How was the idea of the Glissotar born? What has happened so far with the Glissotar? This was also revealed in the previous parts of our blog series. So far, we’ve only jumped back a few years in time, but now we’ll be digging into centuries!
After creating a working prototype, Daniel found other instruments utilizing longitudinal gaps. Going back as far as the 15th century, we found similar ideas, starting with Leonardo da Vinci.
In the famous Atlantic Codex, which is the largest collection of da Vinci’s works, there is a drawing of two flutes, one with two shorter sections and the other with a longer section, accompanied by the following short text:
„On these two flutes, the notes cannot be played in intervals, but rather in a way similar to how we produce the human voice. This sound is created by moving the hand up and down, like a trumpet or flute. In this way, 1/8 and 1/16 intervals can also be created, or any other pitch.”
Based on the drawing, we wouldn’t have thought it was possible to close the slot using just the hands, but we recently found a video of it playing very nicely; however, it must be difficult to operate and only works with a short, two palm-sized slot.
Furthermore, over the past 120 years, several attempts have been made to create sliding saxophones. Some models (Royal Slide Saxophone, Swanee-Sax, MellowSax, Straight Slide Alto Saxophone or Circular Slide Alto Saxophone) operated by sliding up and down with one hand, like on a trombone, not with eight fingers, which makes a significant difference in playing.
The most similar was the King C Saxoprano in the 1920s, with a leather strap:
However, we are not aware of any instances where this instrument was used in a concert. If you happen to know of such an appearance or recording, we would greatly appreciate it if you could send it to instrument@glissonic.com.
Here are some other examples we found:
Perhaps the most detailed and accurate article about it is from Paul Cohen in 1994-95. (Thank you, Paul, for sharing your articles with us!)
Paul Cohen – Vintage Saxophones Revisited
We became aware of Bart Hopkin’s Moe instruments after the submission of our international patent application, as indicated in the response from the PCT bureau.
In San Francisco in the 1990s, Bart Hopkin –among dozens of fascinating, ingenious instrument experiments – essentially came up with the same solution as we did in Budapest: barthopkin.com/instrumentarium/moe-sax/ (Thank you, Bart!)
The main difference is that he used a magnetic foil attached to an iron plate, instead of another matching magnetic foil, as we have developed.
He has created the Moe instruments for experimental and educational purposes and never made commercial products of them as far as we are concerned. After we contacted him, he wrote about us in his blog: barthopkin.com/more-moe/
Besides developing the instrument, Dániel Váczi also laid the foundations for playing the Glissotar over the years, including fingerings, playing modes, and special effects.
Of course, similar instruments to the Glissotar continue to be developed today. Recently, we discovered Hugo Domínguez, an Argentine musician who creates instruments for the Argentine musical troupe Les Luthiers. In this video, he demonstrates a solution very similar to the Glissotar.
When discussing the “ancestors” of the Glissotar, we cannot overlook the tárogató. After all, the foundation of the Glissotar is the Hungarian tárogató, which is now recognized as a Hungarikum.
(“Hungarikum” is a concept, highlighting values characteristic of Hungarian culture.) This is no coincidence, as the tárogató has been present in Hungarian history since the time of the conquest of Hungary, and its structure and sound have undergone many changes over the centuries. It became particularly popular in the 16th century during the period of Ottoman rule – besides being used for military commands. It was an essential accompaniment to weddings and festivities. The modern tárogató’s foundation, the Stowasser tárogató, is often referred to as the “Stradivarius of tárogató’s,” and the Glissotar builds upon this legacy, with the rich, tárogató-like sound being evident in the Glissotar’s tone as well.