四弦小提琴的出现大约是在16世纪中期,这时早期的三弦小提琴、中提琴及大提琴(大提琴可能在此之前就已是四弦乐器)被加上了第4根琴弦。这些四弦乐器的出现一定不迟于1556年,因为这一年雅姆贝·德·费尔在他的《音乐概要》中特别提到了这种四弦的无品乐器。他明确地区分了小提琴家族和维奥尔家族,描述了它们各自的社会功能,指出了它们的定音。高音乐器的定音和今天的小提琴完全相同:gd~1a~1e~2。毫无疑问,他所描述的乐器就是四弦小提琴。 The appearance of the four-string violin was around the mid-16th century, when the early three-stringed violin, viola and cello (the cello could have been a four-stringed instrument until then) were added to the fourth string. The emergence of these four-stringed instruments must be no later than 1556, as this year, Jambé de Verl made a special mention of this four-string, unglazed musical instrument in his Musical Summary. He clearly distinguished the Violin family and the Viol family, described their respective social functions, and pointed out their tunes. The pitch of the treble instrument is exactly the same as today’s violin: gd ~ 1a ~ 1e ~ 2. There is no doubt that he described the instrument is a four-stringed violin.