A reader emailed me to tell me about his 1932 Selmer Cigar Cutter Saxophone in E, so I wrote about the saxophone here to see if I could find more information. Many readers responded that this saxophone is not tuned to E, but is a high pitched E flat. I needed more information on the history of high pitched instruments, the practice of the instrument, the pitch systems, the manufacturers, and the discontinuation of high pitched instruments. Luckily I knew who to contact to learn more about the practice of high pitched instruments.
The National Music Museum, located on the campus of University of South Dakota in Vermillion has an extensive collection of woodwind and brass instruments along with string, keyboards, and instruments from around the world. The museum has recently been added onto and is currently getting ready for its grand reopening with more space to display its collection. I emailed the curators for brass and woodwind instruments to learn more about high pitched instruments. When the museum reopens in August, 2023 it will have an exhibition on high pitched and low pitched instruments. If you haven’t been to the museum, it’s worth the trip.
Dr. Sabine Klaus, the brass curator, filled me in on the practice of high pitched instruments. By the 1930s, high pitched instruments were in decline. However, the practice of high pitched bands continued in certain areas. For example, British Salvation Army used high pitch (a1=453) until 1964. The continued use high pitched instruments makes it plausible that these Selmer saxophones are band instruments for high pitched ensembles.
Next, high pitched instruments do not use a uniform tuning. The tuning system for high pitched instruments varies from a1=450 Hz up to a1=465 Hz. For comparison to the tuning system we use now a1=440 Hz, the next highest note is a#1=466.16 Hz. Depending on the tuning of this specific saxophone, it could be closer in pitch to E than E flat. Likewise, low pitch instruments vary from a1=435 Hz up to 440 Hz. Since there are no other high pitched Selmer Saxophones to compare it to, we would need a sound example to figure out the tuning for this specific saxophone.
Manufacturers in many countries produced high pitched instruments. I will focus on saxophone manufacturers, all of these saxophones are in the National Music Museum. The American manufacturers of high pitched instruments include J. W. Pepper, Conn, and Buescher. French manufacturers include Triebert, Buffet-Crampton, L. Pierret, and Evette & Schaeffer—Evette is also a part of Buffet-Crampton. Italian makers include Maino & Orsi and Romeo Orsi. In addition, Leo van Oostrom book, 100+1 Saxen includes a high pitched sopranino in Eb made by a Netherlands manufacturer, H. Schenkelaars made around the 1930s.[1] Most of the high pitched saxophones in the Museum’s collection were manufactured from 1890-1915 with an exception of the Romeo Orsi. This confirms that high pitched instruments were on the way out by 1932 but there were still a few companies manufacturing high pitched saxophones.
How are high pitched instruments marked? At the museum, both Dr. Klaus and the woodwind curator, Dr. Deborah Reeves, confirmed high pitched instruments were marked with an HP for high pitch. They were unfamiliar with the marking AD, but some commenters on the original post that AD stands for “Ancien Diapason”—old tuning. Since the Selmer saxophone was not manufactured for the general market, that might explain why they used this marking rather than HP.
Now onto Selmer. Selmer began manufacturing saxophones in 1922. If you have a Selmer saxophone before 1922—I have a “Selmer” C melody from the 1910s—it’s either a Conn or a Buescher stencil. My C melody has a Buescher body style. Looking at Selmer’s instrument catalog from 1921 and 1922, the last page has the this paragraph listed under General Information.
“Selmer woodwind instruments are built at Universal Low Pitch—440 vibrations to A at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the pitch used by the leading musical organizations, and is the official pitch of the American Federation of Musicians.”
That statement is consistent over the first decade of Selmer saxophone production. The only Selmer woodwind instrument available in high pitch is the clarinet. Selmer does not have a history of producing high pitched saxophones. For the hundreds of thousands of saxophones Selmer has produced over it’s history, it only has produced ten high pitched saxophones, all in the year 1932.
Now the question is why did they make this saxophone? Like I stated above, the saxophone could have been produced for high pitched bands that were in existence. The quality of the saxophone, the finish and the engraving on the saxophone leads me to believe that this is not a band instrument. In the list of manufacturers above, there were other makers in France, the Netherlands, and Italy producing high pitched saxophones. In addition, if Selmer was making instruments for a band, I would expect them to make a quartet of saxophones. Selmer only produced a soprano and alto with the marking AD.
The more likely scenario is the saxophone was produced for a specific composer for a specific piece. What could that be? I would expect the other instrument(s) would a fixed pitched instrument. Here are a few guesses.
Ondes Martenot: The Ondes Martenot is an electric organ with a theremin like sound ribbon. It was invented around the 1920s in France and by the 1930s, major composers were writing works for this instrument. In the link above, I showcase works by Honegger and Vellones that are orchestrated for chamber groups including the saxophone.
Carillon: A reader commented that a high pitched saxophone might be used for works with Carillon. Carillons tuning is on the high end, so this could be a possibility.
Organ: I’ve done some research into premieres in 1932-33, and I have found some works for saxophone, organ, and orchestra. This is where I’m going to start. The next step is to look up the works in Londeix’s 150 Years of Music for Saxophone and see if there are any more works for saxophone and organ from 1932-33 that I have missed. It will take a few days before I can get my hands on this reference book, so in the mean time, I will keep searching.
Do you have a theory on what this saxophone was used for? Leave a comment and I will check it out.
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[1] Leo Van Oostrom, 100+1 Saxen, Edition Sax (2009) pg. 143 and 156.
the Operatic Saxophone 
Please keep in mind that there are two different Selmer companies, that is Selmer Paris and Selmer USA (now Conn-Selmer). The c-melody mentioned is a Selmer USA or Selmer “York”, and you are correct in that it was most likely manufactured by Conn. The low C keyguard in “Mercedes Star” -shape wire and the Conn ferrules (raised center ring as opposed to the two grooves on Buescher) connecting the bow to the body and bell as well as the bow guard (absence of the rooster crescent) are good tell tale signs regarding the manufacturer. Hope this helps, if you have more questions, let me know.
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Thanks for your insight.
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