Fun Music History Facts – Adolphe Sax

Fun music history facts #1:

Adolphe Sax, inventor of the Saxophone, was really accident prone. His mother’s only recorded words are: “The child is doomed to suffer; he won’t live.” Here’s some of his near death experiences:

  • He nearly drowned
  • fell headlong down three flights of stairs and cracked his head on a stone floor
  • nearly got poisoned four times
  • he swallowed a pin
  • received severe burns from a gunpowder explosion
  • burned knocking a frying pan over
  • hit on the head by a falling roof-stone
  • nearly asphyxiated from varnish fumes

Apparently the locals in Brussels called him “Young Sax, the Ghost.”

For those interested in reading more about his life, you can check out this article here, which you can access through the Saskatoon Public Library’s website.

Or see if you can find a book (such as the reference book I used, ‘Adolphe Sax 1814-1894’ by Wally Horwood)