From William The Silent To Kenny G: Tracing The Invention Of The Saxophone
By Jack Coleman
Believe it or not, one of music’s greatest instruments, the saxophone, has a long history that began well before Adolphe Sax’s perfection of the woodwind family staple. To fully understand this twisted history of the saxophone, I have pieced together a timeline from William of Orange’s birth, all the way through Bill Clinton’s iconic performance on The Arsenio Hall Show.
April 24, 1533 – William The Silent is born in Dillenburg
1551 – William marries the Catholic, Anna van Egmont, daughter of Maximilian van Egmont, commander of Charles V’s army, and then receives the title of Lord of Edgmont, Count of Buren. William also converts to Catholicism at this time.
1555 – William becomes sole commander of an army under the favor of Charles V.
In the same year, Charles V’s son, Philip II issued the Edict of 1556, outlawing all Protestant sects and decreeing the death penalty and confiscation of property for anyone engaging in or encouraging Protestant heresies.
William objects to Philip’s edict and aligns with nobles Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn, and Lamoral, Count of Egmont.
1564 – Philip II begins to question William’s loyalty and later William denounces the Edict of 1556 in support of religious tolerance.
1567-1568 – William fails to appear before the Council of Troubles and is declared an outlaw.
William flees to Dillenburg
The second war in The French Wars of Religion ends and William confronts Gaspard II de Coligny, Admiral of France, and Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, who offer him assistance
William is then made military leader of the Dutch Protestant forces.
1581 – Philip II places a bounty on William’s head due to his previous acts of religious tolerance that ran antithetical to Philip’s agenda.
March 1582 – Juan de Jauregui shoots William at close range in the back of his neck, with the bullet passing through and out his left jaw.
De Jauregui was killed instantly and William was nursed back to health by his third wife, Charlotte of Bourbon, who was later said to have died in 1583 due to the stress of caring for William.
July 10, 1584 – William is assassinated by the Catholic Balthasar Gerard after he fired two pistols into William’s chest at close range, making him the first head of state assassinated by a handgun
Balthasar Gerard didn’t get off easy in the slightest. His brutal torture was as follows:
@twistedhistorypodcast Balthasar Gerard #history #historytime #historybuff #historytok ♬ original sound - TwistedHistory
“On the first night of his imprisonment, Gérard was hung on a pole and lashed with a whip.
Next, his wounds were smeared with honey and a goat was brought to lick the honey off his skin with its rough tongue.
He was left to spend the night with his hands and feet bound together, like a ball, so sleep would be difficult.
During the following three days, he was repeatedly mocked and hung on a pole with his hands tied behind his back… And here is where we get very specific- Then, a weight of 300 pounds was attached to each of his big toes for half an hour.
Then Gérard was fitted with shoes made of well-oiled, uncured dog skin; the shoes were two inches shorter than his feet. In this state, he was put before a fire. When the shoes warmed up, they contracted, crushing the feet inside them to stumps. When the shoes were removed, his half-broiled skin was torn off.
After his feet were damaged, his armpits were branded.
He was then dressed in a shirt soaked in alcohol.
Lastly, burning bacon fat was poured over him and sharp nails were stuck between the flesh and the nails of his hands and feet.”
If you think that was tough to read, the results of his trial didn’t get any better:
“Then came the trial and sentencing where the magistrates decreed… And again, this is very specific…
That the right hand of Gérard should be burned off with a red-hot iron.
That his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places.
That he should be quartered and disembowelled alive.
That his heart should be torn from his chest and flung in his face.
And that, finally, his head should be cut off.”
Before this all happened to our friend Balthasar, however, he had appointed someone in Adolphe Sax’s family tree to make instruments.
Back to the timeline:
November 6, 1814 – Adolphe Sax was born into his instrument-making family.
Sax is considered to have lived a lucky life due to his numerous near brushes with death:
“labeled chronically accident prone, he was one of 11 children in his family to make it to puberty.
As a toddler, Sax fell the “height of three floors” before hitting his head on a rock and was initially believed to be dead.
By 3 years old, he had drank a bowl of sulfuric acid thinking it was milk.
He swallowed a needle.
Sax also endured serious burns from a gunpowder explosion AND once, took a searing hot cast iron frying pan, to the face.
Three times he almost suffocated in his sleep from heavy varnish fumes.
Falling cobblestones hit him in the head which caused him to fall in a river and nearly drown.”
February 4, 1894 – “Adolphe Sax died penniless because counterfeiters made cheap imitations of his saxophone which led to a number of expensive legal battles and the sax did not really take off until after his death.”
June 5, 1956 – Famed saxophonist Kenny G is born
1966 – A 10 year old Kenny picks up his first saxophone after first hearing a performance on The Ed Sullivan show.
1984 – “Careless Whisper” by George Michael is released.
1986 – Kenny G drops “Songbird” which eventually would become his biggest hit, cracking the Billboard Top 20 pop charts.
June 3, 1992 – Bill Clinton plays the sax live on The Arsenio Hall Show, capturing the support and trust of young voters.
And there ya have it. Who would’ve thought that one landmark political assassination would eventually lead to the sweet sounds of Kenny G, Clarence Clemons, and even former President Bill Clinton. For more stories of historical luck check out “The Twisted History of Luck.”