The clarinet is invented in Nuremberg, Germany - January 14th, 1690

On this day in 1690, German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner created the world’s first clarinet.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to This Day in History class, a
show that strives to know at least a little bit
more history every day. I'm Gay Blusier, and in this
episode we're talking about the birth of one of the
most versatile instruments in music history, a mainstay of classical
orchestra and jazz pieces, known as the clarinet. The day

(00:38):
was January four, six, ninety German instrument maker Johann Christophe
Denner created the world's first clarinet. Dinner was a master
craftsman when it came to existing instruments such as flutes, oboes,
and bassoons, but the clarinet was an instrument of his
own design. He had spent several years tinkering with the

(01:02):
project at his workshop in Nuremberg, and with the help
of his son Jacob, he finally finished his new instrument
in the late seventeenth century. There aren't many musical instruments
whose invention can be narrowed down to a particular date,
and that's because most of them evolved gradually over the
course of several hundred years. That's not the case with

(01:25):
the clarinet, but Denner did use an earlier woodwind instrument
as a starting point. It was called the shaloo Maw,
and it looked a good deal like a modern day recorder,
except with a single read mouthpiece instead of a whistle.
The shaaloo Mah was intended for solo play, which was
done by covering different combinations of holes with the fingers

(01:48):
to produce the different notes of a scale. This simple
design and ease of use made it a popular choice
among shepherds, though whether or not their sheep were fans
as well remains unknown. Dinner and his son made several
crucial changes to the shallum's design, resulting in an altogether
different instrument rather than just a slight evolution. The biggest

(02:12):
innovation they made was the addition of two finger keys,
which increased the musical range of the shalou Mah by
more than two octaves. The clarinet could be played in
its lowest register, the so called shalloom register, without the
use of these keys, but if a musician wanted to
play higher notes, they could press one key to go

(02:34):
up a fifth to the clarion register, and if that
wasn't enough, they could press the other key to go
even higher in that same register. The Dinners also made
several other improvements over the shalloo maw. For starters, they
added a barrel connecting the mouthpiece and the upper joint
of the instrument. The barrel both shaped and directed the

(02:57):
air as it entered the instrument, greatly of affecting the
clarinet sound and intonation. The father son duo also enhanced
the distinct flared section at the end of the instrument.
This piece, known as the bell, helped to better project
sound and improve the tone of lower notes. Although the

(03:17):
original clarinet was very similar to the modern incarnation, there
have been some further improvements over the last few centuries.
For starters, the mouthpiece now faces the opposite direction compared
to Denner's forward facing opening. Also, while the original only
had eight holes and two keys, a modern clarinet features

(03:40):
around twenty keys in addition to a series of air
tight pads and rings. As for the name clarinet, that
was coined shortly after the instrument's invention, the Italian word
for trumpet is clarino and the word for little trumpet
is clarinet. Oh there's some debate a out how exactly

(04:01):
the term came to be applied to Denner's instrument, but
since its sound was not too far off from early
versions of the trumpet. It seems the intention was to
call it a little trumpet. Once Dinner unveiled his clarinet
to the world, it's improved range and distinctive sound quickly
supplanted the shallow maw. The instrument's versatility made it a

(04:23):
much better fit for orchestral arrangements, and it was soon
swiftly adopted by celebrated composers such as Vivaldi, Handel, and Mozart.
Over time, the word clarinet came to refer to an
entire family of instruments, ranging from high to low registers
and greatly differing in both tone and size. The smallest

(04:46):
of the family is the piccolo clarinet, which is less
than nine inches long. On the other end of the
spectrum is the contrabass clarinet, which is roughly seven and
a half feet long. There are nine other clarin nets
between those two extremes, but the most common and the
one we're most familiar with, is the B flat clarinet.

(05:08):
Another popular type is the A clarinet, which is only
a half a tone lower than the B flat. If
you've ever heard Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
This is the instrument that voices the cat. Aside from

(05:31):
classical European compositions, clarinets also featured prominently in the early
days of jazz. The instrument became a fixture in New
Orleans jazz clubs, but the clarinets true heyday was the
big band era of the nineteen forties, when it was
put to good use by famous musicians such as Benny
Goodman and Duke Ellington. However, as the big band genre declined,

(05:56):
so did the use of the clarinet in jazz. It
was gradually replaced with the saxophone, which had a mellower
sound and a simpler note system that made it easier
to write for and to play. That said, many jazz
bands still feature at least one clarinet, and the instrument
has even found its way into rock music. Over the years.

(06:18):
Artists like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Tom Waits, and
Radiohead have all included clarinets and their recordings, proving that
while the clarinets glory days maybe behind it, there's still
plenty of life left in the little trumpet. I'm Gabelusier
and hopefully you now know a little more about history

(06:41):
today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more
about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
at t d i HC Show, and if you have
any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my
way at this Day at I heeart media dot com.
Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank

(07:03):
you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow
for another day in history class.