Read the article here.

My Motive:

I picked this up primarily interested in Norse instruments. As far as singing goes, I would say my priorities were if/how instrumentation may have accompanied it and/or poetry. There were some mentions of music performed by warriors (i.e., banging on and even biting shields), but I did not dwell on such parts for lack of interest in “proper Viking” stuff. Farmers playing horns to herd their cattle and sheep, though? Sign me up!

Below you’ll find my summary, the quotes I pulled out (bolded parts are my own emphasis), some stream-of-conscious thoughts I had while reading, areas I want to explore further in the future, and some related reading to consider.

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Summary:

This article offers an overview of Viking-Age music by examining the archaeological record for native instruments, consulting non-native sources written by travelers or foreign rulers, comparing that information for native sources (i.e. sagas and poetry), and finally contextualizing all of that in what we know about medieval music theory and methods (as well as modern traditions that may be considered as the inheritors or descendants of older traditions). In conclusion, the author argues that Viking-Age music, while difficult to reconstruct, is still a valuable part of Norse studies and should therefore be incorporated into discussions more often.

Quotes:

Introduction:

• “Poetry was the artistic medium of choice for the Norse people, often being recited aloud to an audience, and thereby being a performing art. Oral poetry has a cadence and rhythm of its own that is not unlike music, and the incorporation of music into another art form may have relegated it to the sidelines. This non-primary status of music in Viking Age Scandinavian culture is reflected by the fact that, unlike in many societies, the Norse people did not have a designated deity for music.” (2)
  • This makes me want to look more deeply into how poetry was performed (which I admittedly haven’t done much). I don’t expect it to have been sung, per se, but I should refresh myself as to how often instruments may have accompanied performance? Do we need to think differently here?
• “It is thus understandable that the combination of ambiguity and lack of abundant materials on music, in contrast to the relative plethora of materials for poetry, has led to a proliferation of scholarship on Old Norse poetry, with far less attention being paid to Old Norse music.” (2)
• “For all the mentions of singing, chanting, and music in Old Norse literature, the archaeological record offers less support. Nevertheless, the variety of instruments found in archaeology do illuminate a few tantalizing hints. In general, the instruments that have been found in excavations can be categorized into wind, string, and percussion instruments.” (4)

Wind Instruments:

• “By far the most common type of instruments that have been excavated is wind instruments.” (4)
• “In contrast to Bronze Age lurs, those of the Viking Age (Anglo-centric dates: 793–1066 CE) and the High Middle Ages (c. 1001–1300 CE) are largely composed of wood, particularly birch (see fig. 2). The earliest written mentions of lur horns are in the Icelandic sagas, where they are said to have had military functions, being used in battles to marshal troops and to intimidate opponents. These wooden lurs are straight in shape, and aside from times of war, were used for mundane purposes such as shepherding and signaling cattle.” (6)
  • I’d like to explore more examples of these lurs being used for the more mundane tasks. Do any sagas mention them?
• “Various types of recorders carved from cow horn have been found. An excavation in Västerby, Sweden, has recovered one such instrument. The Västerby recorder has a mouthpiece at the small end of the horn, and has four small finger holes (see fig. 3).” (8)
• “Bone flutes have been found throughout Scandinavia, variously dating from the 800s to the 1200s CE. Typically carved from the bones of cows, deer, large birds, or branches of the easily hollowed elder tree, these flutes range from a simple whistle to a longer flute with multiple finger holes. […] They are quite short in length, usually having around three finger holes, but may have become longer and more elaborate over time.” (9)

Stringed Instruments:

• “There are several string instruments that are featured in Norse literature. Of these, the harp and the lyre are undoubtedly the most ubiquitous, indicating their solid presence in Norse culture. However, despite this fact, few have survived in the archaeological record.” (11)
• “Although the Sutton Hoo instrument is Anglo-Saxon, its shape matches that of other lyres that were outside England and in continental Europe at the time.” (11)
• “Most lyres that have survived are from later periods, such as the Kravik lyre, dating to the 13 th century.” (11)
• “Though most of the instruments themselves may not have survived, there are quite a few depictions of harps and lyres on manuscripts (see fig. 8) and from other archaeological sources. The harp is the most frequently depicted instrument in stone carvings, almost all of which depict the famous scene from Vǫlsunga saga where Gunnar tames the snakes in the snake pit.” (12)
• “Both the fiðla (fiddle) and the gigje were most certainly foreign imports, and not indigenous to Scandinavia. Unfortunately, it is not known what the gigje looked like, as there are none that have been discovered from the Viking Age period. It has been speculated that a fiddle had a straighter back (much like the modern violin) while a gigje had a domed back (like the Neapolitan or round-backed mandolin), but it is impossible to know for certain. Although no fiddles from the Viking Age have been found…” (13)
• “Finland has a rich musical heritage, including its famous string instrument, the kantele (Sami: harppu)–a plucked string instrument belonging to the zither category. However, there is little evidence to suggest that the Germanic Scandinavians played such an instrument.” (14)
  • I can’t help but find this interesting since there was a fair amount of interaction between these groups, including mixed settlements.

