Saxhorn

In this section

• What is it?

  A conical-bore B♭ brass instrument in the tenor–baritone range — and the tangle of names (baritone, tenor tuba, saxhorn) that surround it.

• History

  Serpent → ophicleide → euphonion → saxhorn → the modern horn: how the tenor voice of the low brass took its present shape in barely a century.

• Who invented the euphonium

  There's no single inventor. The euphonium emerged in the 1840s–50s from several makers experimenting with wide-bore valved brass; Ferdinand Sommer and Adolphe Sax are both part of the story, and the modern instrument was shaped later by the compensating system.

• Is a euphonium a saxhorn

  Historically yes — the euphonium descends from the B♭ saxhorn family patented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. Whether today's wide-bore euphonium still counts as a 'saxhorn' is a matter of how strictly you draw the family line.