The violin
The violin is the treble instrument within the violin family. The tuning of the four strings is in fifths g d' a' e".
In the group of stringed instruments, the violin can be used as a solo, chamber music and orchestral instrument like no other.
Her dominant position in the orchestra came from 17th-century French opera. The solo use and orchestral use of the violin is well known.
In the course of the 19th century, the musicians' sound needs changed and so the other scale was introduced. The baroque short-necked violins were lengthened by 7 mm in the playing scale and the sound became more powerful and room-filling.
The curvature of the top and back was also flatter in new buildings from this period than in the Baroque period, and the neck angle when fitting into the body was also changed.
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The viola
The alto instrument of the violin family is the viola. The name has developed from the root form viola da braccio (arm viole). Their tuning is also in fifths, which is common today: c g d' a'. Thus it is a fifth lower than the violin and an awkward octave higher than the cello.
Her style of playing corresponds to that of the violin. The sound of the viola is dark and full in the lower register. In the higher ones rather narrow and nasal.
The body length that is most commonly played today is between 40.5 cm and 42.5 cm. However, there are other sizes.
The violoncello
The cello was to take on the historical function of a small bass. Until the 17th century it was content with playing the basso continuo. Today's customary tuning ( C G d a) is also in fifths.
Incidentally, the introduction of the cello endpin around 1800 was not only introduced for reasons of secure hold, but also because of the resonance.
The double bass
The largest instrument in the violin family is the double bass. A double bass can have 4 or 5 strings, which we then use in symphony orchestras to expand the lower range.
A four-string double bass is tuned in fourths (,E ,A D G ), as a solo instrument it is tuned a whole tone higher, namely (,FIS ,H E A). Instead of the tuning pegs, a double bass has a mechanism.