The invention of the clarinet dates back to the 1700's to a well-known flute-maker by the name of Johan Christoph Denner. Before his invention, single reeds were used only in organs and folk instruments. The clarinet's immediate predecessor was the small mock trumpet, or chalumateu. The word chalumeau is of French origin and is a generic name for any small reed-blown pipe. It is commonly implied that Denner invented the clarinet by improving the chalumeau.

Denner gave the clarinet a separate mouthpiece, added keys to it, developed the bell, and made available for the first time, the third and fifth harmonics. The clarinet was used very sporadically in the first half of the 18th century and restricted parts were assigned to it. This was probably due to the imperfections of the new instrument.

The earliest known music for the clarinet appeared in tune books published by Estienne Roger of Amsterdam. At this time, the instrument was played with the reed up, and had two keys. A small bell was added in 1720, and the tube of the clarinet was modified to carry the low E key. By the late 1800's the instrument had five or six keys and was built in various pitches. Music written for the clarinet was transposed, so that the same fingerings were present in all clarinets.

By 1800 few orchestras would have been without the clarinet. In chamber music, its place had been assured by Mozart. Early works featuring the instrument include the overture for two clarinets and horn (1748) by the German-English composer George Frideric Handel and the clarinet concerto (1791) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote the first symphony featuring the clarinet. As a solo instrument it had already had by 1800 a fairly long career. The years 1800 to 1840 were a period of soloists and concerto players and mechanical development. In 1812 Ivan Muller presented a newly designed clarinet to the Paris Conservatoire. The new instrument was one of 13 keys and the furthest advance since the work of Denner. Muller is said to have been the second great figure in the world of development of the clarinet

The modern clarinet was developed between 1800 and 1850, and further keys were added to improve certain notes. The bores and the mouthpieces of the clarinet were enlarged to allow greater tonal power.

The last innovator in the history of the clarinet was Hyacinthe Klose. In 1839 he invented what has since become known as the Boehm System clarinet. The system is named after Theobald Boehm who invented a system for the flute by placing holes in the proper acoustical positions. He also invented a series of ring keys by which a finger can close a ring when covering a whole, and by doing so operate another key to cover a different hole of some distance. Auguste Buffet's needle springs were soon added to the clarinet in 1840, finishing the basic elements of the modern clarinet system.

Throughout its history the clarinet has been made in different sizes. There are also a number of related single reed instruments of which the basset horn is the most important. The name clarinet is plainly a diminutive of clario, the Italian word for trumpet, and particularly for the high register of the instrument. The word clarinetto is the standard Italian name from which other languages derived their names for the instrument. The clarinet has been built from the beginning as a transposing instrument in many different pitches and dimensions. The compass is in theory the same for all, from written e to c'''', three octaves and a sixth in all.

The family of clarinets is a large one, ranging from the high A-flat, a little more than 14 inches in length, to the contra bass, which measures about 9 feet. The most commonly encountered are those pitched in A and Bb.

As a rule, the clarinet consists of five parts- mouthpieces with reed, barrel, upper or left-hand joint, lower or right-hand joint, and bell. The present size of the mouthpiece was fixed more than a century ago. The reed and mouthpiece of the earliest clarinets were almost of modern dimensions. Mouthpieces have been made of many materials, of wood to begin with, of ivory, of metal, of glass, of ebonite, and of plastics.
The reed was first attached to the mouthpiece by means of waxed thread of a silken cord, while Ivan Muller introduced the present metal ligature in the early 1800's.

The barrel is often considered the least important of the clarinet. However the barrel must be made properly to guide the vibration generated by the reed and mouthpiece to the main body of the instrument.

The upper and lower joints of the clarinet are in modern practice normally made in two pieces. In early clarinets upper and lower joints were frequently made in one. The division of the tube came around the middle of the 18th century. This division was due primarily to allow the introduction of joints of varying lengths to vary the pitch. To secure an absolutely airtight connection, cork lining is preferred to cover the tenon. The bell, like the barrel, has not always received the attention it merits. It is an essential part of the instrument's acoustical system and not just an ornamental addition.

Many varieties of the clarinet exist. They include:

200 B.C.
Pre-Christian drawings of the early flute appear on Greco/Roman artifacts. Additional works of art, including two Etruscan reliefs which date from the second and third centuries B.C., clearly show cross flutes being played.

200 A.D.
While history is scarce from this era, there is enough information to suggest that our instrument was played by the Romans and Etruscans, but not by the ancient Greeks.

