Violin: story, video, interesting facts, listen

Musical Instrument: Violin

The violin is one of the most sophisticated and sophisticated musical instruments, with a charming singing timbre very similar to the human voice, but at the same time very expressive and virtuoso. It is no coincidence that the role of the “queen of the orchestra” was given to the violin.

The great variety of the violin’s sound has surprised listeners for more than 5 centuries in a row; it can equally quickly raise the spirits, instill optimism, make it suffer and worry. No wonder the violin was called the instrument angels or the devil.

The voice of a violin is similar to a human, the verbs “sings”, “cries” are often applied to it. She is able to cause tears of joy and sadness. A violinist plays on the strings of the soul of his listeners, acting through the strings of his powerful assistant. It is believed that the sounds of a violin stop time and take it to another dimension.

Read the history of the violin and many interesting facts about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

The expressive singing of a violin can convey the thoughts of the composer, the feelings of the characters of opera and ballet more precisely and more fully than all the other instruments. Juicy, heartfelt, elegant and energetic at the same time, the sound of a violin is the basis of any work that uses at least one of these instruments.

The timbre of the sound is determined by the quality of the instrument, the skill of the performer and the choice of strings. Bass differ thick, rich, slightly rigorous and harsh sound. The middle strings sound soft, sincere, velvety, matte. The upper register sounds bright, sunny, loud. The musical instrument and performer have the ability to modify these sounds, to bring in a variety and additional palette.

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Interesting Facts

• Athira Krishna from India in 2003 for 32 hours continuously played the violin as part of the Trivandrum city festival, as a result of which he fell into the Guinness Book of Records.
• Playing the violin burns about 170 calories per hour.
• Inventor of roller skates, Joseph Merlin, Belgian manufacturer of musical instruments. For the presentation of new items, skates with metal wheels, in 1760 he drove to a costume ball in London, while playing the violin. The audience enthusiastically greeted the graceful glide on the floor to the accompaniment of a wonderful instrument. Inspired by the success of the 25-year-old inventor began to spin faster, and at full speed crashed into an expensive mirror, smashing it, the violin and was seriously injured himself. There were no brakes on his skates.

• In January 2007, the United States decided to conduct an experiment in which one of the brightest violin music performers, Joshua Bell, took part. The virtuoso went down the subway and, like an ordinary street musician, played the Stradivarius violin for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I had to admit that the passers-by were not particularly interested in the ingenious play of the violinist, everyone was driven by the fuss of the big city. Only seven of the thousands that have passed during this time paid attention to the famous musician and another 20 threw money. In total, during this time, $ 32 was earned. Joshua Bell concerts are usually sold out for the average ticket price of $ 100.
• The largest ensemble of young violinists gathered at the stadium of the city of Changhua (Taiwan) in 2011 and consisted of 4,645 students from schools aged 7 to 15 years.
• Until 1750, violin strings were made from sheep guts. The method was first proposed by the Italians.
• The composer Marini created the first work for violin at the end of 1620. It was called "Romanesca per violino solo e basso".
• Violinists and violin masters often try to create tiny instruments. So, in the south of China in the city of Guangzhou a mini-violin was made, only 1 cm long. The master took 7 years to make this creation. Scotsman David Edwards, who played in the national orchestra, made a 1.5 cm violin. In 1973, Eric Meisner created a 4.1 cm long melodious instrument.

• In the world there are masters who make violins from stone, which are not inferior to wooden counterparts in sound. In Sweden, sculptor Lars Wiedenfalku, during the finishing of the facade of the building with diabase blocks, had the idea to make a violin out of this stone, because surprisingly melodious sounds flew out from under the chisel and hammer. He called his stone violin "Blackbird". The product turned out to be surprisingly jewelery - the thickness of the walls of the resonator box does not exceed 2.5 mm, the weight of the violin is 2 kg. In the Czech Republic, Jan Roerich makes tools from marble.
• When writing the famous "Mona Lisa" Leonardo da Vinci invited musicians playing strings, including the violin. At the same time, the music was different in character and timbre. Many consider the ambiguity of Gioconda's smile (“the smile of either an angel or the devil”) to be the result of a variety of musical accompaniment.
• The violin stimulates the brain. This fact was confirmed more than once by famous scientists who knew how to play the violin with pleasure. So, for example, Einstein has been playing virtuously with this instrument since the age of six. Even the famous Sherlock Holmes (composite image) always used its sounds when he thought about a difficult task.

