Hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle)Patrisa fell in love with the hardingfele on the set of Lilyhammer, and commissioned Bevan Wulffenstejn to craft a unique instrument for her. The process began with selecting the woods that were carved into the body and neck. Next came sculpting and tuning the top and bottom plates and gluing together. The lion-headed scroll was inspired by the Piraeus Lion statue in Venice. Bevan also created a beautiful rosing design that was inked on the body of the instrument. The entire process, from design to completion, took eight months.
Patrisa is composing original tunes for hardingfele, and also employing its unique sounds to emulate the bandoneon in her string quartet arrangements. |
The hardingfele, or hardanger fiddle, is a member of the violin family. The instrument appears to be a richly decorated violin, but that is where the similarities end.
It has a set of four upper strings tuned in fourths, and five lower sympathetic strings, to be tuned as dominant or diminished chords to the upper, thus changing the key signature. It has a flat bridge which enables double stops easily, however this makes it more difficult to play on one string alone. The neck and fingerboard are both shorter and wider than those of a violin, making shifting challenging.
You can hear the sound of the hardingfele in movie soundtracks such as Return of the King (Rohan Theme) and How to Train Your Dragon.
It has a set of four upper strings tuned in fourths, and five lower sympathetic strings, to be tuned as dominant or diminished chords to the upper, thus changing the key signature. It has a flat bridge which enables double stops easily, however this makes it more difficult to play on one string alone. The neck and fingerboard are both shorter and wider than those of a violin, making shifting challenging.
You can hear the sound of the hardingfele in movie soundtracks such as Return of the King (Rohan Theme) and How to Train Your Dragon.