1000's
It is interesting to note that the flute seems to disappear with the fall of Rome and only begins to reappear in the 10th and 11th centuries. It is probable that the instrument was introduced into Western Europe by way of Germany from Byzantium. By the 14th century, the flute began to appear in non-Germanic European countries, which included Spain, France and Flanders.

1400's
By the beginning of the 15th century, flutes are shown in various sorts of pictures in all parts of Western Europe.

1500's
Throughout the 16th century flutes were one of the most popular instruments of the Italian musical scene. This popularity was also echoed in England as was obvious from Henry VIII's large collection of flutes. These instruments were extremely simple in construction, consisting of a cylindrical tube with a cork stopper in one end, a blow hole and six finger holes. Their range was limited, as they were constructed in different sizes in order to handle the complete range of the music being performed.

1600's
It is the middle-sized instrument of this group pitched in "D" that is the direct ancestor of our modern concert flute. This instrument went out of favor during the first half of the 17th century because it could not compete in playing the new expressive style which the violin had made popular. Woodwind makers responded to this challenge by making many improvements to the flute during the second half of the 17th century.

1670
Among the important French players/makers of this period was the Jean Hotteterre family who were employed by the royal court. Their new developments included the following changes from the 17th century flute:

1752
The treatises by Quantz (1752) and Tromlitz (1786) included a variety of fingerings for each note on the instrument which reflected very subtle changes of pitch.

1760
In spite of exceptional performers, flutemakers were very concerned about adding keys to eliminate the cross-fingerings of chromatic notes. By 1760, G-sharp, B-flat and F keys were added by flutemakers in London.

1780
By 1780, these instruments were appearing in instrumental music of Mozart and Hayden. In addition, flute makers extended the range of the instrument downward by adding low C and C-sharp keys to the foot joint (just like today's modern flute). By the end of the 18th century, two more keys were introduced which resulted in the 8-keyed flute. This instrument formed the basis of most "simple system" flutes which are still being played today in various Celtic ensembles.

1820
Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) is considered to have created the most important evolution of the flute in its entire history. Boehm was born in Munich and was trained as a jeweler and goldsmith. His aptitude for music was very apparent as a young child, and by 1818 he was dividing his careers among that of goldsmith, flutemaker and professional flutist in the orchestra of the royal court in Munich. By 1828, Boehm had put together a workshop to manufacture instruments. In 1831, while visiting London, Boehm attended a concert of Charles Nicholson whose flute had unusually large finger holes which produced an exceptionally large and fine tone.

1832
Realizing that this tone would have to be imitated for a concert flutist to be successful, and understanding that the tone holes would have to be spaced for good intonation rather than for the convenience of the fingers of the player, Boehm designed a new mechanism that functioned as an extension of the fingers. This conical flute of 1832 was gradually accepted by the most important players of the time, and by 1843 Boehm had licensed flutemakers in London and Paris to manufacture this new instrument. In 1846, Boehm continued to perfect the flute while studying acoustics with Carl von Schafhautl at the University of Munich.

1847
In 1847, Boehm produced a radically different instrument with a cylindrical body, a foot joint and a parabolic head joint. The tone holes on this instrument were even larger than the 1832 instrument and Boehm had to design padded cups for each hole. This new instrument has received only a few relatively unimportant modifications throughout the 20th century and it is a tribute to his genius that Boehm's flute will remain unchanged into the 21st century.

The twelfth century brought the last evolution of the vielle. It was, at that time, similar to a modern guitar in cut. It was a widely used instrument during this period due to its ease of handling, its wide tonal range, and the ease of playing the scales. Also around this time, the instrument went from having one or two strings to having three or four. Some even had five, which stayed in existence until the 16th century. At that time, the four-string – true – violin became more prominent.

Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, other predecessors had advancements. Ribs were added to the instrument, as well as the tailpiece and bridge. This allowed the instrument to be bowed rather than just plucked. This new, advanced instrument became known as the Renaissance viol, which had two round (later crescent-shaped) sound openings.

Three other instruments appeared before 1500, one of which, the viola da gamba (held on or between the knees) is still sometimes played today. Another was a bowed instrument called the lire da braccio. The third is called the viola da braccio, which is the direct predecessor of the violin.

The viola da braccio had (originally) three or four strings. Eventually it became a four-stringed instrument all the time. It adopted other modern characteristics, such as the pegbox and tuning in fifths. This method of tuning allows the instrumentalist to use four fingers, which is ideal for small arm instruments. The shape of the sound holes also changed from crescents to the f shape of today, and became known as f-holes.