A whole new range of instruments emerged, beginning in the 1830s, as a result of experimentation and the need to produce additional, softer, more flexible timbres.

Some of these new instruments enjoyed tremendous success. The cornet, which was a modified version of the post horn, appeared in 1828. The saxophone, based on the clarinet, was patented in 1846. It was named after Adolphe (Antoine-Joseph) Sax who was born at Dinant, Belgium in 1814 and who died in Paris in 1894.

The saxophone was played for the first time, not in a military band as one might expect, but in the Orchestra of the Paris Opera on 1 December 1844.
In 1996, a group of former amateur jazz musicians from Basel donated 10 instruments to the M useum. These were part of the private collection belonging to Ernst W. Buser of Binningen. These included an original saxophone quartet (soprano, alto, tenor and barito,ne saxophones) which had been made between 1856 to 1863 in Paris by Adolphe Sax.
Six other instruments coming from the same private collection were donated to the Museum in 1997.

The Bernoulli collection also contains saxhorns and saxtrumpets, all further witness to the creative genius of Adolphe Sax.