: Why are saxophones not commonly included in orchestras?
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Because the creator of the saxophone was an absolute dick to everyone, so other instruments manufacturers lobbied to have the saxophone evicted from orchestras, even having composers who had already written with the saxophone in mind remove it from their pieces.
[Here is the complete explanation](https://youtu.be/BsfPS7pXg1E).
Lots of good answers here. Also, aside from the soprano saxophone which blends well with oboes (it can sometimes overpower the oboe if you aren’t careful) the other saxophones generally have a distinct and louder sound that is hard to blend with traditional orchestras. (Can sometimes blend with the horns decently) While a good musician can blend the saxophone sound into an orchestra, it can be difficult. Also because of many factors, many composers don’t have experience writing for saxophones, so they don’t quite know how to incorporate them properly in an orchestra setting except when used as a solo instrument or as a jazzy style insert. I have played many new compositions with student and aspiring composers and they don’t have a lot of resources or examples to emulate or learn from when incorporating saxophone into an orchestra or small ensemble. (This problem is not unique to saxophones. Many composers will do better writing for instruments with which they have more familiarity.)
One other thing to note from a business/administrative perspective that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
As others have mentioned, saxophones are only occasionally written for and have some but not a lot of orchestral repertoire. While most musicians in an orchestra are tenured or per service (paid for each rehearsal/concert), whenever a piece is programmed with a saxophone (or other oblique instruments, such as a zither, euphonium, etc), they are often contracted for their time and paid more than the typical service rate. There is no “saxophone section” so there’ll typically be a local saxophonist that steps in, or they’ll call someone from out of town.
With the growth in unions, the above note about pay isn’t universal – some orchestras pay the guest musician the same standard service rate. It also depends on the instrument in question and the demand of the person they’re looking to call, as soloists will charge higher rates even if they’re only playing the orchestral parts (as opposed to soloing with the orchestra).
Plenty of symphonic works, composed after the invention of the saxophone in the 1800s, feature the instrument. eg:
– Claude Debussy’s *Rhapsody for Alto Saxophone*
– Vaughan Williams’ *Symphony No. 6*
– Alan Hovhaness’ *Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings, Op. 344*
– Philip Glass’ *Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra*
– John Cage’s *Four5*
– Michael Nyman’s *24 Hour Sax Quartet*
– etc. etc.
Hmm. All the orchestras I’ve played in have had saxophones. You might want to look at wind orchestras.
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It was not yet invented when the modern orchestra took it’s main form. It has a pretty jagged timbre compared to the other instruments. It was the 20th century before even brass instruments were commonly getting melodic use in an orchestra. And then just tradition
They wanted to avoid there being too much sax and violins at concerts since they’re family events.
In a nutshell; because orchestral music rarely calls for a buff shirtless guy in leather pants to do a sexy solo. Which is a shame, really.
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