Great Beards in Music: Adolphe Sax

On this installment of "Great Beards in Music" we have the one and the only Adolphe Sax, perhaps best known for both his invention of the saxophone family of reed instruments and the numerous possible sexual puns on that name. However, Adolphe didn't only invent saxophones/sexophones. He also invented* the lesser-known saxhorn and saxotromba families of valved brass instruments.

These are some saxhorns as they would appear in their natural habitat:

Beautiful, aren't they? You may have seen these in various higher-quality Civil War films. Gettysburg comes to mind (though I may have just made that up off the top of my bearded head).

And here we have an artist's rendition of the lesser-known (and less successful) saxotromba:

A magnificent creature. And a big, healthy thanks to wikipedia for making this entry more possible than it otherwise would have been.

-The Pogonologist

*Or "improved upon," depending on your source.