The ''Icelandic fiddle'' (Icelandic: fiðla �fɪðla is a traditional Icelandic instrument that can be described as a box with two brass strings which is played with a bow. The strings stretch across one end of the box to the other where they are tuned by two tuning pegs. In English, the Icelandic fiddle may be referred to as a

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. It was known to be used in the medieval ages when the King of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

kept both fiddle and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

players in his court. The fiddle has also been seen in the medieval cathedral of Nidaros in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, where statues of people playing the fiddle are displayed.

History

The instrument was first introduced in a folktale in the 16th century, although it was not clearly described until the 18th century by Jón Ólafsson, who described the instrument as a cavernous box. Later in the 18th century, the Swedish explorer

Uno von Troil Uno von Troil (24 February 1746 in Stockholm – 1803) was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala 1786–1803. Biography He was the son of Samuel Troilius, who had also been archbishop. He was known for great wit at a young age. After stu ...

visited Iceland in 1722, where he wrote about a

langspil The langspil (; meaning ''long-play'') is a traditional Icelandic drone zither. It has a single melody string and usually 2 drone strings. The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand, with a bow or by hammering. Langspils exist ...

and fiddle and noted that both were played with bows. Displayed in the

National Museum of Iceland National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

is a drawing of the famous fiðla player, Sveinn Þórarinsson. Not much else is known about the instrument and its uses began to die out by the middle of the 19th century.

Construction and design

The fiðla is a long box made up of thin wood that is about 78 cm long and narrows from 17 cm on one end to 14 cm on the other end. Each of the tuning pegs which are about 13 cm long are at the bottom end of the instrument. Each of the two strings on the fiðla are nailed in on each side to make the strings parallel to the fiðla. One 19th century author described it as a "rudely fashioned instrument" having six strings of copper or brass wire. It is somewhat similar to the Icelandic

instrument.

Similar instruments

Gue The gue is an extinct type of two-stringed Bowed string instrument, bowed lyre or zither from the Shetland Isles. The instrument was described in 1809 by Arthur Edmondston in ''View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands'':"Before ...

, a lost

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

instrument which may have resembled the Icelandic fiðla *

Langspil The langspil (; meaning ''long-play'') is a traditional Icelandic drone zither. It has a single melody string and usually 2 drone strings. The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand, with a bow or by hammering. Langspils exist ...

Tautirut The ''tautirut'' (Inuktitut syllabics: or ''tautiruut'', also known as the Eskimo fiddle) is a bowed zither native to the Inuit culture of Canada. Lucien M. Turner described the "Eskimo violin" in 1894 as being The Canadian anthropologist Er ...

, a bowed

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

played by the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

References

External links

Video demonstration of the fiddle.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fidla Icelandic musical instruments Bowed box zithers