Iwan Müller

Müller was born in Reval (present-day Tallinn), at that time a city with a strong Baltic German community in the Governorate of Estonia, part of the Russian Empire.

Since these leaked air, the number of them had to be kept to a minimum, which meant that notes outside the main scale of the clarinet (accidentals) had to be obtained by complicated fingerings which were difficult to play quickly and rarely were in tune.

These pads would "bulge", such that in combination with countersunk tone holes (called Zwirl or twist or twister), would close the keyholes sufficiently tight to permit the use of an increased number of keys making the "clarinette omnitonique" possible.

[1] Müller went on to work in Dresden, Berlin and Leipzig, where he specialized in the basset-horn, a type of low-pitched clarinet.

In that same year, Müller moved to Paris, gained the support of a wealthy patron, (Mr.) Marie-Pierre Petit, and started mass-producing clarinets.