The
saxtuba is an obsolete valved
brasswind instrument conceived by the Belgian instrument-maker
Adolphe Sax around 1845. The design of the instrument was inspired by the ancient Roman
cornu and
tuba. The saxtubas, which comprised a family of
half-tube and whole-tube instruments of varying pitches, were first employed in
Fromental Halévy's opera
Le Juif errant (
The Wandering Jew) in 1852. Their only other public appearance of note was at a military ceremony on the
Champ de Mars in Paris in the same year.