In what year did Johann Denner invent the clarinet? 1700 or 1800?

The clarinet's origins trace back to the dawn of the 18th century, making 1700 the correct timeframe. The invention is credited to Johann Christoph Denner, a renowned woodwind instrument maker working in Nuremberg (Review), Germany. He didn't create the instrument out of thin air; instead, he made a revolutionary improvement to an existing single-reed instrument called the chalumeau, which had a pleasant tone but a very limited range of notes.

Denner's key innovation was the addition of a register key, often called a speaker key. This seemingly small modification allowed the player to overblow the instrument in a controlled way, jumping to a higher, brighter register of notes. This new range was called the "clarion" register due to its trumpet-like sound, which is how the instrument earned its name—the "clarinet," or "little trumpet." This breakthrough is widely dated to have occurred around the year 1700.

By the 1800s, the clarinet was far from a new invention. It had already been embraced by major composers and had become a standard member of the orchestra. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for example, had already written his famous Clarinet Concerto in 1791, solidifying the instrument's importance in classical music long before the 19th century began.