A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of
Sweden. It is a
string instrument or
chordophone
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...
. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as
frets to change the pitch of the string.
The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a
fiddle or the big
Sorb geige or
viol
The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
. Structurally, it is more closely related to the
hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...
, both employing key-actuated tangents to change the pitch.
History
A depiction of two instruments, possibly but not confirmed nyckelharpas, can be found in a relief dating from on one of the gates of
Källunge Church in
Gotland.
Early church paintings are found in
Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
, Italy, dating to 1408 and in different churches in Denmark and Sweden, such as
Tolfta Church, Sweden, which dates to . Other very early pictures are to be found in
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, dating to .
The (nyckelharpa) is also mentioned in , a famous work written in 1620 by the German organist
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...
(1571–1621). The Swedish province of
Uppland
Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
has been a stronghold for nyckelharpa music since the early 17th century, including musicians like
Byss-Calle (Carl Ersson Bössa, 1783–1847) from
Älvkarleby
Älvkarleby () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Älvkarleby Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 1,647 inhabitants in 2010. It is not the seat of the municipality, a function held by Skutskär 7 km to the north.
See also ...
.
[
Changes by ]August Bohlin
August Bohlin (born 7 July 1877 Österlövsta; died 19 May 1949) was a nyckelharpa and fiddler from Uppland. He is known for developing the three-row nyckelharpa of today in 1929.
August came from a musical family; his father Johan was a skilled n ...
(1877–1949) in 1929/1930 made the nyckelharpa a chromatic instrument with a straight bow, making it a more 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 regu ...
-like and no longer a bourdon instrument.[ Composer, player and maker of nyckelharpor Eric Sahlström (1912–1986) used this new instrument and helped to re-popularize it in the mid-20th century.][ In spite of this, the nyckelharpa's popularity declined until the 1960s ]roots revival
A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware ly ...
.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a resurgence in the popularity of the nyckelharpa, with notable artists such as Marco Ambrosini
Marco Ambrosini (born 1964 in Forlì, Italy) is an Italian musician, composer and arranger living in Germany.
Studies
From 1971 to 1981, Ambrosini studied violin and viola (with Adrio Casagrande) and composition with Mario Perrucci at the " ...
(Italy and Germany), Sture Sahlström, Gille, Peter Puma Hedlund and Nils Nordström including the nyckelharpa in both early music and contemporary music offerings. Continued refinement of the instrument also contributed to the increase in popularity, with instrument builders like Jean-Claude Condi and Annette Osann bringing innovation to the bow and body.
In 1990s, the nyckelharpa was recognised as one of the instruments available for study at the folk music department of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm ( Kungliga Musikhögskolan). It has also been a prominent part of several revival groups in the later part of the century, including the trio Väsen, the more contemporary group Hedningarna
Hedningarna (''The Heathens'') is a Swedish, and for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami form of s ...
, the Finnish folk music group Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
and the Swedish folk music groups Dråm and Nordman
Nordman is a Sweden, Swedish duo founded in 1993, that mixes folk music with rock and pop. This genre is called etnorock or folk rock in Swedish. The group consists of Håkan Hemlin, as singer and frontman, and Mats Wester, who plays the nyckelha ...
. It has also been used in non-Scandinavian musical contexts, for example by the Spanish player Ana Alcaide
Ana Alcaide (born 1976, Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish performer, composer and music producer who carries out research on ancient traditions and cultures.
Biography
At the age of seven Alcaide took up classical violin. She studied at the Getafe C ...
, the English singer and multi-instrumentalist Anna Tam, and Sandra Schmitt of Storm Seeker, a Pirate Metal band from Germany.
The firs
World Nyckelharpa Day
took place on the 26th April 2020 just as the world had gone into lockdown. All the events took place online, either as livestreams or pre-recorded videos in Youtube. This now is a yearly event taking place on the Sunday closest to the 26th April - this being the birthday of the great nyckelharpa player Byss-Calle. The event is co-ordinated by British/Swedish nyckelharpa playe
Vicki Swan
Technique
The nyckelharpa is usually played with a strap around the neck, stabilised by the right arm. Didier François, a violinist and nyckelharpist from Belgium, is noted for using an unusual playing posture, holding the nyckelharpa vertically in front of the chest. This allows a wider range of motion for both arms. It also affects the tone and sound of the instrument. Some players may use a violin bracket to keep the nyckelharpa away from the body so that it can swing freely, causing it to sound more "open" as its resonance is not damped.
Variants
There are four common variants of the nyckelharpa still played today, differing in the number and arrangement of keys, number and arrangement of strings, and general body shape. The predominant type is the three-row so-called "chromatic nyckelharpa", with the melody strings tuned A1 - C1 - G, a drone C (from the highest to the lowest string) that is only touched occasionally, and 12 resonance strings (one for each step of the chromatic scale).
