Violins

For 100 or more years the violin was looked down on as a lesser musical instrument; music was not composed especially for it except in overtures to court pageants or background music for aristocratic drawing rooms. However, beginning around 1680 into the nineteenth century a succession of Italian violinist composers created and enormous amount of music for the violin-people such as Corelli, Vivaldi, Pugnani, Paganini, and Viotti.

The violin is the principal member of the violin family. The other members are the viola, the cello, and the double bass. The full-size violin, which is the smallest and highest pitched of the stringed instruments played with a bow, has a body size of fourteen inches. The viola is slightly larger than the violin, and it has a slightly richer but less brilliant tone. It is really an alto violin, and it fills the gap between the violin and the cello.

The greatest of the violin makers was Antonio Stradivari, who was born in 1644. During his lifetime, Stradivari made over a thousand stringed instruments, of which about six hundred are still in existence.