The Legacy of Elise Hall

“This text is a much-needed reevaluation of saxophonist Elise Boyer Hall and her contributions to our field. It isn’t a hard stretch to imagine and understand how a female-identifying saxophonist would’ve been viewed differently than a male-identifying saxophonist at the beginning of the 20th Century, and these authors collectively find evidence to overturn half a century of misinformation about her ability and potential misjudgments of her work ethic. This is a timely collection of research to help all saxophonists and musicologists rethink the cultural assumptions of the past, and opens up many new ideas and methodologies for future research. I highly recommend this text make its way onto every saxophonist’s bookshelf.” -Matthew Younglove, Tennessee Technological University

This book features multi-faceted, scholarly investigations into Hall’s life and legacy. Well-documented evidence and well-reasoned arguments support the claims of Elise Hall’s stature as a musician and her unique role at the turn of the twentieth century. As noted in the introduction, the value of this publication rests “not with the discrete history of Hall or the saxophone, but with the myriad questions raised from a constellation of factors surrounding this innovative musician” and by placing all within the context of her time from the perspective of the twenty-first century, one hundred years after her death. Primary and secondary sources are drawn from the era of Hall’s lifetime as well as later articles, including very recent scholarship and methodologies. All work together to illuminate Hall both within historical context and through the lens of twenty-first-century considerations. - Stacy Maugans, Valparaiso University

On the 100th anniversary of her death, The Legacy of Elise Hall – now available from Leuven University Press – provides a new outlook on Hall’s life and legacy as one of the major performers and concertizers of the saxophone. In various dissertations, articles and books, most writing on Hall has been colored with misogyny, talks of her clothing and insults to her gender. Her actual accomplishments get distorted or ignored. This book is the first attempt to provide a new perspective on Hall’s influence on women, saxophone repertoire, and how gender influences the saxophone’s portrayal in popular culture. The editors Kurt Bertels and Adrianne Honnold offer an interdisciplinary approach to examine Hall’s legacy by incorporating scholarship on gender, performance, and class in order to understand how her identity shaped and redefined the history of the saxophone. - Mary Huntimer, the Operatic Saxophone, April 10, 2024, https://theoperaticsaxophone.com/2024/04/10/rethinking-elise-hall/

Kurt Bertels vertelt over saxofoniste Elise Hall en het boek 'The Legacy of Elise Hall' bij Music Matters. Herbeluister het interview: https://www.vrt.be/vrtmax/luister/radio/m/music-matters~31-95/music-matters~31-23426-0/

Easy-to-read book... Highly recommended... To celebrate Elise Hall, the wonderful repertoire she helped create and the authors of this new book, I’ll be releasing a series of blog posts associated with the material in the coming months. There is just so much to discuss! - Sarah Anne Wolkowski, Saxophone Technique, March-June 2024, https://saxophonetechnique.ca/?s=The+Legacy+of+Elise+Hall

In summary, The Legacy of Elise Hall: Contemporary Perspectives on Gender and the Saxophone makes a timely and valuable contribution to scholarship on music, gender, and performance. It redefines Hall not as a marginal curiosity but as a significant participant in early twentiethcentury musical culture. By combining detailed historical research with reflective analysis, the editors and contributors have produced a work that is both scholarly and engaging. The collection deepens understanding of the saxophone’s early history and offers a model for how performers and researchers can enrich broader musicological discourse. In recovering Hall’s story with such care and nuance, the volume also invites reflection on how musical histories are written and remembered, reminding readers that acts of reinterpretation can reshape the canon and the values that sustain it. - JONATHAN RADFORD, Music and Letters, 2025, gcaf174, https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcaf174