Saxotromba - The Saxotromba Family

The Saxotromba Family

Writing in his Treatise on Instrumentation in 1855, Berlioz stated unequivocally that the number of saxotrombas was equal to the number of saxhorns, which he set at nine. Sax's patent application for the saxhorns (1845), however, only included five instruments, the other members being added in the 1850s. The original family comprised a soprano in 3' E♭, an alto in 4' B♭, a tenor in 7' E♭, a baritone in 9' B♭, and a bass in 9' B♭. The latter two instruments were of the same size, pitch and compass, differing only in bore.

If, as Berlioz stated, the saxotromba family corresponded in number, size and range to the family of saxhorns, then it would appear that there were originally four different sizes of the instrument: a soprano in 3' E♭, an alto in 4' B♭, a tenor in 7' E♭, and a bass in 9' B♭ (though, once again, these may have been referred to by other names).

Kastner (1848) includes an image of seven different sizes of saxotromba, all of them with vertical bells:

Of the five original saxhorns, only the bass was a whole-tube instrument capable of sounding its fundamental tone (or first harmonic). The narrower bore of the saxotrombas, however, meant that all members of this family were half-tube instruments (like the trumpets and cornets), whose natural downward ranges extended only as far as the second harmonic.