Thursday word: sarrusophone
Aug. 29th, 2013 07:22 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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1word1daysarrusophone (suh-ROO-zuh-fohn) - n., any of a family of double-reed wind instruments with metal bodies and a conical bore.
Initially designed and named after Parisian band leader Pierre-Auguste Sarrus in 1856 -- saxophone being not the only family of instruments named after their inventor. This family was intended to replace the oboe and bassoon, which at the time did not have the carrying power needed for outdoor concerts. The fingering was identical to the saxophone, leading to a lawsuit from Adolphe Sax (he lost because the timbers of the two families is so different they are clearly different beasts). They were used for a while but now are largely a novelty instrument, with the contrabass versions being the most called-for until a contrabass clarinet was finally developed.
In the silence, notes blatted out from the sarrusophone.
---L.
Initially designed and named after Parisian band leader Pierre-Auguste Sarrus in 1856 -- saxophone being not the only family of instruments named after their inventor. This family was intended to replace the oboe and bassoon, which at the time did not have the carrying power needed for outdoor concerts. The fingering was identical to the saxophone, leading to a lawsuit from Adolphe Sax (he lost because the timbers of the two families is so different they are clearly different beasts). They were used for a while but now are largely a novelty instrument, with the contrabass versions being the most called-for until a contrabass clarinet was finally developed.
In the silence, notes blatted out from the sarrusophone.
---L.
