How does a violin work? How many strings does it have? And other interesting facts about the violin... Interesting facts about the violin there is a legend 10 facts about the violin

The violin is a musical instrument that is especially loved for its exquisite appearance and a unique timbre, similar in sound to the human voice, but more multifaceted and bright. The violin deservedly bears the name “queen of the orchestra.” Introducing interesting facts about the violin.

Story

An instrument similar to the modern violin appeared in the 14th century and was considered folk. The violin gained recognition among the nobles in 1560, when master Amati received an order for 24 violins for the court musicians of Emperor Charles IX.

Amati's rival was another violin master, Gasparo de Solo. Historians argue about which of them is the author of the image modern violin. Some believe that Amati's teacher Gasparo Bertolotti was the first to do this. No less beautiful examples of violins came out of the workshops of Guarneri and Stradivari.

In the hands of virtuoso musicians, the violin gained unprecedented fame - Paganini, Tartini, Lolli. This instrument occupied a special place in the work of composer Vivaldi. His works for violin are included in the world collection of classical music.

Sound

If a composer wants to convey to the audience the feelings of the main characters of an opera or ballet, to convey their characters, he writes the main part specifically for the violin. Its sound can be both soft and strong, invigorating and soothing.

Application and repertoire

Almost a third of the symphony orchestra consists of violins. The violin is wonderful in solo parts. Its main advantage is a wide variety of sounds and an equally rich palette of their shades.

The most common ensemble featuring a violin is a string quartet consisting of two violins and a viola. Many works in different styles written for this quartet. And the concerts for violin and orchestra have become world classics.

At the beginning of the 20th century, violinist Joe Venuti first performed jazz compositions on the violin.

Design

To create a violin, you need to assemble more than 70 parts from different types of wood.

Traditional wood species for violin:

Spruce resonant for the top
Maple for curl, back and neck
Mahogany, alder, linden, conifers for hoops
Ebony fretboard
Conifers for clots
Boxwood, black or pink wood for chinrest, buttons, pegs.

A classical violin has four strings. Sometimes a fifth alto string is added. For strings, strands, silk or metal are used.

Which master made the violin can be determined by individual details. The curl is considered to be a unique detail – “painted by the master”.

Craftsmen attached great importance to varnish for covering instruments. The longevity of the violin and the preservation of its voice depend on its quality. The composition of the varnish was kept by the master in the strictest confidence. Sometimes students never found out the exact composition of the varnish.

A full-size violin has a total length of 60 cm, a body length of 35 cm, and a weight of 300 to 400 grams. For children, instruments from 32 to 43 cm are produced.

To play the violin, a bow is used - a wooden cane with horsehair stretched along it, rubbed with rosin for a better sound. Bow length 75 cm, weight – 60 grams.

Today, musicians use both classical instruments and electric violins. But no matter how the violin looks, its sound continues to amaze listeners with its beauty and power.

Playing an instrument

To produce sound, the strings are pressed against the fingerboard with the fingers of the left hand. In the right hand they hold the bow and move it along the strings. The height, character and timbre of the sound depend on the force of pressing the strings and the method of holding the bow.

The range of the violin is from G small octave to the fourth octave.

Harmonics - when you press the strings lightly, sounds similar to the sound of a flute are created.

Tremolo is a rapid change of two sounds or repetition of the same sound, causing a trembling effect.

Col legno - tapping the bow shaft on the string creates a dry sound.

Ricochet - throwing a bow onto a string with a rebound.

Pizzicato (pluck) - playing without a bow - by plucking the strings with your fingers.

To perform lyrical works, violinists use a mute - a comb made of wood or metal to soften the sound.

At the same time, you can play two notes on the violin on adjacent strings; with greater bow pressure, you can play three notes. Alternately, but at high speed, you can play three or even four notes.

Mastering the instrument requires a lot of time and effort. A violinist must have high finger sensitivity and rich muscle memory. With age, the chances of becoming a virtuoso decrease. The sensitivity of the fingers of a mature person is less than that of a young person, and training muscle memory will require more time. Therefore, it is better to start training at the age of five or earlier.

