Monthly Archives: July 2012

Harp quotes from the North

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  • Völuspá 39:
    “Sat þar á haugi
    ok sló hörpu
    gýgjar hirðir,
    glaðr Eggþér    “
  • Atlakviða 31:
    “Lifanda gram lagði í garð,
    þanns skiðinn vas, skatna mengi,
    innan ormum, en einn Gunnarr
    heiftmóðr hörpu hendi kníði;
    (glumðu strengir, svá golli skal
    froekn hringdrifi við fira halda).    “
  • Rǫgnvaldr Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 1 (Orkneyinga Saga):
    “Tafl emk ǫrr at efla,
    íþróttir kank níu,
    týnik trauðla rúnum,
    tíð erum bók ok smíðir,
    skríða kank á skíðum,
    skýtk ok rœk, svát nýtir;
    hvártveggja kank hyggja,
    harpslátt ok bragþáttu.”
  • Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, XII.kapítuli:
    …”Konungr spyrr nú, hvárt hann kann nokkut fleiri slagi, en hann segir eptir vera nokkura smáleika ok bað fólkit hvílast fyrst. Settust menn nú til drykkju. Sló hann þar Gýgjarslag ok Drömbuð ok Hjarrandahljóð. Því næst kom inn Óðins minni. Þá lauk Sigurðr upp hörpunni. Hún var svá stór, at maðr mátti standa réttr í maganum á henni; hún var öll sem á gull sæi. Þar tók hann upp hvíta glófa gullsaumaða. Hann sló nú þann slag, sem Faldafeykir heitir, ok stukku þá faldarnir af konunum, ok léku þeir fyrir ofan þvertréin. Stukku þá upp konurnar ok allir menninir, ok engi hlutr var þá sá, at kyrr þoldi.“
  • Viglundar Saga, 4.kafli:
    “Og að enduðum gjöfum lét jarl fram bera eina hörpu. Annar hvor hennar strengur var með gull en annar hvor með silfur. Var þetta smíði hið virðulegasta. Konungur seildist móti og tók að slá en þessi harpa bar svo mikið hljóð að allir undruðust og þóttust eigi fyrr slíkt heyrt hafa.”
  • Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, Liber XII, 6.1:
    “Reversus namque Ericus, cum more regio domi in propatulo cenitaret, inter alios quendam musicae rationis professorem adesse contigit. Qui cum multa super artis suae laudibus disputasset, inter cetera quoque sonorum modis homines in amentiam furoremque pertrahi posse firmabat. Quin etiam tantas fidibus vires inesse dicebat, ut, perceptis earum modulationibus, astantes mente constaturos negaret. Cumque, an eiusmodi usu calleret, interrogatus, peritiam fateretur, tum precibus regis, tum etiam minis effectum praesentare compellitur. Qui cum nec vecordiae metu nec periculi praedictione imperantem avertere potuisset, ne furori nocendi materia suppeteret, primum, aede armis vacuefacta, complures extra auditum citharae in ambitu collocandos curavit, oriente vesaniae strepitu fores irrumpere ereptamque manibus suis citharam capiti illidere iussos, ne ulterior eius modulatio supervenientes quoque mente captos efficeret.(…)”
  • Olaus Magnus (1555): Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus. Liber XV, c.4,”De Maialibus festis”:
    “… populus omnis vtriusque sexus & aetatis, turmatim in publicis plateis vrbium, at planicie camporum, vbique copiosis accensis ignibus, pro choreis tripudijsque exercendis, concurrere solitus, vetustorum heroum domi forisque magnifica gesta vbilibet in orbe peracta, saltando decantat: etiam quid illustriores foeminae pro aeternis assequendis laudibus, amore servandae pudicitiae perfecerunt. Praeterea quid degeneres ignavique nobiles, crudeles tyranni, & turpes foeminae exclusa honestate fecerunt, patrijs cantionibus & rhytmis sonantibus citharis, ac tibijs alternatim adductis, extoluunt.“
  • Rasmus Hanssøn Reravius (1576), about the coronation of Frederik II, King of Denmark in 1559:
    ““Man maatte og høre det lystige Spil/
    Mens Maaltidet vared/ jeg sige og vil/
    Med Zitter og Tromper/ med Harper og Gie/
    Med konstige og herlige Symphonie/
    Basuner og Sincker og Positiv/
    Skalmeier/ Trometer og Krumhorn stiv.
    Saa sødelig disse her Spil mon gaae/
    Det var stor Lyst at høre derpaa.
    De siunge saa mangt it Stykke saa fin/
    Frantsøsisk/ Italisk/ Spansk/ Latin/
    Med Danske oc Tydske ieg siger for sand.
    Det er ey mueligt at ieg kand/
    Den herlige skat fortelle altsammen/
    Som den tid skede med glæde oc gammen.    “
  • Georg Stiernhielm, congratulation poem for the 17th birthday of Christina, Queen of Sweden, in 1643:
    “På Bygden höres roop / och skrijk och skrij af Fröjd
    Af glädje höres drön och dön alt vp i högd:
    Säckpipor / Trummor / Harpor / Lurar / Nyckelgijgor /
    The dricka / dansa / flyggia / flängia /ghlamma / gny /
    The quäda / lee / och gantas widh / i hwarian By.    “
  • Anonymous wedding poem, Väderstad (1697):
    “Låt dokk then Musiquant sig intet sinka
    Låt honom komma fram
    att han må klinka
    på Harpan skiön
    En lustig Menuet Brudgum til Ära.”
  • Fredmans Epistel no.45, Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795):
    “ingen monark
    i världen så stark
    förmår i sitt land
    förbjuda min hand
    att på min harpa, pling plingeli pläng,
    och det så länge där finnes en sträng,
    spela en polska. Pling plingeli pläng.    “
  • “Guldharpen”, TSB A 50:
    Her Villemand gik sig for Strømmen at staa,
    – Strengen er af Guld –
    saa mesterlig kunde Guldharpen han slaa,
    – Saa liflig leged han for sin Jomfru.-
  • “Rosilias sorg”, TSB D 115:
    Han gav mig en harpa, en harpa av guld
    – uti lunden –
    han bad jag skulle spela när jag blev sorgefull
    – för lekt haver hon med konungasonen den unge –
  • “Stolts Gundela”, TSB D 405:
    Första slaget hon på gullharpan slog,
    Konungens hjärta, det lekte och det log.
    – Så stolt var den Gundela.
    Ungersven och vi, vi vinna henne aldrig. –

