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Article Dans Une Revue Galpin Society Journal Année : 2023

The Nyckelharpa of the musée de la Musique: An Emblem of the Nineteenth-Century French Interest in Swedish Musical Culture

Résumé

The bowed and keyed chordophone named nyckelharpa is the emblematic musical instrument of traditional music from Sweden. The collection of the musée de la Musique in Paris holds only one nyckelharpa (inv. E.1609), which remained unstudied since its acquisition in 1900. This article presents the results of an organological study of this artefact, as well as first elements to reconstruct the object’s biography. In particular, it is argued that the instrument is in fact a kontrabasharpa, a specific subtype of nyckelharpa. Its technical and stylistic features compare to those of several old nyckelharpas preserved mainly in Scandinavian collections, suggesting a possible common making tradition. In addition, the reception of kontrabasharpa when it was presented by the piano maker Hugues-Amédée Thibout at the Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900 in Paris is discussed. Finally, several facts are gathered, leading to conjecture that the instrument could have been imported from Sweden to Paris and presented to Thibout by the Swedish impressionist painter Anders Zorn (1860–1920), who was a well-known promoter of traditional music from his homeland.
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Dates et versions

hal-04287413 , version 1 (15-11-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04287413 , version 1

Citer

Louise Condi, Jean-Philippe Échard, Sebastian Kirsch. The Nyckelharpa of the musée de la Musique: An Emblem of the Nineteenth-Century French Interest in Swedish Musical Culture. Galpin Society Journal, 2023, 76, pp.220-223, 248-262. ⟨hal-04287413⟩
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