History of the violin
Encyclopedia
The history of bowed
string musical instrument
in Europe goes back to the 9th century with the lira
(or lūrā, Greek: λύρα) of the Byzantine Empire
, a bowed instrument (held upright). The Persian
geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih
(d. 911) of the 9th century, was the first to cite the bowed Byzantine lira as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The Byzantine
lira
spread through Europe westward and in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle
and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009). In the meantime rabāb was introduced to the Western Europe possibly through the Iberian Peninsula
and both bowed instruments spread widely throughout Europe giving birth to various European bowed instruments.
(meaning viol for the arm) family; the other, with sloping shoulders and held between the knees, known with the Italian term lira da gamba (or viola da gamba, meaning viol for the leg) group. During the Renaissance
the gambas were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder (and originally less aristocratic) lira da braccio family of the modern violin
.
in the early 16th century especially from the Brescia area. Many archive documents testify that from 1585-95 Brescia
was the cradle of a magnificent school of string players and makers, all called with the title of "maestro" of all the different sort of strings instruments of the Renaissance: viola da gamba (viols), violone, lyra, lyrone, violetta and viola da brazzo. So you can find "maestro delle viole" or "maestro delle lire" and later, at least from 1558, "maestro di far violini" that is master of violin making. From 1530 the word violin appear in brescian documents and spread all around north of Italy. While no instruments from the first decades of the century survive, there are several representations in paintings; some of the early instruments have only three strings and were of the violetta type. Most likely the first makers of violins borrowed from three different types of current instruments: the rebec
, in use since the 10th century (itself derived from the Arab
rebab
), the Viola da Braccio (or Renaissance Fiddle), and the lira da braccio
. The earliest explicit description of the instrument, including its tuning, was in the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon
in 1556. By this time the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe.
Because documents show that the Brescia school started half a century before Cremona, it is debated whether the first real violin was built by Andrea Amati, one of the famous luthiers, or lute-builders, in the first half of the 16th century by order of the Medici
family, who had asked for an instrument that could be used by street-musicians, but with the quality of a lute
, which was a very popular instrument among the nobles in that time. Andrea was very probably a lute maker who was astonished at the Brescian market for violins around 1550-60, and decided in those years to change trade. A document of 1636 (a letter to the secretary of Monteverdi) testifies that while Brescian makers had dominated the violin market until then, Cremonese makers gained influence following the death of Brescian masters in the 1630 plague. Andrea Amati built instruments using a mould, allowing more precise measurements than previously, and made the instrument's body slightly vaulted. The violin immediately became very popular, both among street-musicians and the nobility, which is illustrated by the fact that Charles IX of France
commissioned an extensive range of string instruments in the second half of the 16th century.
The oldest confirmed surviving violin, dated inside, is the "Charles IX" by Andrea Amati, made in Cremona
in 1564. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
has an Amati violin that may be even older, possibly dating to 1558 but the date is very doubtful. One of the most famous and certainly the most pristine is the Messiah Stradivarius
(also known as the 'Salabue') made by Antonio Stradivari
in 1716 and very little played, perhaps almost never and in an as new state. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum
of Oxford.
The most famous violin makers, called luthiers, between the early 16th century and the 18th century included:
The results of these adjustments are instruments that are significantly different in sound and response from those that left the hands of their makers. Regardless, most violins nowadays are built superficially resembling the old instruments.
and the Mittenwald
in what is now Germany, in the Tyrol
, now parts of Austria and Italy, and in Bohemia
, now part of the Czech Republic.
About seven million violin family instruments and basses, and far more bows, were shipped from Markneukirchen
between 1880 and 1914. Many 19th and early 20th century instruments shipped from Saxony were in fact made in Bohemia, where the cost of living was less. While the French workshops in Mirecourt employed hundreds of workers, the Saxon/Bohemian instruments were made by a cottage industry of "mostly anonymous skilled laborers quickly turning out a simple, inexpensive product."
Today this market also sees instruments coming from China, Romania, and Bulgaria.
used mechanical amplification similar to that of an unelectrified gramophone
to boost sound volume. Some Stroh violins have a small "monitor" horn pointed at the player's ear, for audibility on a loud stage, where the main horn points at the audience. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries before electronic
sound amplification
became common, Stroh violins were used particularly in the recording studio. These violins with directional horns better suited the demands of the early recording industry's technology than the traditional violin
. Stroh was not the only person who made instruments of this class. Over twenty different inventions appear in the Patent books up to 1949. Often mistaken for Stroh and interchangeably known as being Stroh-viols, phono-fiddles
, horn-violins or trumpet-violins, these other instruments have slipped into comparative obscurity.
