The Violins Rich History

The violin is an evolution of bowed stringed instruments that began more than ten centuries ago. However, we saw the first actual violin about 500 years ago in Italy. At the time, a sophisticated school of music existed in the city of Bresicia in which students were able to learn all about musical instruments of that time. 

This is where many music instrument ideas came from including that of the first violin.

The specific date of the first violin is unknown since there have not been any official documents found stating the factual information, although artwork and references to such a stringed instrument have placed the first appearance to be approximately 1530 AD. There were 3 main instruments from which the violins design was obtained. These include: the Viola da Braccio, the Rebec and the Lira da Braccio.

The goal of the original violin is believed to be the creation of an instrument that could be used by musicians on the streets to be able to produce similar acoustic abilities of that of the lute. The Medici family is who has been accredited to have released the first edition of such an instrument.

One of the most well known of all ancient violin makers is Antonio Stradivari. He is credited in creating around eleven hundred musical instruments throughout his lifetime. There are currently about six hundred left today of which approximately 90% are violins.

The All of Europe seemed to appreciate the violin as it quickly became very popular among musicians. Similar to the evolution of the guitar, the violin has remained very similar to that of the original. Original versions are very popular among collectors and avid musicians.

Some improvements have been made to the instrument in the past decades which made it what we all know today. These changes include an alteration to the design which works similar to the horn design in other instruments to amplify the sound emitted from the violin. This new design is known as the Stroh violin.

The most modern version would be the electric violin in which the electric guitar idea was utilized to create a new version which used electrical amplification and sound alteration. The results is a version of the violin that could play classic sounds as well as a variety of synthesized sounds which are used in a large variety of different styles of modern music today.