During the 18th century clarinet-making gradually advanced, but without producing entirely competent instruments. In 1814 Ivan Müller (d. 1854), a Russian player, then working in Paris, perfected the form with 13 keys which for the first time made playing possible in all scales. Though not at first approved by academic judges, this form was soon widely advertised by Müller's brilliant tours and by his method (1825). He also invented an alto clarinet, which, however, did not dislodge the already accepted basset-horn. Both the clarinet and the basset-horn were ably handled by the leading orchestral writers of the period, so that much incentive was given to their makers.
The bass clarinet was little used until after 1830. Its perfecting was largely due to Charles Joseph Sax (d. 1865) and his son Adolphe Sax (d. 1894). The father founded a factory at Brussels in 1815, in which the son was trained. The latter went to Paris in 1842 and was followed by his father in 1853. There they developed an immense business, especially in brass instruments. In 1842 the son exhibited the 'saxophone,' a novel union of a clarinet mouthpiece with a metal conical tube. In 1845 he devised the 'saxhorn,' a developed bugle, and the 'saxotromba.' All these were made in sets or 'families' of differing pitch, and are specially valuable in military bands. A large number of less useful inventions followed.
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Fig. 103.—Saxophones.
Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht (d. 1872),
from 1824 in royal service at Berlin and
from 1838 chief of the Prussian military
bands, in 1835, with the help of others,
perfected the 'bass tuba' and in 1849 the
less useful 'bathyphon' (somewhat resembling
the bass clarinet), besides other
novelties. He contested with Sax the
invention of the saxhorn, but without
success in the courts.
In harp-making the main problem, aside from details of strength and sonority, was to provide for chromatic tones and especially for complete shifts of key without multiplying strings. Early in the 18th century experiments began with little 'crooks' (adjustable metal angles inserted by the hand or controlled by a pedal) by which the strings could be raised a semitone. From about 1780 Pierre Joseph Cousineau (d. 1824) produced two or three ingenious devices of the same class, including a complete double action (securing a rise of either one or two semitones). Various drawbacks in all these were finally overcome by Sébastien Érard, the piano-maker (see above), who began improving the harp before 1790. By 1810 he had perfected a double action with studded disks revolved by pedals so as to grip the strings
