Therefore, the defining moment with regard to the foundation of the full clarinet choir was the advent of Fontaine-Besson's successful clarinet-pedale design, exhibited in Paris in 1889 and patented in 1891.
Gustave Poncelet (1844–1903) a Belgian clarinetist-saxophonist is credited with creating the first clarinet choir (this ensemble consisted of up to about 27 players[2]) at the Brussels Conservatory in the late nineteenth century while he was teaching there.
It was from hearing Poncelet's ensemble in 1896 that the German composer Richard Strauss became acquainted and enamored with all of the members of the clarinet family.
[4] In the 1950s and 1960s, a number of prominent clarinet performers and educators including James DeJesu, Harold Palmer, Lucien Cailliet, David Hite, Donald McCathren, Alfred Reed, Russell Howland, and Harvey Hermann started a movement that began the golden age of the clarinet choir.
Simeon Bellison for one is credited with arranging a vast number of works for clarinet choir in the first half of the twentieth century.
Another famous arranger for clarinet choir was Percy Grainger, who spent some weeks during many summers teaching, conducting and performing at the Interlochen Music Camp, near Traverse City, Michigan.