The other three variants are:
* Kontrabasharpa - most popular during the 17th and 18th centuries. Typically the top has a high arch, and there are two oval-shaped soundholes in the lower bout called ''oxögon''. The name "Kontrabasharpa" refers not to the pitch being any deeper than a standard nyckelharpa's (it isn't), but to the unstopped drone string
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. A drone may also be any part of a musical instrument used to produce this effect; an archai ...
which always resonates below the melody strings during regular play. The two melody strings are set up on either side of the drone string, such that melodies can be played as double stops between a single melody string and the open drone string without the two melody strings ever clashing.
* Silverbasharpa - most popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so named because of the bass strings which are traditionally wound with silver. It is the immediate predecessor to the modern nyckelharpa, and the string configuration is identical, however it retains the older top with a more pronounced arch as well as the two ''oxögon''. The main difference is that only the top two strings are stopped, meaning that the bottom C and G strings cannot play any other notes, and so nearly all of its repertoire is in the key of C. In addition, some silverbasharpor may be diatonic and not chromatic, and some keys may stop both melody strings at once.
* Oktavharpa - invented by Lennart and Johan Hedin in 1996. It is essentially a modern three-row nyckelharpa tuned an octave down, almost identical to a cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
. It is the lowest-pitched variant of the nyckelharpa.
The resonance strings, or sympathetic strings
Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer (excep ...
, which were added to the instrument during the 2nd half of the 16th century, are not bowed directly but resonate with the other strings. There can be anywhere from six to twelve of them, depending on the construction and tonality of the instrument.
Some modern nyckelharpas have been made with four or even five rows of keys, however they have not been popular enough to replace the three-row nyckelharpa as the standard.
Gallery
Image:Viola a chiavi Siena 1408.jpg, Angel with ''viola a chiavi'' ('keys'), Cappellina di Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico (''town hall'') is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 to serve as the seat of the Republic of Siena's government, which consisted of the Podestà and Council of Nine, the elected officia ...
, Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo
Taddeo di Bartolo (c. 1363 – 26 August 1422), also known as Taddeo Bartoli, was an Italian painter of the Sienese School during the early Renaissance. He is among the artists profiled in Vasari's biographies of artists or ''Vite''. Vas ...
, 1408.
Image:Sweden tolfta church angels with nyckelharpa.jpg, Two angels with nyckelharpa, fresco in the church at Tolfa, Tierp Municipality
Tierp Municipality (''Tierps kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Tierp.
Localities
Localities in Tierp Municipality include:
* Karlholmsbruk
* Killskär
* Månkarbo
* Mehed ...
, Uppland
Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
, Sweden. Unknown painter, 1503.
Image:Schluesselfidel Knochenhaueramtshaus Hildesheim.jpg, ''Schlüsselfidel'' at the "Knochenhaueramtshaus", Hildesheim, Germany, 1529.
File:Strohfiddel.jpg, Schlüsselfidel (lower right) shown in Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...
' ''Syntagma Musicum'', 1619.
Image:Bronwyn Bird playing the nyckelharpa in concert 2007.jpg, Bronwyn Bird, member of Blue Moose, plays the nyckelharpa at a concert in 2007. Photo by georgie grd.
File:Marco Ambrosini mit der Nyckelharpa.jpg, Marco Ambrosini
Marco Ambrosini (born 1964 in Forlì, Italy) is an Italian musician, composer and arranger living in Germany.
Studies
From 1971 to 1981, Ambrosini studied violin and viola (with Adrio Casagrande) and composition with Mario Perrucci at the " ...
at Burg Fürsteneck
The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to:
Places Placename element
* ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames
* Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England
Settlements
* Burg, Aar ...
, Germany, playing a nyckelharpa built by Annette Osann.
Image:Didier François teaching his special nyckelharpa-technique.jpg, Didier François teaching his special technique at the International Days of the Nyckelharpa at Burg Fürsteneck, 2005.
Image:Huldrelokkk Bardentreffen 15 5481.jpg, Mia Gundberg Ådin (Huldrelokkk) playing the Nyckelharpa at the music festival Bardentreffen in Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, 2015.
Contemporary applications
English composer Natalie Holt
Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including ''Paddington'' (2014) and '' Loki'' (2021). She trained at the R ...
used nyckelharpa for background score of the Disney+
Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
series '' Loki''.
See also
*Hardanger fiddle
A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than ...
*Hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...
*Music of Sweden
The Music of Sweden shares roots with its neighboring countries in Scandinavia, as well as Eastern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The Swedish fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instr ...
* Moraharpa
References
External links
World Nyckelharpa Day
The American Nyckelharpa Association
Nyckelharpa.eu Nyckelharpa Cooperation in Europe
*
Nyckelharpa Workshops and Teaching in the UK
*
{{Authority control
Bowed box zithers
Nordic folk music
String instruments with sympathetic strings
Swedish musical instruments
Swedish folk music
Necked box lutes