When the Nazis hung a sign upon Sigurd Raschèrs door expressing intolarance of his instrument and artistc endeavors, necessity became the mother of invention, and Mr. Raschèr, knowing his days of living in Germany were numbered, embarked on his own knight‘s quest.
He ultimately became an American citizen and did the impossible twice, rising once again with his saxophone to enjoy a career as one of the finest instrumental solists of his day.
Like Dorothy meeting her companions along the yellow brick road, Mr. Raschèr met wonderful characters along his life‘s path, including composers, conductors, and those, such as his own daughter Carina, who would ultimately become his colleagues of the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet upon its foundation in 1969.
Interestingly, the “Wizard of Oz“ hit theaters in 1939, which was precicely the same year that Sigurd Raschèr made his grand American debut with the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall.
The yellow brick road of another individual sprawled before himself many years prior.
Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrumentmaker equiped with his new invention bearing his own name, planted one foot and then the other, his hand clutching the case containing the mighty bass saxophone of his invention, and fueled by his heart, containing an unwavering belief in the beauty and flexibility of his saxophones.
This belief guided him on foot for three hundred kilometers from Brussels to Paris, where he, like Sigurd Raschèr on his path, also met many a friend, some of which composed beautiful works for his family of saxophones.
Please remember that number 300 when our yellow brick road leads us to the seventeenth of December, exactly two weeks from today.
