Håvard Gibøen (2 March 1809 – 27 July 1873) was a Norwegian fiddler and composer, born on the municipality of

Møsstrond Møsstrond is a small island village in Vinje Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The village is located on the island Hovdeøyi which lies in the lake Møsvatn, high up in the mountains just east of Hardangervidda National Park ...

, in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

. The area is a part of

Tinn Tinn is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. The parish of ''T ...

today. Among his folk tunes are "Haavard Gibøens draum ved Oterholtsbrue" and "Gibøens bruremarsj". These tunes formed the basis for two compositions by

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

, included in his opus 72, ''Slåtter''.

Life

Håvard Gibøen came from a gifted family, and his father, Knut Gibøen, also played the fiddle. His mother, Åsne, was related to the Berge family at

Rauland Rauland is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vinje Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Raulandsgrend (also known ...

, to whom many other folk musicians were connected. Like his contemporary

Myllarguten Targjei Augundsson (1801 – 21 November 1872), better known as Myllarguten (meaning ''the Millerboy''), is arguably the most acknowledged Norwegian folk musician to this day, and by far the most legendary. Childhood Targjei was born in Sauhera ...

, he was taught by the known fiddler

Knut Lurås Knut Luraas (1782–1843) was a Norwegian Hardingfele fiddler and artist. He was born in Tinn; the son of farmer Øystein Gunnulfson Ingulvsland and Birgit Knutsdotter Mellomgarden Luraas, and was the brother of clarinetist and rose painter ...

from Tinn. Håvard was of small stature, and played in weddings and at feasts from early on. In his early years, he was so tiny he had to sit on a barrel, placed on a table, to be seen and heard. Unlike Myllarguten, he never left his home area, and hardly travelled farther than

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...

. He lived his whole life on his mountain farm, and eventually died there in 1873. His son, Kjetil, and his grandsons after him, were fiddlers in the same tradition - carried on to this very day.

Musical style

As Myllarguten was known for his improvisations and reshaping of tradition, Håvard was "traditional", and kept his fiddle tunes unchanged. Thus, he became a valuable source for an older tradition. Håvard was reckoned to be introvert, and preferred more melancholic tunes. His tonality, which was passed on after him, was old-fashioned, even "medieval" to some extent. His musical style were preserved, not only by his sons, but also by the fiddler

Knut Dahle Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

and his grandsons in Tinn. In Telemark, it is common knowledge that the tradition of Håvard survived in the eastern parts, Tinn and Tuddal, while the tradition of Myllarguten was preserved in the west: Rauland and Vinje. The two traditions tend to meed at county of Bø.

References

1809 births 1873 deaths People from Vinje Norwegian folk musicians Norwegian fiddlers 19th-century Norwegian composers 19th-century violinists Male violinists 19th-century male musicians {{Norway-musician-stub