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The Saxophone in Germany Before 1924 The saxophone was newly invented around 1838 and patented in Paris by its inventor, Adolphe Sax, in 1846. By the 1870s the saxophone was well established in the military bands of France, Italy, Spain, and somewhat later in England and the United States. The prestigious French Garde Republicaine was noted for featuring six to eight saxophones and numerous saxophone soloists during this time.^' In addition, the saxophone appears in a handful of orchestral works, including a prominent part in Georges Bizet's L'arlesienne (1872). The saxophone found its way to America in the 1870s as a feature of the Patrick Gilmore Band, and later enjoyed a prosperous tenure with the John Philip Sousa Band
Following the end of World War One in 1918,
interest in the saxophone mushroomed into a "veritable epidemic of saxophone mania. The saxophone was rarely encountered in Germany prior to the 1920s and references to the instrument are sparse. Hemke notes that the famed Dutch soloist E.A. Lefebre performed in the towns of Leipzig, Hanover, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and Weisbaden in 1871.^'^ Ventzke notes that the Baden Grenadiers (Regiment No. 109) used saxophones during the 500th anniversary celebration of Heidelberg University in 1886.^^
Fred Hemke, "The Early History of the Saxophone" (D.M.A. diss.. University of Wisconsin, 1975), 239-242. Michael Eric Hester, "The Saxophone Soloists Performing with the John Philip Sousa Band: 1893-1930," The Saxophone Symposium 23 (1998): 1-35. Harry R. Gee, Saxophone Soloists and Their Music, 1844-1985: An annotated bibliography (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), 23. Fred Hemke, "The Early History of the Saxophone" (D.M.A. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1975), 406. Karl Ventzke, "The Saxophone in German-speaking countries up until the 2"*^ World War," in The 7"^ World Saxophone Congress Program Booklet (Nuremberg, 1982).