History of Violin

At first,String instrument was plucked. And then how about violin, viola, and cello??

Bowed instrument appeared from the culture of horse rider, from the Central of Asia. For the example, Turkic and Mongolian horseman’s two stringed instrument, which played with horsehair bow. Until now, the bow of violin, viola, and cello, have been made by horse hair, that’s because 

 of horse rider culture.

http://www.davidfinck.com/blog/2012/01/16/horsehair-and-wood-re-hairing-a-violin-bow/

And then, these instrument was spread to East of Asia, China, India, Middle East, and the Byzantine Empire. Some of them, became erhu in China, the rebab in the Middle East, the lyra in the Byzantine Empire and the esraj in India.

Modern violin emerged in early 16th-Century Northern Italy, especially port towns of Venice and Genoa which associated with Central Asia through the trade routes of the silk road.

The modern European violin evolved from various bowed stringed instrument from the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire. Three kind of current instrument which is usually referred as the forerunner of violin is :

1.Rebec (derived from the Arabic bowed instrument rebab and the Byzantine lyra)

http://www.trombamarina.com/instruments/rebec

2.Vielle( one of the most popular instruments of the Medieval period, derived from the lyra, a Byzantine bowed instrument)

http://earlymusichicago.org/photos/NewberryConsortConcertMarch2006/Vielle1.jpg

3.lira da braccio most closely related to vielle

The oldest violin, which have 4 strings, has been made in 1555 by Andrea Amati.By this time, Violin immediately became very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility. Even the French king Charles IX ordered Amati to make 24 violins for him in 1560.

http://pinchgutopera.typepad.com/pinchgut_opera/2009/07/australias-first-lira-da-gamba.html

Great changes of violin’s construction occurred in the 18^th century, especially in the length and angle of the violin’s neck. The majority of the old instrument have been updated fit with this new standard size. Therefore there is a differences in sound and response before and after update.

To this day, instruments from the "Golden Age" of violin making, especially those made by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù, are the most sought instruments by the collectors and performers.

 

Record sale: The Lady Blunt violin, made by Stradivarius in 1721, £10m

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006053/Stradivarius-violin-sells-record-10m.html