Why is it in the brass section of the typical symphony orchestra, the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba are typically included, but not the saxophone?

Brainyblonde

The saxophone or sax is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece like the clarinet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxaphone A woodwind instrument is a wind instrument in which sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed, and in which the pitch is varied by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument. As the name implies, they were originally made of wood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodwind_instrument Mar 27 06, 7:11 AM

mementoflash

The saxophone was created in the early 1840s by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian-born instrument-maker, flautist, and clarinetist working in Paris. It was first officially revealed to the public in the presentation of the bass saxophone in C at an exhibition in Brussels in 1841, and in the patent of 1846 (which was granted to him on May 17). He drew up plans for 14 different types of saxophones, but they were not all realized. Sax's amazing ability to offend rival instrument manufacturers, and unfortunate prejudice towards the man and his instruments led to it not being used in orchestral groups, and for a long time it was relegated to military bands--this despite his great friendship with the influential Parisian composer Hector Berlioz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxaphone Mar 27 06, 7:59 AM

Arpeggionist

Some French composers did include one or two saxophones in their orchestras. Ravel wrote several saxophone parts in his music. Alexander Glazunov wrote a concerto for the instrument. But it was the German Richard Wagner who finally sealed the fate of the saxophone. He hated the inventor and the instrument (not much new there), and did everything he could to make sure that, at least in the German repertoire, there would be no saxophone parts. He invented instruments of his own which did enjoy some popularity (the suspended cymbal was Wagner's invention, as was the Wagner tuba), but in German music the sax never became popular. Wagner's biggest rival in the German orchestral field, Brahms, never saw the need to write parts for new instruments anyway. The fate of the saxophone in the German orchestra was doomed. In wind bands, however, the saxophone section is the equivalent of the orchestral violin sections. Mar 27 06, 9:20 AM