Violin
Neither a descendant of nor a close relative to the viol, the violin emerged in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
The European forebears of the violin were the rebec and the fiddle, which themselves evolved from similar instruments found in the ancient eastern world. (A two-stringed fiddle was known to exist in ancient China and the rebab was the Arabic forerunner of the rebec.)
Upon its appearance in Europe, the violin was initially
considered worthy only of doubling with the voice or accompanying the dance.
It was compared unfavourably with the viol because it lacked the softer sounds
associated with that instrument. It was the viol family that was to the fore in
ensemble playing but this was to change conclusively in favour of the violin
family by the end of the seventeenth century.
The acceptance of the violin as a “respectable” instrument is first indicated when Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) used ten members of the violin family (five parts doubled) in his first opera “La Favola d’Orfeo” (The Legend of Orpheus) in 1607.
Despite this significant advance, Monteverdi still had viols and violins performing alongside each other; a practice that was to continue well into the century.
The advance in credibility of the violin was further aided by the appearance of les vingt-quatres violons du roi (the king’s twenty four violins) at the French court of Louis XIII in 1626.
It was during this Baroque period that instrumental music gained equal status with vocal music. Previously, combinations of instruments celebrated the contrast and conflict of tone and timbre but the arrival of the secure and powerful violin and improvements in the design of wind instruments allowed for homogeneity of sound. This, in turn, resulted in experimentation with shade and harmony rather than with contrasting timbres; though this device remained, and remains, an option.
New forms such as the fugue, concerto grosso, sonata and concerto developed; chamber music began to flourish and the orchestra emerged as a conscious assemblage of instruments based around a nucleus of strings made up of members of the violin family. This replaced the previous practice of using an ad hoc collection of those instruments that happened to be available at the time.
Together, first and second violins account for about a quarter of the complement of instruments within a modern symphony orchestra. To have achieved such status reflects generously on their inherent qualities of brilliance, power, versatility, contrast and dependability.
The establishment of the violin as an instrument of distinction was, in no small measure, thanks to the skill and excellence of early makers. They produced instruments of such scientific and artistic precision that the inherent qualities of the violin were clearly apparent.
The centre of excellence was centred on Cremona in northern
Italy. It was in Cremona that the three most famous names in the manufacture of
violins were established: Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari.
Andrea Amati (1505-1578) and his family were active throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries whereas the Guarneri and Stradivari dynasties held sway during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
It was Andrea Amati’s grandson, Nicola Amati (1596-1684) who was acclaimed as the greatest maker of violins in the Amati family. Such was his skill and reputation that Andrea Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari were apprenticed to him.
Andrea Guarneri (1626-1698) formed his own workshop and it was his nephew, Guiseppe Antonio Guarneri (1626-1698) who emerged as the maker second only to Stradivari.
Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) is generally acknowledged to be the greatest violinmaker of them all. (N.B. It is to be recognised that these craftsmen also produced violas and cellos.)
Upon completing his period of apprenticeship with Amati, Antonio produced his first instrument under his own name in 1666.
The period between 1700 and 1720 was the time when he was at the height of his powers but he was still capable of producing his last instrument in the year of his death when he was ninety-three years old. A man like Stradivari, dedicated as he was to perfection, would not suffer work of an inferior nature so his skills must have remained remarkably intact even up to his death.
Of 1,116 instruments known to have been made by him, 600 are
believed to have survived though controversy surrounds the authenticity of some
of those claiming to be “Strads.” Doubt is stirred by the fact that
unscrupulous persons removed the labels from the works of his sons Francesco
and Omobono; these, which stated sotto la discipline d’Antonio Stradivari, were
replaced with copies of Antonio’s own mark.
Other makers of quality violins existed in northern Italy and elsewhere in Europe but it is those makers from Cremona who remain the most revered of all.
The complexity and number of parts involved in the construction of a violin make it wise to simplify the matter.
Firstly, consider the parts that involve the strings and then the sound box to which the former is attached.
The string-securing device involves, at one end, the tailpiece and at the other, the peg box. The four strings are secured by the fan-shaped tailpiece from whence they stretch over the bridge and proceed, freestanding, along the unfretted fingerboard that it is mounted at the front of the neck. The neck terminates in a decorative scroll into which are mounted tuning pegs around which the strings are wound, awaiting tuning.
The sound box, when assembled, has the well-defined waist, distinct shoulders, curved back and ƒ-shaped sound holes so characteristic of the violin.
Five main features are involved in the construction of the sound box: the top plate (belly), bass bar, sound post, back plate and ribs.
The belly has attached to its underside, within the hollow of the box, a bass bar that helps with the transmission of sound, as does the sound post that connects the underside of the belly to the curved back plate. The sound post is situated to the right, underside of the bridge so that the vibrations of the strings are transmitted to the resonant back plate.
The bass bar and sound post perform the additional function of supporting the delicate structure of the completed instrument.
The ribs are the continuous edges of the sound box holding and separating the belly and the back plate.
Early violins were gut-strung but modern editions are either
aluminium-wrapped gut or steel-strung.
The bow, which like that of the viol was originally convex, progressed through a straightened phase until it acquired its distinctive, modern, concave curve.
The violin is used extensively as a solo instrument, as a member of numerous chamber ensemble combinations and as the major leader, supporter and partner of all the other instruments within a modern symphony orchestra.
In their role as orchestral instruments, the violins are divided into two sections; the first violins and the second violins. The distinction merely indicates difference of function; the firsts usually taking the higher pitched parts and the seconds taking the lower pitched.
There is no standard number of violins in an orchestra but one would expect to see, on average, sixteen first violins and fourteen second violins.