“The sound of saxophone - which composes a large family of seven different in length saxophones, vibrates among the sounds of brass and wind instruments.
Furthermore, its sound reminds of the string instruments' sound, though it is much louder.
To my opinion, its greatest quality consists of the diversiform beauty of its sound-color, which is sometimes imposing and peaceful and sometimes full of passion, dreamy or melancholic, obscure like the waves of sound, like the wind running through the trees of the forest, or even better, like the mysterious vibrations of a pendulum pulsing in the atmosphere long after its first stroke.
No other musical instrument in the world, from the ones I am aware of, has such an appealing sound-color to vanish into the absolute silence.”

Hector Berlioz
21th April 1849, “Les Journal des Débats"”