Johann Christoph
Denner

Wild call and horn turner, flute, oboe and bassoon maker, musician,

grave no longer exists in the Rochus Cemetery.

Son of Heinrich; brother of Johann Carl; father of Jacob and Johann David. ∞ I) Nuremberg 1 November 1680 Sabina Götz (born 21 May 1650 – buried 12 May 1702), two sons, five daughters; II) 20 June 1703 Maria Jakobina Öder, two daughters. Around 1666, his parents returned to Nuremberg. Soon after completing his training as a horn maker and horn turner under his father, he seems to have turned his attention to woodwind instrument making. In 1678, he completed the apprenticeship period required by law. The number of licensed master craftsmen was limited to twelve by the council, and widows often married their apprentices, so that no master craftsman positions became available. After 18 years, on 10 November 1696, he and Johann Schell submitted an application to obtain master craftsman status. As a result, both were granted extraordinary master craftsman status by the council on 9 February 1697.

In 1702, Denner became captain of the Barfüßerviertel district, and from 1703 to 1707 he was appointed to the same position. There is little archival evidence of his activities. In 1682, he issued his first invoice for the repair of a pommer and a shawm. In 1694, there is evidence of instrument sales to the council. In the 1680s, he adopted the new design principles developed by the Parisian flute-making family Hotteterre and developed them further. He produced a wide range of woodwind instruments, but his preference seems to have been for recorders and (baroque) oboes, for which he is credited with many improvements.

Doppelmayr also attributed the invention of the clarinet to him, but no instruments bearing his signature have survived.

A keyed chalumeau, an instrument related to the clarinet, can be verified. Some earlier attributions can be attributed to his son Johann David, who is documented as having supplied clarinets from 1710 onwards. Dener's contributions to the further development of woodwind instrument making cannot be proven with certainty, as there are hardly any comparable instruments from other manufacturers from this period that can be dated. His instruments achieved a previously unknown level of purity of sound and intonation.

He is considered the most important woodwind instrument maker in Nuremberg and was already highly renowned during his lifetime, which can be taken as an indication of his extraordinary achievements. He was also an outstanding musician. Mz: scroll with the name I. C. Denner, usually with a ‘D’ underneath. On valuable ivory instruments, he drew a looped monogram instead of the scroll, also with a ‘D’ underneath.

He was very well off financially, owning three houses at times. He lived and worked in his house ‘Hinter dem Bergauer’. On 19 January 1703, he purchased a house for 1,300 florins in Obere Schmiedgasse, and on 12 December 1703, he took over the house of his brother Johann Carl in Kühnertsgasse, who owed him the sum of 742 florins according to a promissory note dated 14 August 1699. Dener's estate was estimated at over 24,000 florins at the time of his death; the inheritance of his youngest daughter, Katharina Christina, amounted to 2,775 florins and was paid out to her in 1722 on her wedding day. The workshop was initially continued by his widow and then by his son Johann David. Dennerstraße was named after him. His widow married Samuel Memmert, a citizen of Nuremberg.

Works: Nickel, 1971, p. 214 listed approx. 54 instruments.

MuS: BASEL, Hist. Mus. BERKELEY, University of California, Dept. of Music. MUNICH, BNM. –, Deutsches Mus. NUREMBERG, GNM. And in many other German and foreign museums.

Lit.: NDB; MGG; Nickel, 1971, p. 129, 192; Brockhaus-Riemann, 1978; Meer, 1983; Huber, 1989; Herbert Maas, in: MVGN 81, 1994; Kirnbauer, 1994; Ibid. in: Krickeberg 1996, pp. 198-208; Stadtlexikon 2000.

Exhibitions: 1906/2 No. 1123; 2002/1 Nos. 50 and 52.

Thomas Röder
(quoted from the Nuremberg Artists' Lexicon, edited by Manfred H. Grieb)