| It is difficult to imagine formal black tie affairs | | | | Other instruments which may find their way in |
| without formal music, and it is impossible to | | | | violin history as forerunners of the violin are the |
| imagine formal music without the violin, a | | | | rebec, the rebab, the ravanastron, the rote and |
| four-stringed instrument tuned in fifths and played | | | | the vielle. In time, the stringed ancestors of the |
| with a bow.. For many years, the violin has | | | | violin began to have four strings. It was however, |
| become the symbol of musical elegance and class. | | | | ultimately from the viola de braccio that the |
| Today, when non-musicians see a small | | | | present violin emerged. By the mid 1500s, the |
| four-stringed instrument tucked underneath a | | | | violin came to be widely used. It's name is of Latin |
| musician's chin, it is immediately labeled as a violin | | | | origin. |
| and the musician, as a classical artist who properly | | | | Violin history reached its height in the 1500s in |
| belongs in gilded halls among prominent guests. | | | | Milan, Italy where, because of the wide use of the |
| Although presently the violin is not restricted to | | | | instrument, the violin also came to be produced |
| high class use, its present reputation is definitely | | | | by violin master craftsmen. Probably the first |
| that of elegance. In truth however, the violin | | | | historically known master was Andrea Amati who |
| evolved from humble beginnings. Violin history, | | | | was also the first to have been known to have |
| though somewhat complicated, is also somehow | | | | made the first modern-looking violin. It was from |
| humbling. | | | | him that Charles IX ordered twenty-four violins. In |
| Violin history actually began as far back as the | | | | time, the name Amati as a premier violin maker |
| 800s with the emergence of primitive forms | | | | came to be associated not just with Andrea but |
| from whence the present violin was theoretically | | | | with his whole family which included Antonio Amati |
| based. It is theorized that these primitive | | | | (who put up the school of Cremona), Hieronymus |
| templates may have come not from Europe but | | | | Amati I, Nicolo Amati and Hieronymus Amati II. |
| from Asia. In four and a half centuries, the | | | | Other famous luthiers or violin makers in violin |
| present form of the violin emerged. | | | | history were Andrea Guarneri, Giuseppe Guarneri, |
| In all probability, the first primitive predecessor of | | | | Pietro Guarneri, Alexander Gagliano, Ferdinand |
| the violin in violin history is the musical bow, which | | | | Gagliano, Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Jacob |
| is exactly what its name implies. It is but a simple | | | | Stainer, Guarneri del Gesu and the illustrious |
| instrument with a bow and a string attached to it. | | | | Antonio Stradivari whose models are the most |
| Like the violin, the bow was not played by | | | | preferred by musicians the world over. Today, |
| plucking like other instruments with strings, but | | | | the violin is regarded as a member of a stringed |
| was rubbed to produce sound. In the 1000s, bows | | | | family of instruments which include the cello and |
| were divided into two types, oval instruments and | | | | the viola. The violin may also be called a fiddle |
| pear-shaped resonance boxes. | | | | which is an informal term for it. |