Percussion Instruments:

• “Archaeological excavations of the Oseberg ship in Norway have found five rattles buried among the many artifacts. Several theories exist as to their purpose: they may have been items used during religious rituals, used as sleigh “bells”, or simply played as musical instruments.” (15)
  • Alight, this is a big sub-point, so I’m making a mental note to return to this on its own.
• “Norse people during the Viking Age almost certainly knew of the instrument…it appears quite strange that there have been no drums found belonging to the Germanic Scandinavians. There is some evidence to suggest that Vikings may have used their shields as drum substitutes during certain rituals, as is indicated in Ibn Fadlan’s account.” (16)

External Sources:

• “Thus, given this assumption, [Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub at-Tartushi’s] description of the music at Hedeby to have been the ugliest he had ever heard is not just an unfortunate opinion, but is also revealing, as it suggests that it was unlike any he had ever come across before in the very cosmopolitan cities of Iberia.” (20)
• “This Scandinavian style of singing was, in fact, probably closer to throat-singing, or what western listeners might associate with Saami or Native American chanting, rather than the melodic type of singing that is more commonly heard today.” (21)
• “According to Priscus, at Attila’s feast were two skalds who recited the exploits of those who were present. Their songs were apparently so moving that listeners burst into tears.” (22)
  • A case where skalds and song are together. This begs the question as to how much instrumentation may have accompanied poetry?
• “Although Tacitus writes in the interpretatio romana that was common for Romans in his time…the heroic subject matter of the singing is clear. Also interesting is his mention of the Germanic people’s practice of putting shields around their mouths to amplify their voices. That the Scandinavian Vikings and Rus’ used their shields to produce sound is also attested to in later writings such as those of Abbo of St. Germain and Ibn Fadlān.” (25)
  • As I said, I’m personally not interested in warrior culture, but I do find the pervasiveness of this interesting. Please also note that this quote refers to pre-Viking Age peoples.
• “…singing of their ancestors appears to have been a common theme throughout Germania. In the 6th century, the Roman bureaucrat Jordanes mentions music of the Gothic tribe several times in his well-known work, De origine actibusque Getarum, or Getica (c. 551 CE).” (26)
• “[Adam of Bremen] tells of how the heathens sung many “obscene” songs during ceremonies in his description of a heathen temple at Uppsala, Sweden.” (28)
• “In Gesta Danorum, Saxo writes that ringing, jingling objects called crepitacula (some type of bell or rattle) accompanied fertility rites in Uppsala during heathen times.” (28)
• “Saxo also writes at length of an incident wherein a lyre-player who played for King Erik Ejegod induces madness in the latter.” (29)
  • As alluded by the author, this is a unique case and may therefore be seen more as literary weaving aimed at sowing moral messages into the narrative.
• “In general, Arabic accounts contemporary to the Viking Age are about Scandinavians living in their own settlements, exemplified by Ibn Fadlān and at-Tartushi writing as travelers. This increased the likelihood of them encountering non-military songs, and there is far greater chance that some of the “ugly” songs that at-Tartushi had heard were domestic in nature, as he was observing regular people in Hedeby living everyday life; it would be strange indeed if the majority of songs he had heard at a trading city were war songs.” (30)

Old Norse Sources:

• “Of all the genres, the sagas are the most abundant with references to music, the most common type of which involves singing.” (32)
• “Ironically, although the use of runic script in Scandinavia pre-dates the use of the Latin alphabet, the one famous example of runes being used to notate music is from circa 1300. Aptly named Codex Runicus, the entire codex is written in medieval futhark, where each rune corresponds to a letter of the Latin alphabet. The Codex Runicus mostly concerns Danish Scanian Law (Skånske lov) and early Danish history. Interestingly, the last leaf of this manuscript contains a verse with musical notations. […] They are very likely the opening two lines to a medieval ballad. A few notes, or neumes, as they are called in medieval musical notation, continue after the runes.” (33-34)

Eddic Poetry:

