Violin

The violin is a string instrument played with a bow. It has four strings, tuned in fifths (G, D, A, E), and a range of about 44 semitones. It rests on the shoulder and is held with one hand, whose fingers press the strings, while the other hand draws the bow across them. The violin appeared in the 16th century, developing from the medieval fiddle, the Italian lira da braccio and the rebec. It took its present form mainly in Italy, where great families of makers such as the Amati, the Guarneri and Stradivari created instruments of wonderful sound that are still considered unsurpassed. During the Renaissance, important violin schools flourished in Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome and other Italian cities. The first violins played folk and dance music. In the 17th century the violin replaced the viola da gamba as the main string instrument of chamber music. Most great composers wrote for the violin, from the Baroque masters Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel to classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. The violin family also includes the viola, the cello and the double bass.

The violin has a fingerboard without frets, which makes it hard to learn. The strings run along the fingerboard to the pegs, passing over a wooden bridge held in place by the pressure of the strings. The bridge passes the vibrations of the strings to the hollow body, which amplifies the sound. Inside, under the bridge, a thin wooden post (the sound post) carries the vibrations to the back of the instrument and helps create the violin's characteristic sound. The bow is made of wood and horse hair.

When Greeks speak of 'violins' (ta violia), they mean the small folk bands of various instruments, such as flute, clarinet, oud, tambourine and tsabouna, that play at weddings and village festivals. The violin is very widespread in the traditional music of Asia Minor, the islands and Crete. In Crete it is thought to have preceded the lyra by several decades, although many believe otherwise.