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Audio Recording Anund Roheim interview and Hardanger fiddle performances at the Library of Congress, part 2

Anund Roheim, bio, hardangar fiddle playing

About this Item

Title

  • Anund Roheim interview and Hardanger fiddle performances at the Library of Congress, part 2

Names

  • Fleischhauer, Carl (Collector)
  • Walcott, Ron (Collector)
  • Sreb, Eleanor (Collector)
  • Roheim, Anund, 1913- (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Washington, DC, September 6, 1979

Headings

  • -  Norwegian Americans
  • -  Violin makers
  • -  Fiddlers
  • -  Hardanger fiddle
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Music
  • -  Sound recordings
  • -  United States -- District of Columbia -- Washington

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Music
  • Sound recordings

Notes

  • -  Index data: Part 2 of a 4-part recording session with Anund Roheim, resident of Black Eagle MT (an unincorporated town adjacent to Great Falls), born in the town of Bo (letter o with stroke) in the county of Telemark, Norway, during a visit to the Library of Congress: interview with Roheim, construction of the Hardanger fiddle (Hardingfele), eight tuning pins, top four for the four "vibrating strings" (sympathetic strings) that pass under the finger board and through the center of the bridge, the fiddle is highly decorated, bottom, sides and neck are maple [19th century examples are often blackthorn], deck (top) is spruce, the finer the grain the better, the "head" (scroll, headstock) has the form of the head of a lion with a crown, fingerboard and the tailpiece should be mahogany [19th century fingerboards were cowhorn, today generally ebony], decoration done by hand, Roheim designs his own, marking in India ink with an old writing pen; his price is $600 which is low, students cannot pay a lot; Roheim makes violins in groups, the process for one violin takes about two months, if the decoration is inlaid it would take longer; Roheim describes his approach to construction (some of which differs from the customary approach), the body shape is a Stradivarius type, the deck (top) is thinner which gives a "sharper" tone, the thinner the deck, the more hollow the sound; Roheim's violin is much lighter and thinner than a factory made fiddle, with a bass bar 1/8-inch from the top of the f-hole, the bridge feet rest on either side of the bass bar, the sound post is 3/16 to 1/4-inch behind the bridge foot; 1/2 of the foot rests outside the post, the bridge is a different shape than a regular violin; the heaver and wider the bridge, the harder the Hardanger fiddle is to play; about five bridges must be made until the right tone is produced, this is not a standard type bridge as for a regular violin; experimentation is necessary in making the right bridge for each Hardanger fiddle, the width between the feet is critical, the narrower the more "dead" the tone, in Norwegian this is called "soft" which means that the tone will not be powerful in a large hall; in reviewing these recordings after the session, specialists indicated that the Roheim's typical tuning for the main (bowed) strings was nominally e' a d A with the sympathetic strings nominally tuned a f# e d, with C# more or less the pitch in "concert" terms, i.e., with the fourth (lowest) sympathetic string to C# instead of D (the normal tuning); Roheim said that his bridge is flatter in profile than for a regular violin and, although the Hardingfele neck is usually shorter, but Roheim makes his the same length as a regular violin so that American students will have little trouble switching to Hardanger; the bridge is flatter because of the frequent use of double stops in Hardanger style; Roheim plays examples in the most common Hardanger tuning, e' a d A; the examples are (1) is "Wedding March from Telemark" (Norwegian title is "Bruremarsj fra Telemark"); (2) "Masurka" (typical title in Norway, "Swedish Hambo" in Sweden), with a dance step similar to the Polish Mazurka; (3) gangar (walking dance), "Vossarull" from Voss in Norway [a type of slow turning couple dance]; (4) schottische called "Summer Evening at Alhus" (letter a with ring above, Aften pa Alhus, Alhus is a village in Jolster, letter o with stroke, on the west coast of Norway), dance also called a reinlender; (5) polka; (6) gangar; (7) springar (running dance, 3/4 time), dance has the same "turer" (dance phrases) as the gangar; examples of music continue in part 3; discussion of dance types; the gangar is probably the oldest dance in Norway; in Telemark the most popular dance is the springer, each valley has its own dialect of dance, each province has its own form; the vestlandsspringar comes from Bergen and the west coast; the Telemark springar comes from Roheim's home area; Numedal and Hallingdal are famous for the halling, a dance where the men kick a hat from the end of a stick; further north in Trondelag (letter o with stroke) and Nordland, also in the east in Gudbrandsdalen and Osterdalen (letter O with stroke) they play the regular violin, not the Hardanger; the origin of the Hardanger fiddle, violin from 1651 in the Bergen Museum, made by Isak Botnen from Hardanger, the deck (top) was arched to where you could look through one f-hole and see out the other; now we model on the Strad; the Botnen fiddle design was simpler, but with decoration; Roheim discusses his family's history, with place and personal names that include Haugen, Helland, and others.

Medium

  • 7-inch reel

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1981/005: AFS 20359
  • MBRS shelflist: RXA 0845
  • Field project identifier: MT9-CF-R2

Source Collection

  • Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

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However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, Ron Walcott, Eleanor Sreb, and Anund Roheim. Anund Roheim interview and Hardanger fiddle performances at the Library of Congress, part 2. Washington, DC, September 6, 1979. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20359/.

APA citation style:

Fleischhauer, C., Walcott, R., Sreb, E. & Roheim, A. (1979) Anund Roheim interview and Hardanger fiddle performances at the Library of Congress, part 2. Washington, DC, September 6. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20359/.

MLA citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, et al. Anund Roheim interview and Hardanger fiddle performances at the Library of Congress, part 2. Washington, DC, September 6, 1979. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20359/>.