Brief history of the violin

It took several years and the gradual evolution of multiple instruments before we arrived at the invention of the violin as we know it today. The origin of this instrument is still an unresolved subject and raises several questions since the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, from which we retain several legacies in the fields of philosophy, poetry and art, do not indicate any trace of instruments played with a bow. The same is true for the Egyptian and Chaldean civilizations. Whence, then, does this tradition of rubbing the Strings of an instrument with the help of a bow? According to archives and legends, an Indian king, Ravana of Ceylon, invented the first instrument to be used in the Strings rubbed: the ravanhatta (several spellings possible). Equipped with two Strings gut tuned in fifths, a bridge, a small sound 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),
fourteenth 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. Among the whole panoply of instruments of the same kind, here are a few examples that catch our attention. Probably coming from the East, the instrument that was called the rebab, then evolved to become the rebec from the 13th century onwards, was endowed with three Strings separated by a fifth: A, D and G. Its elongated pear shape differs a little from that of the violin, the front of the instrument is flat, the back is convex and its sound is much harder and nasal than the violin of today. Then let's mention the hurdy-gurdies (fiddles) and the viols, these instruments with Strings rubbed which have taken several forms. Considered to be the closest ancestors of the violin, the hurdy-gurdy is a little longer than today's violin and composed of three to five Strings and the viol is equipped with frets and is played vertically, like the cello of today.

Throughout Europe, several luthiers, including Kerlino of Brescia and Kolitzer of Paris, made instruments of this kind and by making small changes to the form, contributed to an evolution and the discovery of the modern violin. Moreover, several different sources attribute this discovery to different luthiers such as Caspar S. Duiffoprugcar, Gasparo da Salo and André Amati of Cremona. As these two violin makers from northern Italy are the most often cited, 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 the generations.

The bass viol lesson,
Caspar Netscher,
Louvre Museum