Sopranino saxophone

Sopranino saxophone
Orsi curved sopranino saxophone (c. 2000)
Woodwind instrument
Classification Single-reed
Hornbostel–Sachs classification422.212-71
(Single-reed aerophone with keys)
Inventor(s)Adolphe Sax
Developed1840s
Playing range
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Sopranino saxophone in E♭ sounds a minor third higher than written.
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The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E♭, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. A sopranino in F was also described in Adolphe Sax's patent, an octave above an F alto (mezzo-soprano), but there are no known built instruments.[2]

The sopranino saxophone has a sweet sound and although it is one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use today, it is still being produced by saxophone manufacturers Orsi and Rampone & Cazzani in Italy, Henri Selmer Paris, Yanagisawa of Japan, and Chinese makers Jinbao and Wessex.[1] Due to their small size, sopraninos are usually built straight like a clarinet, although Orsi make both straight and curved sopraninos, with the appearance of a miniature alto.[3]

Top to bottom: a curved E♭ sopranino saxophone, a straight E♭ sopranino saxophone, a C soprano saxophone, and a B♭ soprano saxophone.

The original patented saxophone family, as developed by Adolphe Sax, included E♭ and B♭ saxophones in the voices of sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and subcontrabass instruments, and the same seven in the keys of C and F, though only the soprano, alto, and tenor were ever made.[2] Since the late 1990s the soprillo, an even smaller piccolo saxophone tuned in B♭ a fifth above the sopranino, was developed by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim.[4][5]

The sopranino saxophone is a transposing instrument, with the same written range as any saxophone, from B♭3 to at least F6. Sounding a minor third higher than written, like an E♭ clarinet or soprano cornet, this range corresponds to D♭4 to A♭6 in concert pitch.

  1. ^ a b
    • "JBSST-420-天津市津宝乐器有限公司" (in Chinese). Tianjin: Jinbao. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
    • "Super Action 80 Series II sopranino saxophone". Paris: Henri Selmer. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
    • "List of Available Saxophones". Milan: Orsi. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009.
    • "R1 Jazz Sopranino" (in Italian). Quarna Sotto: Rampone & Cazzani. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
    • "Sopranino Saxophone - SAX420". Andover: Wessex Tubas. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
    • "Sopranino". Tokyo: Yanagisawa Saxophones. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b Hart, Hugh (28 June 2010). "June 28, 1846: Parisian Inventor Patents Saxophone". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  3. ^ "ORSI Saxophone Catalogue". Milan: Romeo Orsi. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009.
  4. ^ Cohen, Paul (September 2000). "Redefining the saxophone, Soprillo and Tubax: new saxophones for a new millennium". Saxophone Journal. 25 (1). Needham, MA: Dorn Publications: 8–10. ISSN 0276-4768.
  5. ^ "Soprillo". Munich: Benedikt Eppelsheim Wind Instruments. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023. B♭-Piccolo-Saxophon