The history of the electric violin
spans the entire 20th century. The success of electrical amplification, recording and playback devices brought an end to the use of the Stroh violin in broadcast and recording. Acoustic-electric violins have a hollow body with soundholes, and may be played with or without amplification. Solid-body electric violins produce very little sound on their own, and require the use of an electronic sound reinforcement system
, which usually includes equalization
and may also apply sonic effects
.
Electric violins may have four strings, or as many as seven strings. Since the strength of materials
imposes limits on the upper string, it is usually tuned to E5
, with additional strings tuned in fifths
below the usual G3 of a typical four-string violin. The five-string electric violin shown in the gallery below was built by John Jordan in the early 21st century, and is tuned C G D A E.
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
string musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
in Europe goes back to the 9th century with the lira
Byzantine lyra
The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...
(or lūrā, Greek: λύρα) of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, a bowed instrument (held upright). The Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih
Ibn Khordadbeh
Abu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh , author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer and bureaucrat of the 9th century...
(d. 911) of the 9th century, was the first to cite the bowed Byzantine lira as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
lira
Byzantine lyra
The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...
spread through Europe westward and in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009). In the meantime rabāb was introduced to the Western Europe possibly through the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
and both bowed instruments spread widely throughout Europe giving birth to various European bowed instruments.
Gamba and braccio
Over the centuries that followed, Europe continued to have two distinct types of bowed instruments: one, relatively square-shaped, held in the arms, known with the Italian term lira da braccioLira da braccio
The lira da braccio was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany their improvised recitations of lyric and narrative poetry. It is most closely related to the medieval fiddle, or vielle, and...
(meaning viol for the arm) family; the other, with sloping shoulders and held between the knees, known with the Italian term lira da gamba (or viola da gamba, meaning viol for the leg) group. During the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
the gambas were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder (and originally less aristocratic) lira da braccio family of the modern violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
.
Emergence and early spread
The violin first emerged in northern ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the early 16th century especially from the Brescia area. Many archive documents testify that from 1585-95 Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
was the cradle of a magnificent school of string players and makers, all called with the title of "maestro" of all the different sort of strings instruments of the Renaissance: viola da gamba (viols), violone, lyra, lyrone, violetta and viola da brazzo. So you can find "maestro delle viole" or "maestro delle lire" and later, at least from 1558, "maestro di far violini" that is master of violin making. From 1530 the word violin appear in brescian documents and spread all around north of Italy. While no instruments from the first decades of the century survive, there are several representations in paintings; some of the early instruments have only three strings and were of the violetta type. Most likely the first makers of violins borrowed from three different types of current instruments: the rebec
Rebec
The rebecha is a bowed string musical instrument. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings and is played on the arm or under the chin, like a violin.- Origins :The rebec dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries...
, in use since the 10th century (itself derived from the Arab
Arab music
Arabic music or Arab music is the music of the Arab World, including several genres and styles of music ranging from Arabic classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music....
rebab
Rebab
The rebab , also rebap, rabab, rebeb, rababah, or al-rababa) is a type of string instrument so named no later than the 8th century and spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East...
), the Viola da Braccio (or Renaissance Fiddle), and the lira da braccio
Lira da braccio
The lira da braccio was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany their improvised recitations of lyric and narrative poetry. It is most closely related to the medieval fiddle, or vielle, and...
. The earliest explicit description of the instrument, including its tuning, was in the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
in 1556. By this time the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe.
Brescia and Cremona
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
family, who had asked for an instrument that could be used by street-musicians, but with the quality of a lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, which was a very popular instrument among the nobles in that time. Andrea was very probably a lute maker who was astonished at the Brescian market for violins around 1550-60, and decided in those years to change trade. A document of 1636 (a letter to the secretary of Monteverdi) testifies that while Brescian makers had dominated the violin market until then, Cremonese makers gained influence following the death of Brescian masters in the 1630 plague. Andrea Amati built instruments using a mould, allowing more precise measurements than previously, and made the instrument's body slightly vaulted. The violin immediately became very popular, both among street-musicians and the nobility, which is illustrated by the fact that Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
commissioned an extensive range of string instruments in the second half of the 16th century.
The oldest confirmed surviving violin, dated inside, is the "Charles IX" by Andrea Amati, made in Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
in 1564. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
has an Amati violin that may be even older, possibly dating to 1558 but the date is very doubtful. One of the most famous and certainly the most pristine is the Messiah Stradivarius
Messiah Stradivarius
The Messiah-Salabue Stradivarius of 1716 is a violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. It is considered to be the only Stradivarius in existence in as new state....
