Hardanger fiddle [Harding fiddle]

(Nor. hardingfela, hardingfele).

A folk violin of western Norway, generally having four melody strings above the fingerboard, four or five wire sympathetic strings below, and characteristic national decoration. The earliest known example, which has only six strings altogether, is by Ole Jonsen Jaastad of Hardanger and controversially dated 1651 (see illustration). The next ones known to survive are from c1750, by Isak Nielsen Skar (1663–1759) and his son Trond Isaksen (1712–72), who popularized the instrument. These fiddles are narrower than the ordinary violin, often with deeper ribs and more pronounced arching of the belly and back. The neck is short, as the music is normally played in the first position, but the pegbox is long and surmounted by a carved head. The fingerboard is flat and the bridge only slightly curved, to facilitate double stops and droning...\Frames/F002532.html);

During the 19th century the instrument's shape became nearer to that of the violin, owing mainly to the work of Eric Johsen Helland (1816–68), one of a celebrated fiddle-making family in Telemark. A recent addition is the chin rest: the fiddle nowadays is often bowed at the shoulder, whereas before it was usually held at the chest of the performer.

Over 20 tunings are known, the most usual being a–d'–a'–e'' (melody strings) and d'–e'–f'–a' (sympathetic strings). The repertory consists of folksongs, dances (slåtter) such as the halling, gangar and springar, and bridal marches, often embellished. In some districts, especially the coastal provinces north of Bergen, most tunes are straightforward bipartite dances. Elsewhere, notably in and near the province of Telemark, an ‘organic building technique’ prevails: two-bar blocks are each repeated several times, with each repetition adding small changes which are cumulatively quite dramatic. Torgeir Augundson (1801–72), a miller's son of Telemark, fired the enthusiasm of the violinist Ole Bull; the traditional melodies have subsequently been collected and they were much used by Grieg.

In the late 20th century both the Hardanger fiddle and the conventional violin have flourished in a nativistic folk revival centred on contests. Competitors are required to play the type of instrument, the tunes and the styles of music peculiar to their own region, thus reflecting the local essence of Norwegian nationalism. Although the conventional violin is somewhat more common than the Hardanger fiddle, the latter is more frequently used to symbolize Norway, both to Norwegians and to outsiders.

(See also Norway, §II, 3, and fig.3.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

T. Hannaas: ‘Hardingfela’, Bergens museums årbok 1916–17 [with Eng. summary]

S.B. Osa: Hardingfela (Oslo, 1952)

O. Gurvin, ed.: Hardingfelaslåttar, Norske folkemusikk, i–v (Oslo, 1958–67)

A. Bjørndal and B. Alver: ‘og fela ho lét’ (Bergen, 1966, 2/1985) [with Eng summary]

O. Gurvin: ‘The Harding Fiddle’, SMN, i (1968), 10–19

R. Sevåg: ‘The Harding Fiddle’, From Bone Pipe and Cattle Horn to Fiddle and Psaltery, ed. M. Müller (Copenhagen, 1972), 18–24

P. Hopkins: Aural Thinking in Norway: Performance and Communication with the ‘Hardingfele’ (New York, 1986)

B. Aksdal and S. Nyhus, eds.: Fanitullen: innførung i norsk og samisk folkemusikk (Oslo, 1993)

MARY REMNANT/CHRIS GOERTZEN