Nyckelharpa

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Nyckelharpa, built by Eric Sahlström
Details of the mechanics
Marco Ambrosini with a Nyckelharpa by Annette Osann

The nyckelharpa ( Swedish , literally "key harp", plural nyckelharpor ), the German also nyckelharpa , keyed fiddle, violin key or keys Fidel , is a string instrument whose strings mechanically keys are shortened ( "key").

Design

The strings of the nyckelharpa are made to vibrate with a short bow . The pitch of the strings is determined by pressing keys - similar to the hurdy-gurdy . The flags on the keys that tap the strings are called "tangents".

There are a variety of forms of nyckelharpa. A modern, chromatic nyckelharpa has four playing strings. Depending on the type of keyboard, different numbers (usually three or all four) playing strings can be shortened with tangents and thus changed in pitch. Strings without a keyboard row are often used as drones .

In addition, usually twelve are sympathetic strings or sympathy strings (Engl. Sympathetic strings ). These sympathetic strings lie under the melody strings and are not touched with the bow, but rather stimulated to vibrate by the played notes and their overtones . The resonance strings give the impression of a reverb effect . It has not yet been clarified when the first Nyckelharpor were equipped with sympathetic strings.

Depending on the presence of sympathetic strings, there is also an initial classification of different types of Nyckelharpa:

  • Nyckelharpor without sympathetic strings are the Mora-Harpa , the Esse-Harpa (Western Finland) or the Nyckelharpa from Vefsen (Norway).
  • Nyckelharpor with sympathetic strings are the grandchildren , silver and contrabasharpa and the chromatic (Swedish kromatisk ) nyckelharpa , the most modern and widespread form.

The number of sympathetic strings and their tuning varies; the chromatic nyckelharpa has twelve strings that cover the entire chromatic scale. Further subdivisions are made according to the type, number and position of drone and melody strings. Especially in the upper register, the tangents for tapping the tones are often distributed over two rows of keys for reasons of space. The range is mostly diatonic in the older forms , the modern ones can be played chromatically .

Two basic designs of the nyckelharpa can be observed today: the three-row nyckelharpa with a curved top and sawn frame and the "continental" model (JC Condi, A. Osann) inspired by violin making, which is mainly produced in Sweden and is in the tradition of folklore four rows, a curved frame and an occasionally planed top (JC Condi, A. Pilz), which is increasingly used in the interpretation of early music, but also in other non-folk repertoire.

history

Angel with “Viola a chiavi”, Cappellina di Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy. Fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo, 1408
Tolfta Church, Uppland, Sweden. Two angels with nyckelharpa in the ceiling paintings, 2nd half of the 15th century
Putte with key fiddle at the bone carving office in Hildesheim

Forerunners of the modern nyckelharpa have been around since the Middle Ages . Evidence of the existence of such instruments can be found mainly in Sweden , but also in Denmark , Germany , Austria and Italy .

One of the probably oldest images of a nyckelharpa can be found on a stone relief at the portal of the church in Källunge on Gotland , Sweden, dated around 1350. The instrument shown is very similar to an early form of the nyckelharpa, which is now known as the "Mora-Harpa". This form of Nyckelharpa, which has been handed down to this day, was not named after its place of discovery in Älvdalen in Dalarna (Central Sweden), but after its new home in Mora, where it is exhibited in the Zornmuseum. The year 1526 is written on the back of the neck of the Mora-Harpa. However, this cannot be the year of construction because it can be proven that this is 1680.

In Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries, the "Schlüsselfidel" was apparently known, because both Sebastian Virdung "Musica tutscht und auszüge" and Michael Praetorius "Syntagmatis musici tomus secundus" from 1619 with "Theatrum instrumentorum" mention it and shown in detail. In 1989 the Swedish instrument researcher Per-Ulf Allmo found an ornament with five putti on the facade of the butcher's guild (the bone carver's office from 1529) in Hildesheim, one of which is clearly playing on a nyckelharpa. A picture of an angel in Siena , Italy, also shows an instrument of the same type as the key fiddle by Praetorius (fresco by Taddeo di Bartolo, 1408). In his 2004 book "Den gäckande nyckelharpan" , Per-Ulf Allmo published new insights into the origin of the nyckelharpa. He found evidence from older representations that the idea of ​​the nyckelharpa originally migrated from continental Europe to Sweden.

In the Salzburg Museum Carolino Augusteum , two key figurines from the southern German-Austrian region are kept, which date from the 17th century.