(also known as the 'Salabue') made by Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...
in 1716 and very little played, perhaps almost never and in an as new state. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
of Oxford.
Early makers
Instruments of approximately 300 years of age, especially those made by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù, are the most sought after instruments (for both collectors and performers). In addition to the skill and reputation of the maker, an instrument's age can also influence both price and quality.The most famous violin makers, called luthiers, between the early 16th century and the 18th century included:
- Micheli family of Italian violin makers, Zanetto MicheliZanetto MicheliZanetto Micheli was the first representative of the oldest known family of string instrument makers from the famous Renaissance Brescian school of strings and violin making, from which instruments survive. Micheli was born in the Italian village of Montichiari, and later moved to the nearby town...
1490 - 1560, Pellegrino MicheliPellegrino MicheliPellegrino Micheli is one of the most important figures in the early history of the violin. He was one of the first makers of the Brescian school and a contemporary of Gasparo da Salò....
1520 - 1607, Giovanni Micheli 1562 - 1616, Francesco Micheli 1579 - 1615, and the brother in law Battista Doneda 1529 - 1610 - Bertolotti da Salò (Gasparo da SalòGasparo da SalòGasparo da Salò is the name given to Gasparo di Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and expert double bass player of which many and very detailed historical records exist.He was born in Salò on Lake Garda, in a family with legal, artistic, musical and craft interests...
) family of Italian violin, double bass players and makers: Francesco 1513 - 1563 and Agostino 1510 - 1584 Bertolotti, Gasparo Bertolotti 1540 - 1609 called Gasparo da SalòGasparo da SalòGasparo da Salò is the name given to Gasparo di Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and expert double bass player of which many and very detailed historical records exist.He was born in Salò on Lake Garda, in a family with legal, artistic, musical and craft interests... - Giovanni Paolo MagginiGiovanni Paolo MagginiGiovanni Paolo Maggini , was a string maker born in Botticino , Italy. Maggini was a pupil of the most important violin maker of the Brescian school, Gasparo da Salò....
1580 - 1630 pupil of Gasparo da Salò - AmatiAmatiAmati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.-Andrea Amati:Andrea Amati was not the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today...
family of Italian violin makers, Andrea Amati (1500–1577), Antonio Amati (1540–1607), Hieronymous Amati I (1561–1630), Nicolo AmatiNicolò AmatiNiccolò Amati was an Italian luthier from Cremona.-Biography:Nicolò Amati was the fifth son of Girolamo Amati and the grandson of Andrea Amati, the founder of the Amati Family of violin makers. Of all the Amati Family violins, those of Nicolò are often considered most suitable for modern playing...
(1596–1684), Hieronymous Amati II (1649–1740) - GuarneriGuarneriThe Guarneri is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati and Stradivari families...
family of Italian violin makers, Andrea GuarneriAndrea GuarneriAndrea Guarneri was an Italian luthier and founder of the house of Guarneri violin makers.-Biography:Thought to be born in 1626 to Bartolomo Guarneri in the parish of Cremona, Italy, very little is known about Andrea Guarneri's family of origin...
(1626–1698), Pietro of MantuaPietro Giovanni GuarneriPietro Giovanni Guarneri , also known as Pietro da Mantua or Peter Guarnerius of Mantua was a violin maker of the Guarneri family who also worked as a professional musician. Today his instruments are very highly regarded, though quite rare...
(1655–1720), Giuseppe Giovanni Battista GuarneriGiuseppe Giovanni Battista GuarneriGiuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, better known as Giuseppe filius Andrea Guarneri was a violin maker from the prominent Guarneri family of luthiers who lived in Cremona, Italy.-Biography:...
(Joseph filius Andreae) (1666–1739), Pietro GuarneriPietro GuarneriPietro Guarneri was an Italian luthier. Sometimes referred to as Pietro da Venezia, he was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, filius Andreae, and the last of the Guarneri house of violin-makers...
(of Venice) (1695–1762), and Giuseppe GuarneriGiuseppe GuarneriBartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù was an Italian luthier from the Guarneri house of Cremona. He rivals Antonio Stradivari with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and he has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line...
(del Gesu) (1698–1744) - Antonio StradivariAntonio StradivariAntonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...
(1644–1737) of Cremona - Jacob StainerJacob StainerJacob Stainer was the earliest and best known Austrian luthier.Stainer was born in Absam, Austria. His designs influenced instrument construction in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, parts of Italy, and several other countries....
