sopranino saxophone

{{Short description|Single-reed woodwind instrument}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}

{{Infobox Saxophone

|name = Sopranino saxophone

|image = Orsi Sopranino Saxophone.jpg

|image_capt = Orsi curved sopranino saxophone ({{circa|2000}})

|range=

Sopranino saxophone in E♭ sounds a minor third higher than written.

|builders={{hlist

| Jinbao

| Orsi

| Rampone & Cazzani

| Selmer

| Wessex

| Yanagisawa

}}

|sound sample =

}}

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.{{Cite magazine |last=Hart |first=Hugh |date=28 June 2010 |title=June 28, 1846: Parisian Inventor Patents Saxophone |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/06/0628saxophone-patent/ |access-date=2022-05-11 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=11 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511234924/https://www.wired.com/2010/06/0628saxophone-patent/ |url-status=live }}

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, Yanagisawa of Japan, and Chinese makers Jinbao and Wessex.{{unbulleted list citebundle

| {{Cite web |title=JBSST-420-天津市津宝乐器有限公司 |language=zh |publisher=Jinbao |publication-place=Tianjin |url=http://en.jinbaomusic.com/index.php?s=index/show/index&id=375 |access-date=4 June 2024 |archive-date=4 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604024718/http://en.jinbaomusic.com/index.php?s=index/show/index&id=375 |url-status=live }}

| {{Cite web |title=Super Action 80 Series II sopranino saxophone |publisher=Henri Selmer |publication-place=Paris |url=https://www.selmer.fr/en/products/saxophone-sopranino-super-action-80-serie-ii |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200610/https://www.selmer.fr/en/products/saxophone-sopranino-super-action-80-serie-ii |url-status=live }}

| {{cite web |title=List of Available Saxophones |publication-place=Milan |publisher=Orsi |url=http://www.orsi-wind-instruments.it/saxophone_list.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409023538/http://www.orsi-wind-instruments.it/saxophone_list.htm |archive-date=9 April 2009 }}

| {{Cite web |title=R1 Jazz Sopranino |publisher=Rampone & Cazzani |publication-place=Quarna Sotto |language=it |url=https://www.ramponecazzani.com/it/sax/sopranino/r1-jazz/ |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211035043/https://www.ramponecazzani.com/it/sax/sopranino/r1-jazz/ |url-status=live }}

| {{Cite web |title=Sopranino Saxophone - SAX420 |publisher=Wessex Tubas |publication-place=Andover |url=https://www.wessex-tubas.com/products/sopranino-saxophone-sax420 |access-date=6 August 2024 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202055107/https://www.wessex-tubas.com/products/sopranino-saxophone-sax420 |url-status=live }}

| {{Cite web |title=Sopranino |publisher=Yanagisawa Saxophones |publication-place=Tokyo |url=https://www.yanagisawasax.co.jp/en/saxophones/index/24 |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=30 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130224007/https://www.yanagisawasax.co.jp/en/saxophones/index/24 |url-status=live }} }} 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.{{cite web |title=ORSI Saxophone Catalogue |publisher=Romeo Orsi |publication-place=Milan |url= http://www.orsi-wind-instruments.it/saxophones.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090618125743/http://www.orsi-wind-instruments.it/saxophones.htm |archive-date=18 June 2009 }}

File:SopraninoSax2.jpg

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. 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.{{cite journal |title=Redefining the saxophone, Soprillo and Tubax: new saxophones for a new millennium |first=Paul |last=Cohen |date=September 2000 |journal=Saxophone Journal |publication-place=Needham, MA |publisher=Dorn Publications |volume=25 |number=1 |page=8–10 |issn=0276-4768 }}{{cite web |title=Soprillo |url=https://www.eppelsheim.com/instrumente/soprillo/ |publication-place=Munich |publisher=Benedikt Eppelsheim Wind Instruments |access-date=27 September 2023 |quote={{lang|de|B♭-Piccolo-Saxophon}} |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927021516/https://www.eppelsheim.com/instrumente/soprillo/ |url-status=live }}

The sopranino saxophone is a transposing instrument, with the same written range as any saxophone, from B♭{{sub|3}} to at least F{{sub|6}}. Sounding a minor third higher than written, like an E♭ clarinet or soprano cornet, this range corresponds to D♭{{sub|4}} to A♭{{sub|6}} in concert pitch.