Moraharpa

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The moraharpa is one of the oldest surviving examples of a nyckelharpa. It has an hourglass shape, and looks very much like the illustration of a nyckelharpa in Michael Praetorius's Syntagma Musicum of 1614-20 (where it is called Schlüssel Fiddel). It has a straight bridge, one melody string, two drone strings, and one row of keys. The name derives from its purported place of origin, the town of Mora in Dalarna, Sweden. It is currently displayed in the Zorn Museum in Mora. The instrument has an inscription on the back with the date 1526, but it is unlikely to have been made that early. A Swedish scholar, Per-Ulf Allmo, has suggested that the instrument and another one in the same style probably were built in Särna, northern Dalarna around 1680, with Praetorius as inspiration, and with no close affinity with the nyckelharpa tradition in northern Uppland, the stronghold of the instrument.

A number of modern reproductions of the original moraharpa have been made, and the name 'moraharpa,' in addition to referring to a single, specific instrument, has come to mean a type of nyckelharpa similar in design to the original moraharpa. The best-known modern moraharpa player is probably Anders Norudde, of the group Hedningarna.