career as a saxophone player has been extensive, I can honestly say that until I began studying the history of orchestral saxophone (an oxymoron if there ever was one), I had never played the alto solo from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne, suite no.1, nor the alto solo from Ravel’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In fact, I have never had the opportunity to perform with an orchestra at all. My only performance of the famous solo in Ravel’s Bolero came when I played in the pit orchestra for the “Radio City Rockettes,” the high-kicking female dance troupe from New York. The limited saxophone repertoire precluded me from performing symphonic literature of the nineteenth century, one of the most prolific periods in the history of orchestral composition. The standard saxophone repertoire consists mainly of twentieth- century compositions, and transcriptions of earlier bowed string works. Also, the saxophone is the only applied wind instrument that is not a permanent member of the orchestra. This relegates the saxophone to an unusual class of instrument, both worthy of being studied at the highest levels but lacking particular qualities that render it unfit for the orchestra. In the 1990s, I began playing for a variety of touring Broadway shows at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. During the run of these shows, I often stayed with my good friend and fellow saxophonist, Keith Turner. Keith has an extensive collection of recordings and we have always enjoyed listening to and analyzing music together. We always listened to a wide variety of styles, but favored music that included the saxophone. One evening after I had performed a show, we sat down at his apartment for one of our infamous listening sessions. Keith put on an orchestral piece, something he vii didn’t often do (probably because they rarely contain the saxophone). I will never forget that moment. The music began with strings in a kind of rocking, wheezing ostinato. Then came the cello, playing a beautiful, haunting melody. I liked it immediately. The opening section included the violin, celeste, horn, and bassoon joining the cello on this beautiful melody. Then, out of nowhere, appeared the sound of what seemed to be the tenor saxophone. My eyebrows rose instantly and I flashed a look at Keith, who was smiling and apparently enjoying the fact that I recognized our beloved saxophone. If not listening carefully, it is not obvious that the instrument is a saxophone. I have since played this excerpt for many musicians, including saxophonists, who have failed to correctly identify the instrument. In this instance it was being played with no vibrato by a clarinetist, which is common as you shall see, and was blended, alternately and in combination with the bassoon and cello so well that it was not obvious that it was a saxophone. The piece turned out to be the Romance movement of Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé (1934), recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of George Szell. The story of how Keith became aware of this work is remarkable in itself. One of our favorite albums of the 1980s was Sting’s The Dream of the Blue Turtles that contained the song “Russians,” an anti-nuclear, Cold War protest song. In the liner notes, which Keith was notorious for reading in their entirety, Sting acknowledged that he had borrowed the melody from Prokofiev. This, of course, led to a thorough listening of the piece and the identification of the tenor saxophone. Fast-forward to April of 2006, on my birthday. A package arrived at my door that contained a book by Michael Segell entitled The Devils Horn: the Story of the Saxophone from Noisy Novelty to King of Cool. Inside the cover read the inscription, “I hope you viii enjoy this as much as I did-Keith.” I found the book fascinating.