History of violins Where did all began ?

Posted on | June 7, 2007

Stringed instruments first were recorded in Europe in the medieval ages. By “stringed” we refer to instruments played with a bow. This instrument was the “fiddle” of the minne-singers. But it didn’t have much in common with a violin. It was in the 15th century when, slowly, the family of gambs and violins developed.

In the times of the renaissance, which had a large impact on all the arts, not least in the construction of instruments. The violin as it is known nowadays was built in the early 16th century. In this climate the viola and the cello also emerged. 

Everything that is explained about the violin and its structures can be referred to the whole family of stringed instruments. This group of instruments has been developed in order to satisfy new ideas of sounds that emerged in these times in Italy. Gradually, it took the place of the gambs and violas that preceded them.

It was with the Cremonese makers working in this environment that the violin and its family reached its zenith, and although technical innovations have been applied through time, the ground plan and its basic form are still used today.

In Italy, which escaped the war of thirty years, violin making reached an enormous upswing. Andrea Amati lived in Cremona between 1535 and 1611; he became the founder of the world’s most famous school of violin-making. It is not a certain institute, which is meant but a special local characterisation of all different centres of violinmaking; the art of painting has known a similar effect. So, there are for instance the school of Brescia, of Cremona, of Milan, but also the school of Naples and many more.

Afterwards, violin making expounded over the whole continent of Europe. But it was Cremona that was home to the most famous of all violin makers: The families Amati and Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari, the families Ruggeri and Bergonzi. For more than 150 years, violins made by Stradivari and Guarneri have been the most desired concert instruments.

The violin first emerged in northern Italy in the early 16th century. While no instruments from the first decades of the century survive, there are several representations in paintings; some of the early instruments have only three strings. Most likely the first makers of violins borrowed from three different types of current instruments: the rebec, in use since the 10th century (itself derived from the Arab rebab), the Viola da Braccio (or Renaissance Fiddle), and the lira da braccio. The earliest explicit description of the instrument, including its tuning, was in the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon in 1556. By this time the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe.

The first real violin was built by Andrea Amati in the first half of the 16th century by order of the Medici family^{[citation needed]}, who had asked for an instrument that could be used by street-musicians, but with the quality of a lute, which was a very popular instrument among the noble in that time. Andrea Amati, one of the famous luthiers, or lute-builders, in that time decided to use the technique of applying a mould to build the instrument very precisely. In addition to that, he made the instrument vaulted, for he knew that that would provide for a much greater tone than was common until then. The violin immediately became very popular, both among street-musicians and the noble, which is illustrated by the fact that Charles IX of France commissioned an extensive range of string instruments in the second half of the 16th century^[1] .

The oldest surviving violin, dated inside, is the “Charles IX” by Andrea Amati, made in Cremona in 1564. Perhaps the most famous, and certainly the most pristine is the “Le Messie” (also known as the ‘Salabue’) made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 and never used. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford.

The most famous violin makers, called luthiers, between the late 16th century and the 18th century included:

• Amati family of Italian violin makers, Andrea Amati (1500-1577), Antonio Amati (1540-1607), Hieronymous Amati I (1561-1630), Nicolo Amati (1596-1684), Hieronymous Amati II (1649-1740)
• Guarneri family of Italian violin makers, Andrea Guarneri (1626- 1698), Pietro of Mantua (1655-1720), Giuseppe Guarneri (Joseph filius Andreae) (1666-1739), Pietro Guarneri (of Venice) (1695-1762), and Giuseppe (del Gesu) (1698-1744)
• Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) of Cremona
• Jacob Stainer (1617-1683) of Absam in Tyrol

Couple of minor changes have occurred, including:

• the fingerboard was made a little longer to be able to play even the highest notes,
• the fingerboard was tilted a little more, to produce even more volume as larger and larger orchestras became popular.
• nearly all old instruments were modified, including lengthening of the neck by one centimeter, in response to the raising of pitch that occurred in the 19th century.
• the bass bar of nearly all old instruments was made heavier to allow a greater string tension.
• the classical luthiers nailed and glued the instrument necks to the upper block of the body before gluing on the soundboard, while later luthiers mortise the neck to the body after completely assembling the body.

The result of these adjustments are instruments that are significantly different in sound and response from those that left the hands of their makers. Regardless, most violins nowadays are built superficially resembling the old instruments.

Nevertheless, instruments of approximately 300 years of age, especially those made by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù, are the most sought after instruments (for both collectors and performers). In addition to the skill and reputation of the maker, an instrument’s age can also influence both price and quality.

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