Violin Family
The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy by the 1520s and perhaps earlier. At the time, the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole da gamba), a bowed, fretted string instrument. The standard modern violin family consists of the violin, viola, cello, all tuned in fifths, and the double bass tuned in fourths.
