Inventor Adolphe Sax: The One Who Forced Death to Surrender Time and Again!

Known as the inventor of the saxophone, the sexy sound that opens the song “Careless Whisper” has captured the hearts of countless music lovers across generations. Alongside this, Adolphe Sax (1814 – 1894) is also famous for his remarkable ability to “cheat death,” as evidenced by the fact that despite many encounters with the Grim Reaper, he remained… indifferent and calmly slept soundly.

Bad Luck Follows

Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on November 6, 1814, in Dinant, Belgium, into a family with 11 children. His parents were instrument designers, so he taught himself the craft from a young age, spending much time in the family workshop. Even as a child, Adolphe displayed a natural talent for music and a deep understanding of musical instruments.

At just 14 years old, Sax sought to create his own version of the clarinet. By 15, he achieved what was considered impossible at the time, crafting a clarinet and two flutes made of ivory, promising a bright future ahead.

However, what is astonishing is that he was often stalked by “Death” from a young age yet always miraculously escaped.

At the age of 3, Adolphe Sax marked his “immortal” turning point with his first accident, when he fell from a three-story staircase and hit his head on the stone floor. Numerous reports were recorded: some claimed he was in a coma for a week, while others noted he was bedridden during that time… But the outcome was the same: he was still alive!

That same year, Sax mischievously swallowed a giant needle, but perhaps born under the right sign of “the child of heaven”, nothing happened; what went in could also come out. A week later, he proceeded to drink a cup of… sulfuric acid (specifically H₂SO₄, that terrifying chemical!).

This is Adolphe Sax, the inventor with the ability to “cheat death”!

Some time later, it’s unclear how Sax managed to fall into a blazing oven and got burned. Fortunately, the injury did not become severely infected, although part of his body was left with permanent scars.

Such accidents would be enough to scare a child away from the outside world, but for Sax, this was just the beginning of a game! At 10 years old, he fell into a river and nearly drifted away to the “golden stream” if he hadn’t gotten stuck near a windmill and was saved by a kind farmer.

Death style…

Born into a relatively wealthy family and being a true young master, it seemed that this was merely a consolation for Sax’s unfortunate fate! A few years later, while he was out “eavesdropping” on workers at the family workshop, a container of gunpowder suddenly exploded, and guess who was standing nearby? Of course, it was Sax, who somehow remained unharmed afterward…

Exhausted by fate and the whims of the supernatural, Sax tried everything to avoid accidents, but sadly, accidents did not want to avoid him! Once, while walking on the street, a large piece of stone suddenly “fell from the sky” and hit Sax on the head, leaving him unconscious for a long time… Until one fine morning, he suddenly woke up and shouted: “I’m still alive, folks!”

After all, Adolphe Sax continued to live well despite life programming numerous accidents for him.

Perhaps the god of accidents grew tired of Adolphe Sax’s face, so this time, the god of illness had to step in. It’s worth noting that Adolphe Sax was indeed the inventor of the saxophone, and his constant need to test and play the instrument led to him developing… lip cancer. However, after six years of treatment, the tumor finally relented and returned a beautiful life to Sax.

In the end, the Grim Reaper successfully “claimed the soul” of Adolphe Sax, as he peacefully passed away at the age of 79 in Paris. But that was simply the law of “birth, aging, illness, and death” of humanity!

Though unfortunate with death, he was quite compatible with the accidents “falling from the sky.” Sax’s mother, Marie-Joseph, once exclaimed: “He is cursed by the gods with misfortune; he won’t survive.” Neighbors affectionately nicknamed him “Little Sax, the living ghost.”

The Struggling Inventor

Afterward, it seemed that the Grim Reaper had forgotten Adolphe for a long time, and he continued to create new instrument designs and other improvements. By the age of 20, he invented a new fingering system for the clarinet and frequently entered his various new instruments into competitions, particularly at the Belgian National Exhibition, where he was supposed to receive a Gold Medal but was denied due to his young age.

Adolphe Sax was also known as a talented musician, having studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and recognized as a skilled flutist and clarinetist.

In 1842, Adolphe Sax moved to Paris, designing new instruments for French military bands. He combined the sound of woodwind instruments with brass, which later became known as the saxophone, and received a patent for it in 1846.

Adolphe Sax – the father of the saxophone.

At that time, the saxophone was considered a highly innovative instrument ahead of its time, although it took a while to gain popularity in the music world. Many other instrument manufacturers sought to undermine him out of jealousy for his groundbreaking innovations.

Sax began teaching at the Paris Conservatory in 1857 and continued to design many other instruments, but it was the saxophone that ensured his lasting fame, even though it did not make him wealthy.

Sax went bankrupt three times, his designs faced continuous copyright infringements, and above all, the saxophone was not accepted in contemporary orchestras, being seldom used except in military bands. Additionally, Sax’s rivals constantly sought to suppress this new invention, using all means to tarnish his reputation.

Things got even worse when the Grim Reaper seemed to have not forgotten him. Once, Sax’s workshop mysteriously burned down, but fortunately, he was not present at that time.

On another occasion, an unidentified gunman, believed to be hired by Sax’s enemies, shot one of his assistants thinking it was him. There was even a time when he was captured and brutally beaten by thugs, but strangely, he still survived.

From 1853 to 1858, Sax suffered from lip cancer, a disease considered equivalent to a death sentence at the time, but he miraculously recovered thanks to an Indian doctor.

This doctor treated him simply with herbal remedies. After consuming some concoctions, the tumor grew so large that he had to eat through a tube, but then it gradually shrank and completely disappeared.

Misfortune also lurked around his family, as two of his five children died young. Ultimately, the Grim Reaper triumphed in 1894 when Adolphe Sax was 79 years old, which was not too bad for someone who had been pursued by misfortune since childhood.

After Adolphe Sax’s death, the saxophone made its way to the United States, where it became a sensation among jazz musicians and ultimately became a globally recognized instrument.

Although Sax died in poverty, his invention changed the face of music forever, and his saxophone design remains unchanged to this day.