The violin sonata in the Baroque era

The violin, which has played a central role in the development oi instrumental music since the baroque era, was virtually unknown until around 1550. Precursors of the violin, however, may by traced over more than two thousand years through the Roman and Greek citheras even to the Egyptian kithara. The masterpieces of the Venetian and Paduan violin makers in the second half of the sixteenth century evolved over the centuries from the basic three-part sound body composed of a table and a back joined by distinct ribs or bouts found in the ancient instruments