The Birth of the Violin — from the Rebec to Amati and Cremona
Where did the violin come from? From the medieval bowed predecessors — the rebec, the fiddle, the lira da braccio — to the mid-16th century northern Italy, where Andrea Amati of Cremona and Gasparo da Salò of Brescia fixed the form of the modern violin. Body length 35.5cm, four strings, f-holes, bridge, sound post — why did it settle into this shape? We trace the 100 years of the instrument's birth.
Was the Violin “Invented”?
The piano has a clear inventor — Cristofori, around 1700. But the violin has no such “moment of invention.” Bowed instruments from the Middle Ages gradually changed shape and converged on the “modern form” in mid-16th-century northern Italy — this is the reality of the violin’s birth.
In other words, the violin is not an invention but a “product of evolution.” Several predecessor instruments blended together, and luthiers arrived at the optimal solution through trial and error. And once it reached that form, it barely changed for 500 years.
Three Predecessor Instruments
The bowed instruments leading to the modern violin existed in several forms from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance:
Rebec
A bowed instrument transmitted from the Arab world to Europe in the Middle Ages. A pear-shaped body, 3-4 strings. Played on the shoulder — in this respect a direct ancestor of the violin. A popular instrument used to accompany minstrels and dance.
Fiddle (vielle)
A medieval bowed instrument that spread across Europe. Larger than the rebec, with a flatter body. The colloquial modern English word “fiddle” for the violin is a remnant of this.
Lira da braccio
Popular in 15th-late to 16th-century Italy. With 7 strings, 2 of which sounded a sustained drone outside the melody. Considered the most direct predecessor of the violin, it accompanied the recitation of poetry in Renaissance courts.
The Viol Family — “Another Lineage”
At the same time, a separate family of bowed instruments — the viol family (viola da gamba) — also flourished:
- Held between the knees (gamba = leg)
- Has frets (like a guitar)
- 6-7 strings, a soft and introspective sound
The viol was a different lineage from the violin family. In the Baroque both coexisted, but in the 18th century the violin family won out in volume and brilliance, and the viol declined. Today it is revived in early-music performance.
Violin family “held on the arm (braccio)” vs. viol family “held on the leg (gamba)” — this opposition was the map of Baroque string instruments.
Cremona and Brescia — the Birthplaces
The modern violin was established in two cities of northern Italy:
Cremona
Andrea Amati (c.1505-1577) was the founder of the Cremonese school. He made the oldest surviving violins and is known to have received an order for a set of 38 instruments from King Charles IX of France (reigned 1560-1574), raising the violin’s status as an instrument of royalty.
Brescia
Gasparo da Salò (1540-1609) was the center of the Brescian school. Alongside Amati, he established the basic form of the violin. The Brescian school is characterized by a somewhat larger, more powerful sound.
Amati (Cremona) and Gasparo (Brescia) — these two arrived independently at the modern violin at roughly the same time. Cremona would then become the overwhelming center (see the next article).
The 1570s — the Form Is Fixed
By the 1570s, violins in nearly the present form were being made. The fixed basic structure:
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Body length | about 35.5 cm |
| Strings | 4 (tuned in fifths, G-D-A-E) |
| f-holes | two f-shaped holes in the top plate (sound radiation) |
| Bridge | transmits string vibration to the top |
| Sound post | a small internal rod joining top and back (determines the sound) |
| Top plate | spruce (light and resonant) |
| Back, ribs, neck | maple (hard and reflective) |
These have barely changed even after 450 years. In particular, the sound post is called “the soul of the instrument (âme)” — a shift of just a few millimeters transforms the sound. It is the heart of the craft.
Why It Converged on This Shape
Reasons the violin was “completed” in this form:
- Balance of range and volume — four strings (G3 to above E7) give over three and a half octaves and a carrying tone
- Closeness to the human voice — its size approaches the resonance of the human vocal cords, enabling “singing” expression
- Portability and mobility — playable standing, on the shoulder, and agile in fast passages
- The core of the ensemble — forms a family with viola and cello, the basis of the string ensemble
The violin fit perfectly the “high-register bowed instrument that could take the lead both solo and in ensemble” demanded by late-Renaissance music. That is why, once established, there was no need to change it.
Bow, Strings, and Tuning Kept Changing
Even with the body unchanged, the periphery changed greatly:
- Bow — in the Baroque, short and outward-curving → in the late 18th century, François Tourte completed the modern concave bow (a later article)
- Strings — originally gut, later metal-wound / steel in the 19th-20th centuries
- Tuning pitch — Baroque around A=415Hz → modern around A=442Hz
- Chin rest and shoulder rest — auxiliary devices added from the 19th century on
Thus a “Baroque violin” and a “modern violin,” though the same instrument, sound like different things. Period-instrument performance is an attempt to recreate this difference.
From This Article to the Next
We have traced the birth of the violin as an instrument — from the medieval rebec and viol to Amati’s establishment of the modern form in Cremona. The next article turns to the “golden age” Cremona reached around 1700 — the two great masters Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, and the mystery of the masterworks still traded for hundreds of millions today.