Some discussion of the early history of Western music is necessary in explaining the ancestry and origin of the Swedish nyckelharpa.
In the early Middle Ages, vocal music was performed as a single melody line (monophony). Gregorian chant (or plainchant) originated circa 800-1000 AD, from an older tradition of sacred singing in the early church. This musical style was based on scale arrangements called modes which have a theoretical basis going back to Classical Greece via Jewish and Byzantine religious traditions. Our modern major and minor scales are a weak bi-modal descendent of this system. Modern Western classical music developed in a different direction: that of harmonic modulation.
One of the musical innovations of the Middle Ages was the introduction and development of polyphony, the singing of two musical lines simultaneously. This began as singing in simple octave intervals for mixed choirs of men and boys. Later, melodic lines based on intervals of parallel fifths or fourths developed. This style of singing, called organum, was first described around 895 AD. Organum was not true polyphony, featuring an independent melodic part. It was instead a reinforcement of the main melody, typically sung as the highest line. The first reference to organum describes a well-established practice, so the actual date it became popular is not known. True musical notation only began around 900 AD, so earlier history remains obscure.
The practice of organum singing created a parallel fashion in musical instruments, in which continuous sound either in parallel to the melodic line or as a fixed drone became popular. Pipe instruments (in the form of organs and bagpipes) and stringed instruments were particularly well suited to this style…
Read the rest of The Swedish Nyckelharpa in Its Historic Context.
Musical examples
Examples of chromatic nyckelharpa
Gånglåt efter Mjölnar Wiklund, efter Gösta Sandström
Peter Hedlund, Vägen, Tongång AWCD-48
Stormyren av Eric Sahlström
Olov Johansson, Storsvarten, Drone DROCD-011
Example of hurdy-gurdy
Dining Table by Matthew Szostak
Matthew Szostak
Example of Moraharpa
Slängpolska från Skarpnäck av Niklas Roswall
Niklas Roswall, Ola Hertzberg, N.H.O., Drone DROCD-032
Examples of kontrabasharpa
Vals efter Byss-Calle, efter Per Johan Bodin
Olov Johansson, Markus Svensson, Henrik Eriksson, Ola Hertzberg, Johan Hedin, Niklas Roswall, Byss-Calle, Drone DROCD-022
Ridmarsch efter Bohlin
Olov Johansson, Storsvarten, Drone DROCD-011
Examples of silverbasharpa
Tandläkarpolskan efter Eric Sahlström
Lena & Ingvar Jörpeland, Silverbasharpa Anno 1992, Tongång AWCD-1
Guldklimpen efter Byss-Calle
Johan Hedin, Byss-Calle, Drone DROCD-022
Example of complete chromaticism
I stugun av Eric Sahlström
Marcus Svensson, Till Eric, Drone-DROCD-006
Example of tenor nyckelharpa / classical music
Postludium av Johan Hedin
Johan Hedin, Innersta polskan, Drone DROCD-038
Examples of early classical music
Two Polonäs
Kersti Macklin & Midgårdensemble, L’agréable, Tongång AWCD-10
Foli d’Espagne
Kersti Macklin & Midgårdensemble, L’agréable, Tongång AWCD-10