Interesting information

About 170 calories per hour are consumed while playing the violin.
There are up to 200 hairs stretched across a violin bow.
It is impossible to completely reproduce the sound of a violin using equipment.
Until 1750, sheep intestines were used for violin strings in Italy.
The first work for violin was written in 1620 by the composer Marini.
Einstein knew how to play the violin.
The instruments of Guarneri and Stradivarius are recognized as the most valuable. The Guarneri violin was paid $18 million in 2010. And each of the surviving Stradivarius violins is unique in its structure and sound. The average price for Stradivarius violins is about $4 million.
The pinnacle of the playing technique is considered to be “Flight of the Bumblebee” - from the opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by Rimsky-Korsakov. Violinists all over the world compete on the speed of its performance. D. Garrett set a record by performing the fragment in a minute and 6.56 seconds.
Good modern violins are better sounding than the lower instruments made by Stradivari.

It is generally accepted that the first string instrument invented by the Indian (according to another version, Ceylonese) king Ravana, who lived about five thousand years ago. This is probably why the distant ancestor of the violin was called ravanastron. It consisted of an empty cylinder made of mulberry wood, one side of which was covered with the skin of a broad-scaled water boa constrictor. The strings were made from gazelle intestines, and the bow, curved in an arc, was made from bamboo wood. Ravanastron has been preserved to this day among wandering Buddhist monks.

The violin appeared on the professional stage at the end of the 15th century, and its “inventor” was an Italian from Bologna, Gaspar Duifopruggar. The oldest violin, made by him in 1510 for King Franz I, is kept in the Netherland collection in Aachen (Holland). The violin owes its current appearance and, of course, sound to the Italian violin makers Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri. Violins made by Magini are also highly prized. Their violins, made from well-dried and varnished maple and spruce plates, sang more beautifully than the most beautiful voices. The instruments made by these masters are still played by the best violinists in the world. Stradivarius designed a violin that is still unsurpassed, with a rich timbre and exceptional “range” - the ability to fill huge halls with sound. It had kinks and irregularities inside the body, due to which the sound was enriched due to the appearance of a large number of high overtones.

The violin is the highest timbre instrument of the bow family. It consists of two main parts - the body and the neck, between which four steel strings are stretched. The main advantage of the violin is the melodiousness of the timbre. It can be used to perform both lyrical melodies and dazzling fast passages. The violin is the most common solo instrument in the orchestra.

The Italian virtuoso and composer Niccolo Paganini greatly expanded the capabilities of the violin. Subsequently, many other violinists appeared, but no one could surpass him. Wonderful works for the violin were created by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and others.

Oistrakh, or, as he was called, “King David,” is considered an outstanding Russian violinist.

There is an instrument that looks very similar to a violin, but is slightly larger. This is an alt.

MYSTERY

Carved in the forest, smoothly hewn,

Singing and singing, what is it called?

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Violin

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Where did the violin come from?

It is impossible to establish exactly who invented the violin, but it is known for certain that the best examples of this amazingly beautiful sounding instrument were made in the 17th and XVIII centuries. In Italy there were entire famous families of violin makers. The secrets of violin making were carefully guarded and passed down from generation to generation.

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Master Violin Makers

Most famous family The masters who created the violin were the Amati family from the Italian city of Cremona. For a long time It was believed that no one else could create a violin with such amazing and rare melody and tenderness.

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Antonio Stradivari

But Nicolo Amati had a talented student, Antonio Stradivari, who, without exaggeration, was called the master of masters. He created a violin that was somewhat larger and flatter than those that existed before him. But the most important thing is that he managed to bring the sound of the instrument closer to the timbre of the human voice.

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It is known that Stradivarius created more than 1000 instruments. Many of them were named after the musicians who played them. Only 540 Stradivarius violins have survived to this day, each of which is very highly valued and considered outstanding work art.

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Violin Antonio Stradivarius

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Nicolo Paganini

The history of music knows many famous violinists. The unsurpassed violinist of all times was Nicolo Paganini, who lived in the first half of the 19th century.

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Violin in a symphony orchestra

IN symphony orchestra more than a third of the musicians are violinists. This is explained by the fact that the violin occupies a leading place in the orchestra due to the beauty and expressiveness of its sound.

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There is a legend that Leonardo da Vinci ordered that string music be played there the entire time that Gioconda was posing in his studio. Her smile was a reflection of the music playing.

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Norwegian Hardingfele violin

In many countries, the clergy took up arms against good violinists - even in quiet Norway they were considered accomplices of dark forces, and Norwegian folk violins were burned like witches.

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The most expensive violin

The violin, made by the famous Italian master Giuseppe Guarneri, was sold in July 2010 at auction in Chicago for $18 million and is the most expensive musical instrument in the world. The violin was made in 1741 in the 19th century and belonged to the famous violinist Henri Vietang.

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The smallest violins

In 1973, Eric Meissner made a violin that was only 4.1cm high. Despite its small size, the violin produces pleasant sounds.

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Violin height 1.5 cm

David Edwards, who once played violin in the Scottish National Orchestra, made the 1.5cm high violin, the smallest in the world.

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Violin-canvas

Violins sometimes serve artists as a kind of canvas. Julia Borden has been painting violins and cellos for several years.

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Before painting a violin, the artist needs to remove the strings and prepare the surface for painting. Amazing, whimsical, vibrant creations of Julia Borden are unique and attract the attention of viewers.

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Violin as sculpture

Swedish sculptor Lars Wiedenfalk constructed the Blackbird violin from stone. It was made according to the drawings of Stradivarius, and the material was black diabase. The violin sounds no worse than many wooden ones and weighs only 2 kg, since the thickness of the stone walls of the resonator box is no more than 2.5 mm. It is worth noting that the “Blackbird” is not the only such instrument in the world - violins are made from marble by the Czech Jan Roerich.

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Among Mozart's works there is an unusual duet for two violins. The musicians must face each other and place the sheet of music between them. Each violin plays a different part, but both parts are written on the same page. The violinists start reading notes from different ends of the sheet, then meet in the middle and move away from each other again, and as a whole a beautiful melody is created.

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Einstein loved to play the violin and once took part in a charity concert in Germany. Admired by his playing, a local journalist recognized the name of the “artist” and the next day published a note in the newspaper about the performance of the great musician, the incomparable virtuoso violinist, Albert Einstein. He kept this note for himself and proudly showed it to his friends, saying that he was in fact a famous violinist, and not a scientist.

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One of the best violinists, American Joshua Bell, agreed to take part in an experiment on January 12, 2007 - in the morning for 45 minutes he played in the lobby of a metro station under the guise of an ordinary street musician. Of the thousand people who passed by, only seven were interested in music.

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No other musical instrument is surrounded by such an aura of mystery and mysteries as the violin. Here are a few interesting stories And unexpected facts about great violinists.

Nicolo Paganini

The most outstanding violinist in history is considered to be the Italian Nicolo Paganini. Paganini was a real genius of the violin; none of his contemporaries could even closely repeat his style of playing, the ease with which he performed the most complex passages with infallible accuracy. Paganini's playing had an almost hypnotic effect on the audience. Some believed that Paganini made a deal with the devil, which is why the church even tried to ban his concerts.

At one of the concerts, Paganini performed the composition on only two strings. One of his fans enthusiastically told the maestro: “You are a completely intolerable person, who can surpass you now? Only the one who plays on one string, but this is completely impossible!” Paganini liked the idea, and two weeks later he performed the sonata on just one string.

Paganini performed concerts not only in front of the general public. All European monarchs invited him for personal performances, and once Paganini even performed the Masonic hymn in the Grand Lodge of Italy. For these performances he received huge fees, but because of his love for gambling often found himself in situations where he did not have enough money even for food. However, in his old age he still managed to accumulate a small fortune.

Einstein

Few people know that the creator of the theory of relativity and grandfather atomic bomb- physicist Albert Einstein, masterly played the violin. Einstein played the violin from the age of six, and in 1934 he organized a charity concert where he performed works by Mozart. The German press wrote about Einstein not as a scientist, but as “a great musician, an incomparable virtuoso violinist.”

Scrichi Guineri

The most expensive musical instrument in the world is considered to be a violin made by the Italian master Giuseppe Guarineri. In 2010, it was sold at an auction in Chicago for $18 million. The same master also made Paganini’s favorite violin, which the virtuoso bequeathed to his native Genoa before his death.

