The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four strings (sometimes five), usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno).
Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments. Violins are also important in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music, and in jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used in some forms of rock music and jazz fusion, with the pickups plugged into instrument amplifiers and speakers to produce sound. The violin has come to be incorporated in many non-Western music cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music. The name fiddle is often used regardless of the type of music played on it.
The violin was first created in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries to give the instrument a more powerful sound and projection. In Europe, it served as the basis for the development of other stringed instruments used in Western classical music, such as the viola. Accessed 5 September 2015.
Violinists and collectors particularly prize the fine historical instruments made by the Stradivari, Guarneri, Guadagnini and Amati families from the 16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona (Italy) and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, though this belief is disputed. Great numbers of instruments have come from the hands of less famous makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage industries in places such as Saxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers.
The components of a violin are usually made from different types of wood. Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon or other synthetic, or steel strings. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker. One who makes or repairs bows is called an archetier or bowmaker.
Etymology The word "violin" was first used in English in the 1570s. The word "violin" comes from Italian , a diminutive of viola. The term "viola" comes from the expression for "tenor violin" in 1797, from Italian and Old Provençal , [which came from] Medieval Latin as a term which means , perhaps [coming] from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy, or from related Latin verb , "to cry out in joy or exaltation". The related term meaning (1724) is from Italian, literally "a viola for the leg" (i.e. to hold between the legs)". A violin is the "modern form of the smaller, medieval viola da braccio" ("arm viola").
The violin is often called a fiddle. "Fiddle" can be used as the instrument's customary name in folk music, or as an informal name for the instrument in other styles of music. The word "fiddle" was first used in English in the late 14th century. The word "fiddle" comes from fedele, fydyll, fidel, earlier fithele, from Old English , which is related to Old Norse , Middle Dutch , Dutch , Old High German , German , ; all of uncertain origin. As to the origin of the word "fiddle", the "usual suggestion, based on resemblance in sound and sense, is that it is from Medieval Latin ".
History
The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (for example, the Greek lyre). Two-stringed, bowed instruments, played upright and strung and bowed with horsehair, may have originated in the nomadic equestrian cultures of Central Asia, in forms closely resembling the modern-day Mongolian morin huur and the Kazakh kobyz. Similar and variant types were probably disseminated along east–west trading routes from Asia into the Middle East,The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust, Silk Road Story 2: Bowed Instruments, Smithsonian Center for Folk life and Cultural Heritage (accessed 2008-09-26) and the Byzantine Empire.Margaret J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, University of Chicago Press, 1990
Rebec, fiddle and lira da braccio are generally considered the ancestors of the violin,The Cambridge Companion to the Cello Several sources suggest alternative possibilities for the violin's origins, such as northern or western Europe. The first makers of violins probably borrowed from various developments of the Byzantine lyra. These included the vielle (also known as the fidel or viuola) and the lira da braccio. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-century northern Italy. The earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words "violino" and "vyollon" are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon in 1556.
The violin proved very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility; the French king Charles IX ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560. One of these "noble" instruments, the Charles IX, is the oldest surviving violin. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford. The finest Renaissance carved and decorated violin in the world is the Gasparo da Salò (1574) owned by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and later, from 1841, by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Bull, who used it for forty years and thousands of concerts, for its very powerful and beautiful tone, similar to that of a Guarneri.It is now in the Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum in Bergen, Norway. "The Messiah" or "Le Messie" (also known as the "Salabue") made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine. It is also located in the Ashmolean Museum.
The most famous violin makers (luthiers) between the 16th century and the 18th century include:
The school of Brescia, beginning in the late 14th century with liras, violettas, violas and active in the field of the violin in the first half of the 16th century The Dalla Corna family, active 1510–1560 in Brescia and Venice The Micheli family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia The Inverardi family active 1550–1580 in Brescia The Gasparo da Salò family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia and Salò Giovanni Paolo Maggini, student of Gasparo da Salò, active 1600–1630 in Brescia The Rogeri family, active 1661–1721 in Brescia The school of Cremona, beginning in the second half of the 16th century with violas and violone and in the field of violin in the second half of the 16th century The Amati family, active 1550–1740 in Cremona The Guarneri family, active 1626–1744 in Cremona and Venice The Stradivari family, active 1644–1737 in Cremona The Rugeri family, active 1650–1740 in Cremona Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) (1683–1747) in Cremona The school of Venice, with the presence of several makers of bowed instruments from the early 16th century out of more than 140 makers of string instruments registered between 1490 and 1630. The Linarolo family, active 1505–1640 in Venice Matteo Goffriller, known for his celli, active 1685–1742 in Venice Pietro Guarneri, son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri and from Cremona, active 1717–1762 in Venice Domenico Montagnana, active circa 1700–1750 in Venice Santo Serafin, active before 1741 until 1776 in Venice Significant changes occurred in the construction of the violin in the 18th century, particularly a longer neck which is angled more toward the back of the instrument than in earlier examples, heavier strings, and a heavier bass bar. The majority of old instruments have undergone these modifications, and hence are in a significantly different state than when they left the hands of their makers, doubtless with differences in sound and response. But it is in their present (modified) condition that these instruments have set the standard for perfection in violin craftsmanship and sound, and violin makers all over the world try to come as close to this ideal as possible.
To this day, instruments from the so-called Golden Age of violin making, especially those made by Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, and Montagnana, are the most sought-after instruments by both collectors and performers. The current record amount paid for a Stradivari violin is £9.8 million (US$15.9 million at that time), when the instrument known as the Lady Blunt was sold by Tarisio Auctions in an online auction on June 20, 2011.
Construction and mechanics
A violin generally consists of a spruce (especially Norway spruce) top (the soundboard, also known as the top plate, table, or belly), maple ribs and back, two endblocks, a neck, a bridge, a soundpost, four strings, and various fittings, optionally including a chinrest, which may attach directly over, or to the left of, the tailpiece. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its hourglass-like shape and the arching of its top and back. The hourglass shape comprises two upper bouts, two lower bouts, and two concave C-bouts at the waist, providing clearance for the bow. The "voice" or sound of a violin depends on its shape, the wood it is made from, the graduation (the thickness profile) of both the top and back, the varnish that coats its outside surface and the skill of the luthier in doing all of these steps. The varnish and especially the wood continue to improve with age, making the fixed supply of old well-made violins built by famous luthiers much sought after.
The majority of glued joints in the instrument use animal hide glue rather than common white glue for a number of reasons. Hide glue is capable of making a thinner joint than most other glues. It is reversible (brittle enough to crack with carefully applied force and removable with hot water) when disassembly is needed. Since fresh hide glue sticks to old hide glue, more original wood can be preserved when repairing a joint. (More modern glues must be cleaned off entirely for the new joint to be sound, which generally involves scraping off some wood along with the old glue.) Weaker, diluted glue is usually used to fasten the top to the ribs, and the nut to the fingerboard, since common repairs involve removing these parts. The purfling running around the edge of the spruce top provides some protection against cracks originating at the edge. It also allows the top to flex more independently of the rib structure. Painted-on faux purfling on the top is usually a sign of an inferior instrument. The back and ribs are typically made of maple, most often with a matching striped figure, referred to as flame, fiddleback, or tiger stripe.