The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E♭, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. A sopranino in F was also described in Adolphe Sax's patent, an octave above an F alto (mezzo-soprano), but there are no known built instruments.[2]
The sopranino saxophone has a sweet sound and although it is one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use today, it is still being produced by saxophone manufacturers Orsi and Rampone & Cazzani in Italy, Henri Selmer Paris, and Yanagisawa of Japan.[1] Due to their small size, sopraninos are usually built straight like a clarinet, although Orsi make both straight and curved sopraninos, with the appearance of a miniature alto.[3]
The original patented saxophone family, as developed by Adolphe Sax, included E♭ and B♭ saxophones in the voices of sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and subcontrabass instruments, and the same seven in the keys of C and F, though only the soprano, alto, and tenor were ever made.[2] Since the late 1990s the soprillo, an even smaller piccolo saxophone tuned in B♭ a fifth above the sopranino, was developed by the German instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim.[4][5]
The sopranino saxophone is a transposing instrument, with the same written range as any saxophone, from B♭3 to at least F6. Sounding a minor third higher than written, like an E♭ clarinet or soprano cornet, this range corresponds to D♭4 to A♭6 in concert pitch.
In classical music, the most notable use of the sopranino saxophone is in French composer Maurice Ravel's orchestral work Boléro. Ravel's score calls for a "soprano saxophone in F", but it is likely no such instrument has ever been built; the part is usually performed on E♭ sopranino or B♭ soprano.[6]
^Cohen, Paul (September 2000). "Redefining the saxophone, Soprillo and Tubax: new saxophones for a new millennium". Saxophone Journal. 25 (1). Needham, MA: Dorn Publications: 8–10. ISSN0276-4768.