Origines: 19th Century European Saxophone Quartets

Adele Odori performs on alto saxophone in Quartetto Cherubini. On Origines, the ensemble explores the nineteenth-century origins of the saxophone quartet through music associated with Adolphe Sax and the early development of the instrument’s chamber repertoire.

Leonardo Cioni performs on tenor saxophone in Quartetto Cherubini. On Origines, the ensemble explores the nineteenth-century origins of the saxophone quartet through music associated with Adolphe Sax and the early development of the instrument’s chamber repertoire.

Quartetto Cherubini was established in 2016 in Florence and has since won 12 First Prizes in national and international competitions, showcasing their talent in more than 100 concerts across Italy (including the Festival delle Nazioni, Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, Festival di Bellagio e Lago di Como, and Concerti del Tempietto in Rome), Germany (for Jeunesses Musicales Internationales), and Hungary (at the Vaci Vilagi Vigalom festival). The quartet has performed as a solo ensemble with orchestras, string and wind ensembles.
The quartet has been selected twice (in 2017 and 2019) among the 15 groups from around the world to participate in the International Chamber Music Campus in Weikersheim (Germany). They have also specialized in chamber music with Quartetto di Cremona, Vogel Quartett, Kuss Quartett, Heime Müller, and Dirk Mommertz. The group is committed to promoting classical and chamber music in schools, with their project "I Musicanti di Brema," featuring a narrator and saxophone quartet, as well as performing in disadvantaged environments, including concerts at the detention center of Sollicciano in Florence.
In 2022, the quartet was among the winners of the Attraverso i Suoni competition, held by Agimus and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, which led to numerous performances and collaborations throughout Italy. In addition to their work on the historical repertoire, Quartetto Cherubini regularly collaborates with young composers, with the aim of promoting and spreading saxophone quartet literature. Their discographic debut, "Origines," recorded for Da Vinci Classics, showcases their artistry and skill.
Simone Brusoni, Soprano Saxophone
Adele Odori, Alto Saxophone
Leonardo Cioni, Tenor Saxophone
Ruben Marzà, Baritone Saxophone

Ruben Marzà performs on baritone saxophone in Quartetto Cherubini. On Origines, the ensemble explores the nineteenth-century origins of the saxophone quartet through music associated with Adolphe Sax and the early development of the instrument’s chamber repertoire.

Simone Brusoni performs on soprano saxophone in Quartetto Cherubini. On Origines, the ensemble explores the nineteenth-century origins of the saxophone quartet through music associated with Adolphe Sax and the early development of the instrument’s chamber repertoire.

Adolphe Sellenick was a French composer and conductor who worked at the Strasbourg opera before directing the band of the Garde républicaine in Paris. His music reflects the close relationship between nineteenth-century concert life, theatre and military wind ensembles. His Andante religieux is included in the early saxophone quartet repertoire.

Emile Jonas
(b Paris, 5 March 1827; d Saint Germain-en-Laye, 22 May 1905). French composer. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in October 1841, gaining second prize for harmony in 1846, first prize in 1847 and the second Grand Prix in 1849. From 1847 to 1866 he was professor of solfège at the Conservatoire, and from 1859 professor of harmony for military bands. He became director of music at the Portuguese synagogue, and published a collection of Hebrew tunes in 1854. He was an early contributor to Offenbach's Bouffes-Parisiens with the one-act operetta Le duel de Benjamin (1855), followed by Le roi boit (1857) and several more. Les deux arlequins (1865) and Le canard à trois becs (1869) gave him success abroad, and their production at the Gaiety Theatre, London, led to a commission for the three-act Cinderella the Younger (1871), later produced in Paris as Javotte. Le chignon d'or (1873) was his last work of real significance. La bonne aventure (1882) and Le premier baiser (1883), his opéras comiques, achieved little success. Though a composer of lively music in the vein of Offenbach and Hervé, he lacked their individuality and inspiration.

Jérôme Savari was a French military bandmaster and composer associated with Adolphe Sax. His works were among the early publications issued for Sax’s new instrument. Older editions often gave only the surname, sometimes spelled Savary, leading to confusion with the bassoonist and instrument maker Jean-Nicolas Savary.

Jean-Baptiste Singelée was a Belgian violinist and composer. Closely associated with the early development of the saxophone repertoire, he wrote works that explored the expressive and technical possibilities of Adolphe Sax’s instrument. His music helped establish the saxophone quartet as a chamber ensemble.

Jean-Baptiste-Victor Mohr was a French horn player, conductor and composer. His Quatuor for saxophones, published in 1864, belongs to the formative repertory of the saxophone quartet, bringing the traditions of nineteenth-century wind performance into the developing chamber literature for the new instrument.

Jules Cressonnois was a French composer and conductor. He studied with Charles-Alexandre Fessy and Jean-Georges Kastner and pursued a career directing military bands and public concerts in Paris. His output includes wind music and songs, among them early settings of poems by Charles Baudelaire.

Léon Charles François Kreutzer
(b Paris, 23 Sept 1817; d Vichy, 6 Oct 1868). Writer on music and composer, son of (2) Jean Nicolas Auguste Kreutzer. He studied the piano and composition privately. His cultural interests and independence of thought led him to music criticism; according to Fétis he began writing for L’union in 1840, concentrating on aspects of opera and operatic history. The series of articles ‘De l’opéra en Europe’ was published in the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris between 4 February and 23 September 1849. His work also appeared in the Revue contemporaine (from 1854), L’opinion publique and Le théâtre. In collaboration with Edouard Fournier he wrote the articles ‘Opéra’ and ‘Opéra-Comique’ in the Encyclopédie du XIXe siècle, later published as Essai sur l’art lyrique au théâtre (Paris, 1849).

Kreutzer’s compositions, which attracted favourable comment from Fétis, are for the most part unpublished. His Symphony in F minor (privately printed, c1860) shows in its first and third movements excessively close adherence to Beethoven’s symphonic form and style, but the remaining two movements are marked out by the inclusion of a battery of six saxophones and five saxhorns in addition to the normal orches

Louis-Adolphe Mayeur was a French clarinettist, saxophonist and composer. A pupil of Adolphe Sax at the Gymnase musical militaire, he became a prominent virtuoso and contributed to the instrument’s concert repertoire. His Premier Quatuor of 1888 combines Romantic chamber writing with idiomatic saxophone technique.