The chromatic nyckelharpa was developed by August Bohlin (1886–1949) in 1929 and later developed into a modern, versatile instrument. In the middle of the 20th century the nyckelharpa was no longer widespread and was only played by a few minstrels in Uppland. Especially Eric Sahlström (1912–1986) contributed to an expansion of the repertoire through his compositions.

Since the 1990s there has been, initiated u. a. by musicians like Marco Ambrosini and Didier François and accompanied by the instrument makers Annette Osann and Jean Claude Condi, an increased focus on non-folk repertoire. The nyckelharpa is used by these musicians in the field of renaissance and baroque music as well as modern music. It is primarily the four-row nyckelharpa that is primarily used here.

Nyckelharpa meeting

Every year a meeting of the best minstrels, the so-called nyckelharpstämman, takes place in Österbybruk in Uppland, Sweden . On the one hand, competitions are held (a World Cup ), and the instruments themselves can also be submitted for assessment. On the other hand, making music together and building instruments - also with spontaneous meetings between different play groups - plays a central role.

The largest nyckelharpa event in Germany are the "International Nyckelharpa Days" at Fürsteneck Castle with over eighty nyckelharpa players from 13 nations (as of 2016).

Nyckelharpa players, instrument makers and composers

Eminent Nyckelharpa players

Didier François at the International Nyckelharpatagen at Fürsteneck Castle in Germany, 2005

Style-defining, well-known nyckelharpa players include: Eric Sahlström, who developed the chromatic nyckelharpa in its current form, is also regarded as a style-forming role model with regard to his playing, which is still being emulated. His children, especially Sigurd Sahlström, are also great players. Some other well-known Nyckelharpa players from Sweden are: Olov Johansson from the band Väsen , Peter "Puma" Hedlund, Torbjörn Näsbom, Magnus Holmström, Emilia Amper, Josefina Paulson, Johan Hedin, Daniel Pettersson, Mia Gundberg Ådin from the band Huldrelokkk and Anders Norudde (Mora-Harpa). Outside Sweden, Nyckelharpa play: the groups Triskilian , Myrkur , In Extremo , Versengold , Poeta Magica , Ohrpeyn , Duivelspack , Oni Wytars and Sangre de muerdago as well as Marco Ambrosini , Thomas Roth, Didier François, Ana Alcaide , Ueli Leuthold and Jule Bauer.

Composers

Many contemporary composers have written works for Nyckelharpa, including Michael Riessler , Marco Ambrosini, Jean-Louis Matinier and Helena Tulve .

classes

Mia Gundberg Ådin with the Nyckelharpa at the Festival Bardentreffen 2015 in Nuremberg

In Sweden there are training opportunities on the Nyckelharpa at the Eric Sahlström Institutet in Tobo , Tierp municipality . One-year full-time courses as well as shorter external courses are offered there. An extra-occupational "European Nyckelharpa training" for musicians for two to three years was initiated by Marco Ambrosini (in collaboration with the lecturers Didier François, Annette Osann, Ditte Andersson and Jule Bauer) in a cooperation of the Scuola di Musica Popolare di Forlimpopoli in Italy, the Eric-Sahlström-Institutet in Sweden and the Academy Burg Fürsteneck in Germany.

There are also courses for Nyckelharpa at the annual "International Nyckelharpa Days" at Fürsteneck Castle. As one of the few private music schools, the FGS music school from Jena, Thuringia, Nyckelharpa offers individual or group lessons and regional / national workshops.

With the support of the European Commission, a learning partnership with the title “CADENCE - Cultural ADult Education and Nyckelharpa Cooperation in Europe - Teaching music to adults with special emphasis on the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle)” was established as part of the Grundtvig program Approaches in the participating countries examined with a focus on teaching for the nyckelharpa. The academy Burg Fürsteneck in Germany, the Eric Sahlström Institutet in Sweden and the Scuola di Musica Popolare di Forlimpopoli in Italy are currently involved as music education institutions .

literature

Web links

Commons : Nyckelharpa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunnar Ternhag: The Story of the Mora-Harp: Museumisation and De-Museumisation. In: Studia Instrumentorum Musicae Popularis XVII. ICTM Study Group on Folk Musical Instruments. Proceedings from the 16th International Meeting, 2006, pp. 138-147
  2. ^ Ueli Leuthold: Nyckelharpa Switzerland. November 11, 1998, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ FGS Music School