(Swed.; Ger. Schlüsselfiedel).
A bowed chordophone with a key mechanism, formerly known in England as ‘keyed fiddle’. Like the Hurdy-gurdy, the strings are stopped by tangents held in keys placed at right-angles to the neck and pressed by the fingers; they are played with a short hand-held bow, however, not with a rosined wheel.
As far as can be ascertained, the nyckelharpa first existed in Scandinavia; it has survived until modern times within a small area of Sweden centred around the province of Uppland. The earliest iconographical sources are chiefly to be found in 15th- and 16th-century frescoes, although a relief on the south portal of Källunge church, on the island of Gotland, dating from about 1350, depicts a figure playing an instrument that appears to be a nyckelharpa. The oldest extant nyckelharpan, from the 16th and 17th centuries, have two different forms: one with an elongated body in the shape of a figure-of-eight with a flat bottom and a flat belly, separately made; the other with either a pear- or a boat-shaped body, made in a single piece with the neck, and with a slightly vaulted belly. The boat shape became normal from the late 17th century, with marked middle bouts, a high border and a strongly vaulted belly with two oval soundholes. During the 20th century the body came to resemble that of the violin family, with a slightly vaulted belly and two f-holes. The bottom and the belly are now often made separately and the wooden tuning-pegs are supplemented or even replaced by a guitar-like tuning mechanism.
One of the two earliest types of nyckelharpa was known as the enkelharpa (single harpa). It had one melody string and one or more drone strings. The bridge was flat, so that the melody string and one or two of the drone strings could be bowed simultaneously. On the other type, known as the mixturharpa, the keys were fitted with a second tangent, thereby permitting one or more of the strings adjacent to the melody string to be stopped simultaneously. Sympathetic strings were first added during the 17th century. In an 18th-century type, known as the kontrabasharpa (contra-drone harpa), the extra tangent was applied to a bass string on the opposite side of the drone strings from the main melody string, thus creating a second melody string. This type of instrument has survived until modern times in an unbroken tradition. The silverbasharpa was developed in the 19th century from the mixturharpa by the addition of a second row of keys below the first, permitting the ‘mixture’ string to be stopped independently of the main melody string (while still bowing the drone string). The modern chromatic nyckelharpa was created by August Bohlin in 1923. This had a third bowed string with its own keys, and the principle of applying several tangents on each key was abandoned. Instruments with four rows of keys and four bowed strings are also played. On three- and four-row instruments the shape of the bridge is similar to that of the violin, so that each melody string may be bowed separately. The four-row type is generally tuned in fifths (g–d'–a'–e'', or a fifth lower); the silverbasharpa and the three-row nyckelharpa are tuned c–g–c'–a'.
From a low point in the mid-20th century when the nyckelharpa was played by only a few hundred musicians, there has been a resurgence of interest in the instrument since about 1970, due largely to the influence of the maker, composer and performer Eric Sahlström (1912–86); Åsa Jinder and the Nordman group have also played an important role in increasing the instrument’s popularity. The nyckelharpa is now heard in other genres besides traditional music (chiefly popular music) and its use has begun to spread outside the Nordic region, albeit on a limited scale. The World Championships in Nyckelharpa Playing, held at various locations in Sweden, has attracted participants from Britain and the USA.
J. Ling: Nyckelharpan (Stockholm, 1967)
G. Ahlbäck: Nyckelharpfolket: om nyckelharprörelsen, en 1970-talsföreteelse (Stockholm, 1980)
G. Ahlbäck, G. Fredelius and J. Ling: Nyckelharpan nu och då/The Nyckelharpa Present and Past (Stockholm, 1991) [incl. cassette]
GUNNAR FREDELIUS