    Andra slaget hon på gullharpan lät,
    Konungens hjärta var nära det grät.

    Tredje slaget, som på gullharpan klang,
    För henne dansade alla konungens hofmän.

    Fjärde slaget hon på gullharpan månd’ slå,
    För henne så dansade båd’ stickor och strå.

Who

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Who organises all this?

Since the Nordic Harp Meeting circulates between the Nordic countries, the local crew has a different composition every year.

In 2022 (Finland), the NHM was organised by Antti Saarinen, Yrjänä and Helka Ermala.
In 2021 (Denmark), Maria Ojantakanen was the chief organiser.
In 2020 (online only), the virtual NHM was orchestrated by Erik Ask-Upmark.
In 2019 (Norway), the NHM was organised by Stein Villa, Marit Steinsrud and Gjøvik spelmannslag.
In 2018 (Sweden), the NHM was organised by Erik Ask-Upmark.
See the history section for earlier editions…

Some constant figures have been involved almost every year since the NHM has started in 2008:

Dance

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Since it is more fun to play dance tunes for dancers than for a sitting audience, we might put the chairs aside to produce a dance floor. You are welcome to encourage the musicians to play a ballad, branle, allemande, polonaise, quadrille, contra dance, engelska, polska, halling, schottis, waltz, polka, letkajenkka or whatever…

Background

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(på svenska)

Instruments called “harps” are mentioned in numerous sources in all Nordic countries: In sagas, folk ballads, poems and historiography. Of course, one has to be aware that these mentionings don’t necessarily denote the same objects: The term “harp” has been (and still is) used in a very broad sense in the Scandinavian languages, for many different stringed instruments: various psalteries (including the Finnish kantele, called harpa in the Swedish Finnskogen), plucked or strummed lyres (which is probably what is referred to as harpe in the Norse sagas), bowed lyres (stråkharpa), langeleik (långharpa), hammered dulcimer (hammarharpa), keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa), hurdy-gurdy (hjulharpa), jaw harp (munnharpe) and more.

