Petit Saxhorn Suraigu

The genesis of this newly made instrument began during a 2023 visit to Le Pavillon, a repair shop in Compiègne, about 50 miles north-east of Paris. This is where Luc Gallois, France’s leading restorer of brass instruments performs his magic. He handed to me for examination, a tiny sopranino instrument with Belgian style double piston valves that was entrusted to him for restoration. It is a petite saxhorn suraigu in Bb (piccolo), made by Adolphe Sax in 1862. The next year, I was sent photos of the expertly restored instrument.

Only one example of this size instrument by Sax was previously reported, including Evgenia Mitroulia’s 2011 dissertation on saxhorns and related instruments. That instrument is part of a well known set of instruments, all with bells up, made in the 1860s that were given to the Brussels Musical Instrument Museum by Sax. The set includes the petit suraigu in Bb, soprano in Eb, contralto in Bb (pitch of modern flugelhorn), alto in Eb, baritone in Bb, bass in Bb contrabass in Eb and subcontrabass in BBb. The two smallest of this set have three Périnet valves and three keys for the highest notes, but the rest have Berliner valves as is most common in the earliest Saxhorns. In Mitroulia’s dissertation, she stated that it was not known if Sax ever made the smallest saxhorn with Berlin valves, but ne of my first thoughts was to wonder if he did.

An Internet search easily located a video of Krisztian Kovats expertly demonstrating just such an instrument, including the use of the three keys. This instrument is part of the Kompetenzzentrum Musikinstrumentenbau in Kriens, Switzerland, the performance being at the HKB Romantic Brass Conference at the Klingendes Museum, in Bern. The design of the new instrument is based on that instrument and perhaps the keys will be added later. The first and third valves are standard Berlin design from the era, but the second valve is a modified Périnet or hybrid valve, presumably to more easily incorporate the half step crook. All three of the original instruments were likely made in 1862, although the Brussels instrument is the earliest and might have been made in 1861.

According to Mitroulia, Adolphe Sax first advertised this instrument in 1862, although it had been included in the 1849 score for Berlioz’s “Te Deum”. Also, the report of the jury of the 1851 London Exhibition states “…his small treble Sax-horn, in Bb, is the only brass instrument known that can reach with certainty and just intonation the notes of the upper octave of the flute.” It isn’t likely that this is a report of this instrument being demonstrated and the instrument is not visible in the photograph of the Sax display case at that exhibition. He continued offering it for sale into the 1880s, but no others are known. However, a few very rare examples of very similar instruments by other French and Belgian makers are known, many more by Mahillon, who continued producing them at least into the 1940s. By this time, the demand for these highest pitched brass instruments had grown considerably and many examples of this variant are known including the Goeyens model in C with four valves. Some of Mahillon’s instruments were supplied with extensions to play in A and G, but they were best suited for Bb. More modern piccolo trumpets were then being made by Couesnon and then Selmer, eventually leading to the refinement of the instrument by Reynold Schilke around 1970.

The Belgian style instrument was measured in Gallois’ shop and is 7 7/8” long (about 8 3/8” to the end of the replacement mouthpiece receiver), the bell rim diameter is 3 9/16”, and the bore diameter inside the valves is about .4”. The re-creation is of similar dimensions. The playing qualities are similar to the Mahillon piccolos, including intonation challenges. The ability to play in tune is highly dependent on the mouthpiece used and the abilities of the player, of course. There is no real need for such instruments in our modern world other than another facet in enjoying our rich cultural-industrial history.