(1617–1683) of AbsamAbsamAbsam is a municipality in the Innsbruck-Land District, Tyrol situated at an altitude of 632 m, has an area of 52 km² and 6700 inhabitants as January 2011.-Geography:...
in TyrolCounty of TyrolThe County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
Transition from Baroque to modern form
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, several changes occurred, including:- the fingerboard was made a little longer to be able to play even the highest notes,
- the fingerboard was tilted a little more, to produce even more volume as larger and larger orchestras became popular.
- nearly all old instruments were modified, including lengthening of the neck by one centimeter, in response to the raising of pitch that occurred in the 19th century.
- the bass bar of nearly all old instruments was made heavier to allow a greater string tension.
- the classical luthiers nailed and glued the instrument necks to the upper block of the body before gluing on the soundboard, while later luthiers mortise the neck to the body after completely assembling the body.
The results of these adjustments are instruments that are significantly different in sound and response from those that left the hands of their makers. Regardless, most violins nowadays are built superficially resembling the old instruments.
Trade violins
In the 19th and 20th centuries numerous violins were produced in France, in SaxonySaxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
and the Mittenwald
Mittenwald
Mittenwald is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria.-Geography:Mittenwald is located approx. 16 kilometers to the south-east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen...
in what is now Germany, in the Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
, now parts of Austria and Italy, and in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, now part of the Czech Republic.
About seven million violin family instruments and basses, and far more bows, were shipped from Markneukirchen
Markneukirchen
Markneukirchen is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It lies in between the Erzgebirge and the Fichtelgebirge in the Elstergebirge, southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Asch ....
between 1880 and 1914. Many 19th and early 20th century instruments shipped from Saxony were in fact made in Bohemia, where the cost of living was less. While the French workshops in Mirecourt employed hundreds of workers, the Saxon/Bohemian instruments were made by a cottage industry of "mostly anonymous skilled laborers quickly turning out a simple, inexpensive product."
Today this market also sees instruments coming from China, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Recent inventions
More recently, the Stroh violinStroh violin
Stroh violin, Strohviol, or Strohviol, is a trade name for a horn-violin, or violinophone—a violin that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns rather than a wooden sound box as on a standard violin. The instrument is named after its designer, John Matthias Augustus Stroh, an...
used mechanical amplification similar to that of an unelectrified gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
to boost sound volume. Some Stroh violins have a small "monitor" horn pointed at the player's ear, for audibility on a loud stage, where the main horn points at the audience. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries before electronic
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
sound amplification
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
became common, Stroh violins were used particularly in the recording studio. These violins with directional horns better suited the demands of the early recording industry's technology than the traditional violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. Stroh was not the only person who made instruments of this class. Over twenty different inventions appear in the Patent books up to 1949. Often mistaken for Stroh and interchangeably known as being Stroh-viols, phono-fiddles
Phonofiddle
A phonofiddle is a class of stringed musical instruments that are played with a bow and use a phonograph type reproducer as a voice-box.The sound producing diaphragm may be a metal cone as in the Stroh violin or a mica sheet as in the instruments made by A. T. Howson, London and the Stroviols...
, horn-violins or trumpet-violins, these other instruments have slipped into comparative obscurity.
The history of the electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
spans the entire 20th century. The success of electrical amplification, recording and playback devices brought an end to the use of the Stroh violin in broadcast and recording. Acoustic-electric violins have a hollow body with soundholes, and may be played with or without amplification. Solid-body electric violins produce very little sound on their own, and require the use of an electronic sound reinforcement system
Sound reinforcement system
A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience...
, which usually includes equalization
Equalization (audio)
Equalization is the process commonly used in sound recording and reproduction to alter the frequency response of an audio system using linear filters. Most hi-fi equipment uses relatively simple filters to make bass and treble adjustments. Graphic and parametric equalizers have much more...
and may also apply sonic effects
Effects unit
Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
.
Electric violins may have four strings, or as many as seven strings. Since the strength of materials
Strength of materials
In materials science, the strength of a material is its ability to withstand an applied stress without failure. The applied stress may be tensile, compressive, or shear. Strength of materials is a subject which deals with loads, deformations and the forces acting on a material. A load applied to a...
imposes limits on the upper string, it is usually tuned to E5
Scientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...
, with additional strings tuned in fifths
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
below the usual G3 of a typical four-string violin. The five-string electric violin shown in the gallery below was built by John Jordan in the early 21st century, and is tuned C G D A E.