• One of the most difficult pieces to perform is considered to be Caprices by Niccolo Paganini and his other works, concerts by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius. And also the most mystical work - “The Sonata of the Devil” (1713) by J. Tartini, who himself was a virtuoso violinist,
• The most valuable in terms of money are considered to be the violins of Guarneri and Stradivari. The highest price paid for the violin Guarneri "Vietan" in 2010. It was sold at auction in Chicago for $ 18,000,000. But the most expensive Stradivari violin is considered to be "Lady Blunt", and it was sold for almost 16 million dollars in 2011.
• Germany has created the biggest violin in the world. Its length is 4.2 meters, width 1.4 meters, bow length 5.2 meters. Three people play on it. Such a unique creation was created by craftsmen from Vogtland. This musical instrument is a large-scale copy of the violin of Johann George II Schonfelder, which was made in the late eighteenth century.
• On the violin bow is usually stretched 150-200 hairs, which can be made of horsehair or nylon.
• The price of some bows reaches tens of thousands of dollars at auctions. The most expensive is the bow of the work of master Francois Xavier Tours, which is estimated at about 200,000 dollars.
• Vanessa May is recognized as the youngest violinist who recorded the violin concertos by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven at the age of 13. Vanessa May debuted with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 10 in 1989. At the age of 11 she became the youngest student at the Royal College of Music.

• The episode from the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" by Rimsky-Korsakov "The Flight of the Bumblebee" is technically difficult to perform and plays at high speed. Violinists of the whole world arrange competitions for the speed of the performance of this piece. So in 2007, D. Garrett hit the Guinness Book of Records, performing it in 1 minute and 6.56 seconds. Since then, many performers are trying to overtake him and get the title of "the fastest violinist in the world." Some managed to perform this work faster, but at the same time it greatly lost in the quality of performance. For example, the Discovery TV channel considers the British Ben Lee, who performed "The Flight of the Bumblebee" in 58.51 seconds, the fastest not only a violinist, but also a man in the world.

Application and repertoire of the violin

Due to the diverse timbre, the violin is used to transmit various moods and characters. In the modern symphony orchestra, these instruments occupy almost a third of the composition. The violins in the orchestra are divided into 2 groups: one plays the upper voice or melody, the other the lower or accompanies. They are called the first and second violins.

This musical instrument sounds great both in chamber ensembles and in solo performance. The violin is in harmony with the wind instruments, piano and other strings. Of the ensembles, the most common string quartet, which includes 2 violins, cello and viola. For the quartet written a huge number of works of different eras and styles.

Almost all the brilliant composers did not bypass the violin with their attention, Mozart, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvorak, Khachaturian, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens, Kreisler, Wieniawski and many others composed violin and orchestra concerts. The violin was also trusted by solos in concerts for several instruments. For example, Bach has a concert for violin, oboe and string ensemble, and Beethoven wrote a triple concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra.

In the 20th century, the violin was used in various modern music styles. The earliest references to the use of the violin as a solo instrument in jazz are documented in the first decades of the 20th century. One of the first jazz violinists was Joe Venuti, who performed with the famous guitarist Eddie Lang.

Popular Violin Pieces

Camille Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (Listen)

Antonio Vivaldi: "The Seasons" - Summer Thunderstorm (listen)

Antonio Bazzini - "Dance of the Dwarves" (listen)

P. I. Tchaikovsky - "Waltz-Scherzo" (listen)

Jules Masnet - "Meditation" (listen)

Maurice Ravel - "Gypsy" (listen)

I. S. Bach - "Chaconne" from partita d-moll (listen)

Violin design

The violin is assembled from more than 70 different wooden parts, but the main difficulty of manufacturing lies in the bending and processing of wood. Up to 6 different types of wood may be present in one instance, and the craftsmen constantly experimented using all the new options - poplar, pear, acacia, walnut. The best material is a tree that has grown in the mountains, because of its resistance to temperature and moisture extremes. The strings are made of lived, silk or metal. Most often the master makes:

1. The upper deck of the resonant spruce.
2. Neck, bottom deck, curl of maple.
3. Hoops from conifers, alder, linden, mahogany.
4. Klotsy from conifers.
5. Ebony fingerboard.
6. Chin, splitting, button, headboard of boxwood, black or rosewood.

Sometimes the master applies other types of wood or changes the options presented above at his discretion. The classical orchestral violin has 4 strings: from the "basque" (salt of the small octave) to the "fifth" (mi of the second octave). In some models, a fifth alto string may be added.

