Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SAERUSOPHONE SARTI 225
in life he acquired from the Boissier collection,
and occasionally plays on, an exceptionally
beautiful instrument, bearing date 1713.]
Sarasate has composed for his instrument
romances, fantaisies, and especially transcriptions
of Spanish airs and dances, all calculated
to display his skUl as a virtuoso. His ' Zigeunerweiseu,'
'Jota Aragonesa,' and the four
books of Spanish dances are among the most
popular violin solos in existence. [He pays an
annual visit to his native town of Pampeluna,
where fetes are held in his honour.] G. c. ;
additions, in square brackets, by w. w. o.
SAERUSOPHONE. A brass instrument of
conical bore, played with a double reed, designed
iu 1863 by M. Sarrus, a bandmaster in the
French army. The scheme of the inventor
comprised a whole family of instruments ranging
in pitch from soprano to contra-bass, and
his expectation was that they might well take
the place of oboes and bassoons in military
bands. As regards the contra -baas models,
Sarrus was to some extent anticipated by Stehle
of Vienna in 1835, who brought out a contrabassoon
in brass, of simple fingering, and whose
model has been farther developed by Cerveny
of Eoniggratz, and Mahillon of Brussels ; but
to Sarrus belongs the credit of designing a
whole family of double -reed instruments as
possible substitutes for the oboe and bassoon
groups. The objection that has been raised to
them is that they fail to produce the delicate
and distinctive qualities of the wooden doublereed
instruments.
The complete family of sarmsophones comprises
the sopranino in «V, soprano in b^, alto
in el>, tenor in B|>, baritone in Eb, bass in BJd,
contra-bass in E,b, and the contra-bassoon in
C, or B^,l>. All these have a compass from one
tone below the pitch note, to a fifth above its
double octave, b^ to/"', agreeing in this respect
with the oboe, and the general scheme of fingering
is much like that of the oboe. The tube
of all but the small instruments is bent back
upon itself, so as to reduce the length to a
convenient compass.
The actual use of the sarmsophone in the
orchestra has been very limited, but M. Saint-
Saens appears to have thought highly of the
contra-bass instrument as an alternative to the
double-bassoon, and used it on several occasions.
Jules Massenet introduced it in his 'Esclarmonde
' with great effect, and other composers
have followed his example. It is possible that
the bass and contra-bass members of the family
may be kept alive, as they have distinctive
qualities, but the treble and alto instruments
can be regarded only as interesting experiments.
D. J. B.
SARTI, Giuseppe, bom at Faenza, Dec. 1,
1729, a date differing from that given by most
of his biographers, but furnished by Sarti's own
grandson to the writer, who has taken great
VOL. IV
pains to verify it. The son of a jeweller who
played the violin in the cathedral, he early
learned music, and had lessons in composition
—from Vallotti according to his own family,
from Padre Martini according to his biographers.
"Whether at Padua or at Bologna (the respective
homes of the two masters), he completed his
studies at an early age, for we learn from the
chapter archives, still preserved in the library
of Faenza, that he was organist of the cathedral
from 1748 to April 1750, and director of the
theatre from 1752. In 1751 he composed his
first opera, Pompeo ' in Armenia, ' which was
enthusiastically received by his fellow townsmen,
-
and followed by several more serious
-
works, and 'II Re pastore' (Venice, 1753),
which had an immense success. So quickly
did his fame spread that when he was only
twenty-four the King of Denmark (Frederick V.)
invited him to Copenhagen as Capellmeister to
the Prince Royal, and director of the Italian
opera ; and, on the closing of the latter in two
years, made him Court-capelhneister. In the
summer of 1765 the king determined to reopen
the opera, and Sarti went back to Italy after an
absence of twelve years to engage singers ; but
his plans were upset by the deaths first of the
king in 1766, and then of his own mother in
1767, so that it was not tUl 1768 that he returned
to Copenhagen. These three years of
trouble were not unfruitful, as he composed
five operas, of which two, ' I Contratempi
(1767) and 'Didone abbandonata,' were given
in Venice, where he seems chiefly to have
resided.
Overskou's carefully compiled History of the
Danish Stage ^ informs us that Sarti directed
the Danish court- theatre from 1770 to May 20,
1775, when he was summarily dismissed. A
favourite with Christian VII., and the proteg^
of Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda, he
was too artless and straightforward to curry
favour with the queen dowager and the ambitious
Ove Gulberg ; so after the catastrophe of
1772 he found his position gradually becoming
worse and worse, and when the oligarchical
party had secured the upper hand, imprisoning
the queen, and reducing the king to a mere
cipher, he had, with other court favourites, to
endure much ill treatment, and was finally
banished. During this second stay at Copenhagen
he married Camilla Pasi, by whom he
had two daughters.
Returning to Italy in the summer of 1775,
he went first to Venice, became at once director
of the Ospedaletto Conservatorio, and administered
it with great success for four years. In
1779 the post of maestro di cappella of the
cathedral of Milan fell vacant through the
death of Fioroni, and Sarti was pronounced
successful at a competition held before the
1 Thomaa Overakou, Den danske Shu«ptada in dtnt Historie, 8vo.
Copenhagen, 1854, etc.