​However, most people agree that the violin was founded in Italy in the early 1500s. The violin evolved from the fiddle, a similiar bowed string instrument from the Medieval period. The viol, which came before the violin,is closely related as well.

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The earliest known developer of the violin is Andrea Amati, who apprenticed as a lute maker (an instrument similiar to a guitar) before 1525, when he became a well known master instrument maker.

But it wasn't until during the 17th and 18th centuries that the art and music of the violin peaked. The famous Italian Antonius Stradivari was in his prime during this period.



The form of the violin as it originated is very different from the modern violin. The first violins had a neck that was smaller, fatter and less angled. The fingerboard was also smaller, the bridge was shorter and flatter and the strings were made of animal gut.
To start with, the violin was anything but popular. It was considered a low status musical instrument. But when famous composers started to use the instrument in opera, the violin's popularity grew hugely. The violin continued to rise in use during the Baroque period when it was made use of by figures such as Johann Sebastion Bach.

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By the middle of the 1800s, the violin had secured its place in musical history. This is when the evolution climaxed. Stradivarius made it look the most beautiful and made it sound the most beautiful. These days everyone tries to do it as well as Stradivari. In the 19th and 20th century the violin was seen in a whole new perspective, reaching new musical and artistic heights.

All and all, the violin has definitely come a long way in the last five hundred years from when it originated.