The Basset horn had the deep compass of the bass
clarinet which separates it from the present alto clarinet, although
it was more like the alto in caliber. The alto clarinet is also used
in military bands; and probably what the Basset horn would have been
written for is divided between the present bass and alto clarinets.
Preceding the invention of the sarrusophone, by which a perfected oboe
was contrived in a brass instrument, a modified brass instrument, the
saxophone, bearing a similar relation to the clarinet, was invented in
1846 by Sax, whose name will occur again and again in connection with
important inventions in military band instruments. The saxophone is
played like the clarinet with the intervention of a beating reed, but
is not cylindrical; it has a conical tube like the oboe. The different
shape of the column of air changes the first available harmonic
obtained by overblowing to the octave instead of the twelfth; and also
in consequence of the greater strength of the even harmonics,
distinctly changing the tone quality. The sarrusophone may fairly be
regarded as an oboe or bassoon; but the saxophone is not so closely
related to the clarinet. There are four sizes of saxophone now made
between high soprano and bass.
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