Giuseppe Tartini

Another great violinist, Giuseppe Tartini, wrote the most complex work for violin ever created. Only a few can perform it correctly, even today. Sonate du diable- Devil's Sonata or Devil's Trill.

Here is what Tartini said about the history of the composition of this work:

“Once, in 1713, I dreamed that I had sold my soul to the devil. Everything was as I wished - my new servant was ready to fulfill my every desire. I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How stunned I was to hear such a wonderful and beautiful sonata, performed with such skill and art that I could not even imagine. I felt under a spell, I couldn't breathe, and then I woke up. Immediately I grabbed the violin to at least partially capture my dream. Alas, the difference between what I heard and what I wrote down is enormous. Nevertheless, I still called this composition “The Devil’s Trill.”

Interesting facts about the violin
(Anna Blagaya)

God or devil?

Legends about violinists who allegedly sold their souls to the devil are known to everyone: let’s remember Niccolo Paganini.

In many countries, the clergy took up arms against good violinists - even in quiet Norway they were considered accomplices dark forces, and Norwegian folk violins were burned like witches.
But not everyone knows that there were directly opposite stories!

If we look into a more ancient “layer” of time, we will find that bowed instruments, akin to the violin, were actually originally depicted on temple frescoes and in handwritten Bibles angels, and in one ancient manuscript Christ was named not by anyone, but "beloved violinist"

Such things were later hushed up, and the frescoes were destroyed, but on the fresco of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv you can still see a musician playing a bowed instrument.

(And not only there. See the page “Angels with violins (frescoes)”)

Why did the Mona Lisa smile?

Leonard ordered that the entire time that Gioconda was posing in his studio, there would be music performed by strings. The model's smile was a reflection of the music being played; Apparently, that’s why it is considered either the smile of an angel or the smile of the devil. (See above: God or Devil?)
In general, the artist, apparently, did not accidentally conduct this experiment with music. After all, he wanted to achieve synthesis in his painting, the unity of opposites (see Chicherin about this in his book about Mozart). And the violin has exactly this property. Auer quoted Berlioz as saying that “The violin is capable of many apparently opposing shades of expression. She has strength, lightness and grace, conveys gloomy and joyful mood, thought and passion. You just need to be able to make her talk.”

Violins and Venetian gondolas

There is a beautiful episode in the film “Stradivari” (with Anthony Quinn): a gondola gliding in the rays of the setting sun, on the stern of which a violinist was playing, so captured the imagination of young Antonio Stradivari that he threw himself into the water, tagged along with the violinist and ultimately became a violin maker .

The violin and the gondola actually have something in common. Moreover, this connection is not only aesthetic, it also manifests itself at the most “organic” level.

The violins of the legendary Cremonese school use the same sycamore (wavy maple) from Dalmatia and Bosnia that was used for the oars of Venetian gondolas.

Time machine

Good violinists, in addition to hearing and dexterity, have some talents that have not yet been explained by science. Including the ability to manage time. (Not only violinists, but all concert musicians can do this). V. Grigoriev writes about a curious mechanism that allows you to “travel in time” (let’s call it that), when the entire play in the musician’s mind is folded into a certain formula, a code, and unfolds when playing on stage. There were also cases when the “machine” malfunctioned. (Which, of course, only proves its existence =) There are a number of interesting evidence about how this or that virtuoso stopped after playing just one note, because time passed for him at a different speed than for the listeners, and the entire work had already been completed echo in his mind.

Another interesting point: musicians often look younger than their years. Apparently, the point here is that time flows differently on stage. But there is something more. Opera bass Matorin recalls Obraztsova’s words on this occasion that “we, artists, until old age - Masha, Petka, Katka, because b O We spend most of our time not in this world.” (That is, in the creative world, this is another dimension where time slows down). Science has yet to explain these things.

Virtuosos are scientists

The word virtuoso was once applied to scientists. Many violinists were not only artists, painters, and violin poets, but also scientists and inventors. (One violin work written in those days was called “sonata for inventive violin”).

The word “virtuoso” is now used (if we are talking about music) in only one meaning – “technical”. Meanwhile, the situation has not changed: in order to play the violin well, including virtuoso music, you still need to have not developed muscles, but a flexible mind and strong intuition.