A short history of the violin

It took many years and the gradual evolution of many instruments before the invention of the violin as we know it today. The origin of this instrument is still an unresolved subject and raises many questions, since the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations, from which we retain many legacies in the fields of philosophy, poetry and art, show us no trace of instruments played with a bow. The same is true of the Egyptian and Chaldean civilisations. So where does this tradition of rubbing the strings of an instrument with a bow come from? According to archives and legends, an Indian king, Ravana of Ceylon, invented the first bowed string instrument: the ravanhatta (several possible spellings). It is equipped with two gut strings tuned in fifths, a bridge, a small resonance box made of half a coconut and a bow curved like a bow. It is considered to be the oldest ancestor of the violin.

Ravanhatta
University of Edinburgh, Musical Instruments Museum Edinburgh

Vielle (fiddle),
14th century, detail after Boethius, Naples,
Biblioteca Nazionale, MS V.A.14, fol. 47r.

Subsequently, several traces of bowed instruments have been found in Europe here and there but we have little certainty about their origin. Amongst the whole range of instruments of the same kind, here are a few examples that catch our attention. Most probably originating in the East, the instrument known as the rebab, which evolved into the rebec from the 13th century, has three strings separated by a fifth: A, D and G. Its elongated pear shape differs slightly from that of the violin, the front of the instrument is flat, the back is convex and its sound is much harder and more nasal than today's violin. Then there are the hurdy-gurdies and viols, which are bowed string instruments that have taken many forms. Considered the closest ancestors of the violin, the hurdy-gurdy is slightly longer than today's violin and has three to five gut strings, and the viol is fretted and played upright, like today's cello.

Throughout Europe, several violin makers, notably Kerlino of Brescia and Kolitzer of Paris, made instruments of this kind and by making small changes to the shape, contributed to an evolution and the discovery of the modern violin. Moreover, several different sources attribute this discovery to different violin makers such as Caspar S. Duiffoprugcar, Gasparo da Salo and André Amati from Cremona. These two northern Italian luthiers are the most frequently mentioned, and their great influence continued from the middle of the sixteenth century. Since then, many renowned violin makers such as Stradivari, Guarneri, Maggini and many others have also made violins and participated in its evolution and, above all, in the transmission of this unique art through generations.

The bass viol lesson,
Caspar Netscher,
Louvre Museum