The violin: and early history

The origins of the violin are difficult to determine. Theories connecting its evolution with instruments such as the lira da braccio have courted controversy. Problems of terminology also blur our historical focus, as references to ‘viole’ could equally denote violins or viols. The first detailed description of the violin appears in Philibert Jambe de Fer's Epitome musical (Lyons, 1556), but the instrument probably evolved in northern Italy over half a century earlier. Iconological evidence certainly suggests the existence of three-stringed, violin-like instruments in Italian frescoes of the late fifteenth century, some years or so before Gaudenzio Ferrari's famous example (1535) in the cupola of Santa Maria dei Miracoli at Saronno, which remains the earliest known illustration of the complete violin family. However, the decisive step in the evolution of the violin proper was the creation (probably c.1505) of a consort of three sizes (soprano, alto or tenor, and bass) modelled on the viol consort, thus differentiating it from ancestors such as the vielle and the rebec (See Fig. 3.1). Convincing arguments have been advanced which link the spread of the ‘consort principle’ with that of polyphony into secular music.

The violin was essentially a consort instrument until about 1600 and was used in northern Europe in consorts of four or five parts (1 or 2 violins, 2–3 violas and bass) for courtly dance music and occasionally for doubling vocal music.