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Johann Christian Denner (1690)
Christian Denner - (1690) - Creator of the Register Key
Speaker/Register Key |
Denner was from Nuremburg,
Germany. Shortly before 1700, he invented the register key, increasing the range of the clarinet's predecessor,
the chalumeau. This allowed pitches a 12th above the lower register to be produced. The cylindrical shape of
the clarinet, combined with a closed ended mouthpiece (unlike the flute) inhibit the clarinet from producing
the even numbered harmonics. This accounts for its unique timbre. Baroque clarinets had only two keys, and were
made of boxwood, plum, ebony, pear, or ivory. The keys and the springs were usually made of brass.
Johann Christian Denner, a local inventor and instrument maker, invented the first clarinet in 1690 in
Nuremberg, Germany. This historical event was first recorded in J.G. Dopplemayers’ book “Historiche Nachricht
van den Nurmbergischen Mathematics und Kunstlern” (1730), who attributed the “improved chalumeau” to Denner.
(Lawson, 1995) The instrument was named for the Italian word “clarion” which meant trumpet. This early
clarinet consisted of a wooden, cyndrical tube with seven tone holes and two diametrically opposite keys, which
were placed above the highest tone hole. Startlingly low in pitch for its size, it possessed a range of
approximately three octaves. (Brymer, 1990) In comparison to the chalumeau, this first clarinet also had a
separate reed, and extended range, and a speaker key, the highest key on the clarinet similar to that of an
octave key. (Lawson, 1995) Denner also managed to combine the reed with the tone chamber inside the clarinet,
similar to the contemporary arrangement of the reed. In this adjustment, the reed lays flat against the facing
of the mouthpiece, with the tone chamber open beneath it in order to resonate more effectively. With the
addition of the two keys, this clarinet had a very pure sound, with the upper registers being obtained with
accuracy by overblowing. With an improved mouthpiece, Denner found he could split the air column with the
speaker key at the top of the instrument and thus achieve the upper register with similar fingerings. With
this key, the clarinet would play a twelfth above the parallel lower register note. |
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| After the initial invention of Denner, the clarinet was noticed by others and became the object of many
attempted improvements. The first prototype was flawed in respect to the B natural and the C, which need to be
flattened. Eventually the B natural was fixed by playing a low E and then overblowing by a twelfth.
Eventually, the necessity of the B natural encouraged an elongated tube and a significant bell. The third key
added to the clarinet was the fourth finger in the left hand, the contemporary C sharp key. The semitones,
however, still did not sound good on this clarinet; in fact some were even completely unobtainable which
obviously led towards problems with playing in a variety of keys. This then was the basic shape for the modern
clarinet, though from the first they were always made in different sizes in order to play in different keys.
In 1760, the clarinet was expanded to 5 keys, adding a D sharp and a C sharp on the lower part of the
instrument. Even with these improvements, players were still reluctant to add more keys, and the felt pads
used to seal the keys were incompetent. In addition, the keys themselves were clumsy and the springs did not
respond well. (Brymer, 1990) At this point in its evolution, the clarinet was the most imperfect of all wind
instruments, however it still had room for many improvements. (Klose, 1940)
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