Historical Timeline

9th -10th c. Central Asia, then possibly several places independently on several continents.

Middle Ages: The French six string fiddle

1520-1550 Violin evolves from the viola da braccio family of instruments in Italy. Some notable families: Cremonese Luthier Andrea Amati(1500-1576) in 1542. Qualities are combined.


Cremonese School
(1596-1684)Nicola Amati
(1626-1698)Andrea Guarnieri
(1644-1737)Antonio Stradivari


Brescian School
(1540-1609)Gasparo da Salo
(1580-1632)AGiovanni Paolo Maggini


Other Schools (Note that the violin was a phenomona in Italy)
(1698-1744)Giuseppe Guarnieri (Niccolo Paganini's (1782-1840) Luthier).
(1621-1683)Jacob Stainer (JS Bach's Luthier).
(1628-1672)Nicholas Medart (Frances main Luthier)
(1678-1740) Barak Norman(England)
(1720-1781)Joseph and Daniel Stadlmann(Vienna)


Modern Violins

The French revolution's upheavals caused larger audience and larger halls around 1800, leading to a further refinement in the instrument focusing on volume, strength, and thicker bows. Italian violin making disappears in deference to mass production (such as it was).

Modern Bows

The modern bow was developed within the space of a few decades, the main credit going to French bow maker Francois Tourte(1747-1835).

Modern Chin Rest
Louis Spohr(1784-1859) German virtuoso creates chin rest, really because of sliding movements of the left hand.