Adolphe Sax Photo: Commons
The great musical progress of the 19th century would not have been possible without the ingenuity of the instrument builders, who patiently and painstakingly tinkered away, often barely keeping abreast of the demands that Romantic-era composers were making in their scores. Competition between them became operatic at times, with sabotage, espionage, backstabbing, and even attempted assassinations. And yet it was an era in which the breadth of builders’ imaginations had the sweep of a creation myth, with whole families of instruments springing to life from the dust and sweat of the workshop table. If performers had their Paganini’s and their Franz Liszt’s, if composers had their Chopin’s and their Wagner’s, then instrument builders too had their supreme virtuoso craftsmen, who blended aesthetics, beauty of tone, and practicality of use in developing the forms that we know and play today. And chief amongst these, as far as brass and winds is concerned, was Adolphe Sax. Presented by Thomas Goss (RNZ)
