Hardanger fele

Hardanger fele (Nor.: Hardanger fiddle), Nor. folk violin with 4 melody strings and 4 sympathetic strings, smaller than the ordinary violin—only some 60 cm. (24 in.) long—with short neck, flatter bridge, and more highly arched belly. The melody strings are tuned A D A E, the sympathetic ones D E F♯ A. According to tradition, the Hardanger fele was invented by a schoolteacher of Hardanger, ca. 1670, but was improved to its present condition by Isak Nielsen Botner (d. ca. 1780) (91). Hammerich…