Who invented the clarinet?

Johann Christoper Denner is credited with inventing the clarinet. Basic instruments resembling the clarinet, however, date back to Ancient Greece.

During ancient times, people used a single-reed instrument that paved the way for the clarinet used in modern times. The clarinet was modeled from an instrument called a chalumeau. Denner experimented with the chalumeau until he developed an instrument that played both the lower and upper registers. The first commercial clarinets were produced in the mid-1700s and had two keys. The clarinet was later altered to a three-key format. The clarinet was first used in an orchestra in 1748.