The hardanger fiddle
A Norwegian folk fiddle with four playing strings and four or five sympathetic strings beneath them
Related
The main line: a fiddle that answers itself
A hardanger fiddle (hardingfele) looks like a violin, but four or five more strings lie under the fingerboard. They are never stopped or bowed; they ring only at the right pitch. A violin gives a clean line; the hardanger gives a line with a tail of sound.
Form: four plus four, or four plus five
- Playing strings: four, tuned for the piece, often higher than a violin's.
- Sympathetic strings: four or five, under the fingerboard and through the bridge; they ring at their pitches.
- Bridge flatter, for double stops and drones; body shallower, often inlaid with bone or shell.
- Scordatura is normal: another tuning changes fingering, open strings and sympathetic response. Halvorsen's e–a–a′–c♯″ is one case.
Sound and history
Dance tunes (slått) live in ornaments — trills, grace notes, slides, drones — that give the melody weight; a springar's beats are unequal.
Named after Hardanger in western Norway. The earliest surviving example is dated 1651 and attributed to Ole Jonsen Jaastad; earlier origins are uncertain, and troll or devil stories are legend. The nineteenth-century national movement took it to the stage: Ole Bull brought it to recital halls, Halvorsen arranged Norske Viser og Dandse in 1895, and Grieg based Slåtter Op. 72 on Knut Dahle's tunes. In the twentieth century festivals and conservatories fixed its image as Norway's national instrument.
Against the violin and the nyckelharpa
- Violin: same strings and bow, no sympathetic set, a more arched bridge, a fixed tuning.
- Nyckelharpa: also has sympathetic strings, but keys and tangents set the length; the hardanger is stopped by fingers.
Common misconceptions
- "It is just a violin with extra strings." The sympathetic set is one layer; scordatura, a flat bridge and dance ornaments make it another instrument.
HS class
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| HS class | Chordophone · bowed · box lute (near 321.322) |
| Sub-type | four playing strings · four or five sympathetic strings · flat bridge · scordatura common |
| Family | World · Europe (Norway, Hardanger) |
| Key features | passive sympathetic strings · variable tuning · ornament and dance accent |
| Compass | see the range fence (schematic) |
The strings are retuned per piece, so the compass moves; the figure takes a common G3–E7, with A3–E6 for dance. Sympathetic strings add resonance, not range. Sounding pitch.
Three things to take away
1. Four plus four: four playing strings carry the tune, four or five answer behind them. 2. The tuning moves: scordatura is part of the piece, not a tuning mistake. 3. It is a dance instrument: ornaments and unequal accents give the steps weight.
Listen in the library
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Sources
- 形制、四主弦与四至五共鸣弦、1651 年最早存世乐器，参 Wikipedia "Hardanger fiddle" 与 Grove "Hardanger fiddle"；本文原创
- scordatura、舞曲类型与哈尔沃森《Norske Viser og Dandse》（1895），参 Grove 与 Mutopia 条目说明
- 曲库无哈丁费德尔录音，实例取哈尔沃森据挪威曲调编配的小提琴与钢琴版，逐条在 why 说明
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.