There are five doodles on Google home pages around the world today to celebrate the 201st birth anniversary of the inventor the saxophone – Antoine-Joseph Sax, also known as Adolphe Sax. Sax was born on November 6, 1814 in Dinant, Belgium.
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Today’s Google doodle is all about the man who invented the saxophone, making it possible for musicians to sit out on New York fire escapes playing jazz into the night forever.
A pioneer in instrument design, Sax was ahead of his time with many of his designs going largely unchanged today.
Saxophones, responsible for that classic jazz sound, filled a frequency void between brass and woodwind instruments.
Saxotromba: A valved brasswind instrument invented around 1844 for the mounted bands of the French military, probably as a substitute for the French horn.
The gold-toned Doodle, which has been created by Lydia Nichols, displays the massive influence that Sax had on modern-day music with the instruments bearing his name. Adolphe began to make his own instruments at an early age, entering two of his flutes and a clarinet into a competition at the age of 15.
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The saxophone’s invention made Adolphe Sax’s reputation and secured him a job, teaching at the Paris Conservatoire in 1857. He was driven to bankruptcy in 1856 and 1873 when his rivals launched various campaigns and litigations questioning the legitimacy of his patents. With each celebrating one of Adolphe Sax’s inventions with an exception – ‘The Googlehorn.’ This was “inspired by the intricate tubing Sax employed to alter and manipulate sound”, says Google.
