Leopold Mozart made mention of the instrument in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756).
Nowadays, the instrument is still used by a few pop musicians and in Romanian folk music.
An example is Yamaha Corporation’s ‘silent violin’, which can be connected to a pair of headphones, an amplifier or recording equipment.
The American performance artist Laurie Anderson often plays violins like these.
In a recording of his five string quartets by the Schönberg Quartet (Olympia OCD 457, 1994) the effect of the mute violin was imitated by an extra heavy sordino on an 'ordinary' violin.