Various schools of craftsmen are defined by klots, hoops and curl. A curl stands out. It can be figuratively called the "painting of the author."

Of great importance is the varnish, which covers the wooden parts. It gives the product a shade of golden to very dark with a reddish or brown glow. It depends on the lacquer how long the instrument will live and whether its sound will remain unchanged.

Do you know that the violin is shrouded in many legends and myths? Even in the music school, children are told of an old tradition about the Cremona master and wizard. For a long time they tried to unravel the secret of the sound of the instruments of famous masters of Italy. It is believed that the answer lies in a special coating - lacquer, which even washed off the Stradivarius violin to prove it, but all is in vain.

The violin is usually played with a bow, except for receiving pizzicato, which is performed by a pinch of a string. The bow has a wooden base and horsehair, tightly stretched on it, which is rubbed with rosin before the game. It is usually 75 cm long and weighs 60 grams.

Currently, there are several types of this instrument - wooden (acoustic) and electric violin, the sound of which we hear thanks to a special amplifier. One thing remains unchanged - this is an amazingly soft, melodious and fascinating sound of this musical instrument with its beauty and melodiousness.

Dimensions

In addition to the standard full-size whole violin (4/4), there are smaller tools for teaching children. The violin "grows" with the student. Begin training with the smallest violins (1/32, 1/16, 1/8), whose length is 32-43 cm.

Dimensions of a full violin: length - 60 cm. Length of the body - 35.5 cm, weight about 300 - 400 grams.

Violin playing techniques

Famous violin vibration, which penetrates into the soul of listeners with a rich wave of sound. A musician can only slightly raise and lower sounds, introducing an even greater variety and breadth of the sound palette to the music series. The glissando technique is also known, this way of playing allows you to apply the lack of frets on the neck.

Clamping the string is not strong, just touching, the violinist extracts the original cold, whistling sounds that resemble the sound of a flute (flageolet). There are flageoles, where 2 performer's fingers are involved, placed on a quart or fifth from each other, they are especially difficult to perform. The highest category of skill is considered to be the performance of flageolets at a fast pace.

The violinists also use such interesting game techniques:

• Col Legno - strikes a bow with a cane on the strings. This technique is used in "Dance of Death" Saint-Saens to imitate the sound of dancing skeletons.
• Sul ponticello - bowing on a stand gives an ominous, hissing sound characteristic of negative characters.
• Sul tasto - bow game on the fingerboard. Reproduces a gentle, ethereal sound.
• Ricochet - performed by throwing a bow on a string with a free rebound.

Another trick is the use of a mute. It is a comb made of wood or metal, reducing vibration of the strings. Thanks to the mute, the violin makes soft, muffled sounds. This technique is often used to perform lyrical, spiritual moments.

On the violin, you can take double notes, chords, perform polyphonic works, but most often its many-sided voice is used for solos, since a huge variety of sounds, their shades is its main advantage.

History of the violin

Until recently, it was considered to be the ancestor of a violin to the viol, but it was proved that these are two completely different instruments. Their development in the XIV-XV centuries proceeded in parallel. If the viola belonged to the aristocratic class, the violin came from the people. Mostly peasants, roving artists, minstrels played on it.

This instrument, which is unusually diverse in sound, can be called its predecessors: the Indian lira, the Polish squeak (rebeca), the Russian crepe, the Arabian rebab, the British mole, the Kazakh kobyz, the Spanish fidel. All of these instruments could have been the progenitors of the violin, since each of them served to give birth to a string family and rewarded them with its own virtues.

The introduction of the violin into the high society and reckoning with aristocratic instruments began in 1560, when Charles IX ordered 24 violins for his palace musicians from string master Amati. One of them has survived to this day. This is the oldest violin in the world, it is called "Charles IX".

The creation of violins in the form in which we see them now is challenged by two houses: Andrea Amati and Gasparo de Solo. Some sources claim that the palm must be given to Gasparo Bertolotti (teacher of Amati), whose musical instruments were later brought to perfection by the house of Amati. It is for certain only known that this happened in Italy in the 16th century. Somewhat later, Guarneri and Stradivari became their successors, who slightly increased the size of the violin body and made larger holes (efs) for a more powerful sounding instrument.

At the end of the 17th century, the British tried to add frets to the violin and set up a school for learning to play such an instrument. However, due to a significant loss in sound, this idea was quickly abandoned. Violin violin virtuosos Paganini, Lolli, Tartini, and most of the composers, especially Vivaldi, were the most ardent supporters of the free style of the game with a clear neck.