‘harpa history

The nyckelharpa has a long and complicated history. The best thing to do is to watch the power point presentation that I made from the first version of my nyckelharpa show. This takes you through the main plot points
1200 – The Sigtuna Key
1350 – Källunge Church
1408 – Sienaharpa
1526 – Moraharpa / 1620 Schlüsselfidel
1700s – Kontrabasharpa
1800s – Silverbasharpa
1930s – Modern 3-row chromatic

I have done some extra special research on the Sienaharpa, click here! And also into why the Moraharpa has hearts eyes for sound holes and how it ended up in Praetorius’s Syntaga Musicum – click here for that.

Here’s a close up on the Sienaharpa

Here’s a close up on the Moraharpa:

Here’s a close up on the kontrabasharpa:

I also went to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and met their kontrabasharpa and compared it to mine:

And here is the silverbasharpa up close: