It is the purpose of this thesis to present a study of music written for the clarinet during the period from 1600 to 1800. The first part is a history of the clarinet showing the stages of development of the instrument from its early predecessors to its present form. Part one also explains the acoustics of the clarinet and its actual invention. The second part deals with composers and their music for the clarinet. No attempt is made to include all music written for the instrument during the prescribed period; rather, the writer's intention is to include chiefly those works by composers whose musics has proven to be outstanding in clarinet literature or interesting historically. The order in which the works themselves are taken up is chronological, by composers, with comment on their styles as to form, harmonic content, melodic content, rhythmic content, problems in phrasing, or any other general technical problem. All of these elements are illustrated with examples taken from the music.