Nevertheless, there is also evidence for the existence of harps in musicological sense (i.e. chordophones with the plane of strings perpendicular to the resonator) in preserved museum specimens – the earliest specimen from Norway is dated to 1681.
Numerous harps sensu stricto are also featured in medieval iconography on stone reliefs, church paintings and wood carvings in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

From Denmark, historical documents tell about court harpists (Edvard Adam, Magnus Maxi, Darby Scott and Carolus Oralii) at the court of Christian IV, one of which is depicted in the painting by Rainhold Timm (ca 1622, now at the Danish Music Museum in Copenhagen). Numerous Danish town musicians of the 17th and 18th century are known to have played a “David’s harp”, and the Music History Museum in Copenhagen stores several small diatonic harps (called “amateur harps”) from the 18th to 19th centuries, some of which were produced by Danish instrument makers.

Also from Finland, we know about harpists in court music, entertainment music and street music: “Mikael harpolekare” played court music in Turku Castle, 1580.
Many years later, the blind girl Charlotta Seuerling (who was living in Turku about 1810)
played a small pedal harp to accompany her melancholic Swedish songs. Henryk Sulkawa from Virrat (Western Finland) built a small diatonic harp in 1818, which is quite similar to the harp of Kalvsvik (Småland in Sweden). Even Kreeta Haapasalo, the most famous Finnish kantele player of the 19th century, was inspired by Central-European wandering harpers touring the Nordic countries and playing on markets, in streets and taverns.

In Sweden, there are several harps in strict sense produced by various Swedish instrument makers, among them Mattias Petter Kraft in Stockholm (who also made Bellman’s cister in 1781). Perhaps the harp of Mollberg (“pling plingeli plång“) mentioned in the poem Fredmans Epistel 45 can be imagined as the harps that Bellman’s instrument maker produced in 1780 and 1785. Both are stored at the repository of the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts in Stockholm.

Nowadays, several harpists and harpers live in Nordic countries, play different kinds of harps, and different kinds of music, without necessarily being aware of each other’s existence: One lives in Copenhagen, the other one in Helsinki, another in Oslo, another in Stockholm, yet another in Senja… And many other musicians in the North play plucked instruments related to the harp – such as kantele, langeleik, lyre, and more – and most of their tunes can without much effort be transferred to the harp, and vice versa.
The time has come to meet and to play music together!

Museums

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If you are interested in plucked string instruments, you should visit the following places and museums and ask to see their harps/lyres/kanteles (most of which are not part of the public exhibitions, but stored somewhere in the collections)

Denmark:

  • Vikingelandsbyen in Albertslund: A small but fine Viking village near Copenhagen, where you can ask to see some replicas of Viking Age musical instruments made by the late instrument maker Viggo Bach Nielsen.
  • Danish Music Museum in Copenhagen: It stores a gigantic collection of musical instruments, including a considerable number of harps. Unfortunately, its exhibitions are closed to the public since December 2010, because the plan is to move the museum to new premises in the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Finland:

Norway:

Sweden:

  • The probably largest collection of Nordic music instruments is hidden away in a museum in Stockholm, which has changed its name numerous times in the past years and most recently it is called Scenkonstmuseet (Swedish Museum of Performing Arts). Their gigantic instrument collection, including MANY interesting harps and other stuff, is not on on public display but hidden away. However, you can see some photographs of their specimens in the museum database. You will find the presumably oldest Norwegian folk harp there (dated 1681), as well as a number of diatonic harps made by Swedish instrument makers from the 18th century onwards, e.g. royal instrument maker Mathias Petter Kraft (who also made Bellman’s cither) and lots of other gems.