soprillo

[sax maniac]

Does anyone know if it is possible to purchase a soprillo. i have been wondering if the epplesheim company is marketing them, so if you know please tell me where i could maybe get one. (yea right) :(

[Jazzophone]

I'm sure you could probably use their contact address or something ... http://eppelsheim.com/eppelsheim-blasinstrumente.html has their address in Germany but other than that I haven't seen anything.

[Dave Dolson]

Why . . . oh why . . . DAVE

[Mike Ruhl]

C'mon, Dave...you don't think Bechet would have played one? :wink:

[Dave Dolson]

Meruhl: Bechet played everything available in his time (I have a neat recording of him playing a sarrusophone), but for the life of me, I cannot understand the legality of a horn higher than a sopranino. You'd think PETA would be all over their case for that evil little device, let alone a soprillo. Maybe it's been too many years at the pistol range, but I can hardly hear the high notes on my 'nino. DAVE

[singlereed]

Saxophones.co.uk say that they will get prices on the Eppelsheims if they have interest.

[RS]

What is a soprillo?

[Mike Ruhl]

It's a teensy weensy little straight sax, pitched an octave above the Bb soprano. It was only recently developed by the Eppelsheim company, whose link is above. This sax is so small, the octave vent is in the mouthpiece!

[RS]

Holy moly. Sounds like there should be a permit needed to get one.

[Gandar]

I wonder what would curved soprillo look...

:wink:

[FattBariSax]

that would beimpossible. There would be no room for any keys. I saw thepic there is already almost no room for keys. Itsawfully small...**** man I would never even play the alto because its to small let alone the soprillo.

[conntenor]

the soprillo is also called the sopranissimo sax (more fitting for such a high pitched instrument).

Could you imagine a person who sang sopranissimo? probably shatter glass all around for miles.

[Jack W.]

I listened to the sound files on the Eppelsheim web page.

That settles it, I have got to get me one of these. 8)
-- JW

(convicted of 29 incidents of emitting high-pitched
shrill piercing noises in 11 states) :)

[Morry]

I gotta tell ya, the recordings of both of that company's horns make me want to jab pencils in my ears.

In the words of Jeff Goldblum..."Just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we SHOULD." :?

[zrice03]

I heard the soprillo is priced between 1800 and 2000 euros. I am planning to get one within a year

[Mike Ruhl]

I gotta tell ya, the recordings of both of that company's horns make me want to jab pencils in my ears.

In the words of Jeff Goldblum..."Just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we SHOULD." :?I was impressed that the soprillo really didn't sound all that shrill. I liked it. That other thing, however...pass the #2s...

[saximum]

I just talked with Benedikt Eppelsheim, and he said that they are not quite ready yet, but they will be in the Fall or Winter. The price will be about 2000 Euros. I asked to be put on the waiting list for one. You can also listen the them on his web page. That is what sold me actually. They have a nice, very listenable sound.

Ravel used a sopranissimo saxophone in Bolero, so they say.

Visit http://www.eppelsheim.com

[Paul Cohen]

Ravel used a sopranissimo saxophone in Bolero, so they say.



Ravel scored Bolero for a sopranino in F, an instrument that did not and does not exist. In performances, if the sopranino is used, it is the standard model in the key of Eb, requiring transposing the printed part up a step. As scored, the sopranino solo extends beyond the lower range of the instrument and is picked up by the second saxophonist on soprano, a somewhat awkward and unprecedented (for the piece) transition. Often the sopranino is not used, with the solo fitting beautifully and perfectly on a Bb soprano.
In my performances of Bolero with orchestra, I play the solos on Bb tenor and Bb soprano, then switch to sopranino later in the part when it plays within the orchestra texture.
Paul Cohen

[MojoBari]

Any idea why Ravel would score for a non-existant instrument?

[saxtek]

Ravel probably took his saxophone information from the Berlioz Treatise on Instrumentation, later revised by Richard Strauss. The range of the soprano and sopranino saxes in these reference books is listed as low B to high D. If this range were in fact the actual range of the soprano and sopranino saxes in Ravel's time, it would have been necessary to use the sopranino.

In fact, the Treatise on Instrumentation was obsolete as far as the saxophone is concerned by the time Ravel wrote the Bolero. The saxophone parts, as Mr. Cohen has pointed out, are perfectly playable on tenor and Bb soprano saxophones by one saxophone player.

The saxophone literature is full of saxophone parts written for the instrument by great composers who didn't know much about the saxophone - pointing out the difference between a composer and an orchestrator, who should know better.

[Paul Cohen]

Ravel probably took his saxophone information from the Berlioz Treatise on Instrumentation, later revised by Richard Strauss. The range of the soprano and sopranino saxes in these reference books is listed as low B to high D. If this range were in fact the actual range of the soprano and sopranino saxes in Ravel's time, it would have been necessary to use the sopranino.

We both agree that Ravel scored for a saxophone that did not exist, and he probably should have known better. (I am reminded that Schonberg scored for a C bass in his opera at around the same time.) But I believe Ravel did want to score for the sopranino, as it is the piccolo counterpart to the saxophone family as the Eb clarinet solo is to the clarinet family in the early part of the piece.
Ravel wrote Bolero in the late 1920s, and there is no doubt that he had experience with the saxophone in both listening to it in France and his own scoring in Pictures. By then, (from the turn of the century) the minimal range of the soprano was B to Eb, with most going to low Bb, and many to high F. I believe it was not the range consideration that forced him into the sopranino, but his interest in distinct orchestral color. Having performed the part at times on sopranino and at times on soprano, I can attest to the color difference, even where the sopranino is part of the orchestral texture.
Paul Cohen

[guitarbob]

I'm listening to the recordings on the site. Very funny, Turbax and Soprillo duet. One sounds like fart and the other sounds like little squeeks.

[shmuelyosef]

but for the life of me, I cannot understand the legality of a horn higher than a sopranino. You'd think PETA would be all over their case for that evil little device, let alone a soprillo.
I question the need for anything higher than a tenor or lower than a baritone in the sax family, although on occasion I'm forced to play alto or soprano.

I'm tempted to save up for a soprillo just as a conversation piece on my piano!! It's too small to make a lamp out of...maybe make a laser pointer out of one

[fluteypiccolosax]

theres actually one on ebay now