• “…in Vǫluspá, the shepherd Eggþér is said to sit on a mound and happily play his harp at the beginning of Ragnarök” (34)
• “While it does not contain mentions of instruments, Hávamál also has various cryptic allusions to singing. In it, Óðinn is described as knowing galdr––a word close in meaning to the English “enchantment.” Both words indicate a specific type of magic, but also share an etymological root with a verb closely associated with singing: gala, “to chant” or “to sing” in galdr, and obviously chant in enchantment.” (35)
• “Two of the heroic poems within The Poetic Edda, Atlamál and Atlakviða, also include mentions of music, i.e. Gunnar playing harp with his toes. This subject, which is also featured in the Vǫlsunga saga, is a common one throughout the Norse world during the Viking Ages and succeeding Middle Ages. The heroic poem Oddrúnargrátur likewise mentions harp-playing and furthermore includes a depiction of sorcerous singing.” (35)
• “According to [Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson’s] theory, Grottasǫngr is the mill song of two girls ordered to produce wealth for the king by grinding a magic stone. […] If this is true, then it would imply that working songs, the majority of which belong to oral tradition and many of which are believed to have been lost, could have survived in some form within the existing written records.” (35-6)
  • This may be an area worth exploring further? I don’t expect much, but I like the sound of working songs.

Saga Literature:

• “[Vǫlsunga saga] illustrates a scene with a harp that became a popular source of artistic depiction around the time of the Viking Ages (see fig 12). One of the heroes of the saga, Gunnar, is thrown into a snake pit, where he plays a harp with his feet to charm the snakes. […] The image of Gunnar strumming a harp with his toes is a recurrent one, appearing in many decorative carvings.” (37)
• “Bósa saga ok Herrauðs is remarkable not only for actually describing a harp in detail (a regrettably rare and precious occurrence) but also for mentioning what songs were played on it.” (37)
  • Note to self: read this saga and dive deeper. Personally, though, I would attribute this more to the time the saga was written (which was considerably later than the viking Age). The article’s author mentions this (see below).
• “That music was played as entertainment may seem obvious for us today, but as skalds and poetry were clearly held in higher esteem than were musicians before the later Middle Ages, and as there are relatively so few descriptions of music in general, this account is valuable for confirming the existence of commonly known “popular music” in early Germanic culture. Of course, Bósa saga ok Herrauðs was written centuries after the mythic time with which it is concerned, but it does not seem unreasonable that there were musical entertainment within the drinking halls of times long past.” (38)
  • I’d still like more on this lack of prestige for musicians in Norse society. I’d also like to see more about whether or not Norse society so strongly separated the two (poets vs musicians). The author has mentioned it a few times now, but (unless I missed something) I have not seen enough specific examples to be satisfied. Will probably explore this more myself later.
• “Ynglinga saga credits Óðinn as the one who brought singing to Scandinavia. […] It also mentions a king, Hugleikr, as having had many instrumentalists at his court, among them harpists, fiddlers, and other string players… […] While Óðinn is commonly described as the god of poetry, it is not often that he is said to have introduced Scandinavians with the art of song, and the euhemeral Ynglinga saga is notable in this regard.” (39)
  • Okay, but does this not lead us to wonder if poetry and music were not of the same vein in Norse thought? Perhaps no such distinction should be made.
• “[Norna-Gests þáttr] mentions harp playing twice: the first when the king asks Gestr whether he had any skills, to which the latter answers, […] (“He said he plays the harp or recites sagas, so that people are pleased.”).” (39)
  • Reciting sagas! Okay, so this is more to my point. Would this not have been an evolution of the older skaldic tradition? I’ve read some material about saga performance. I don’t see why that tradition would not have been rooted in the performance of skaldic poetry. Explore this later.
• “In the section detailing his exploits, King Haraldr harðráði claims to have mastered harp-playing and poetry…” (40) Alas, I am going to sound like a broken record, but this is another case of poetry and music together.
• “In Orkneyinga saga, Earl Rögnvaldr Kali Kolsson likewise claims to have mastered music and verse, and gives a near identical boast to that of Haraldr harðráði.” (40)
• “…instrument players and entertainers themselves seem to have been regarded in a low light. In Saga Sverris konungs, the Icelandic skald Máni has a competition with two jesters whose entertainment included various instrumental playing and low buffoonery. Máni’s victory symbolizes skaldic poetry’s place as having a higher rank than instrumental playing in West Norse society at the time.” (41)
  • While a good observation, I do have to wonder if it was the music that made the others less respectable. Was it not the mode of their performance? I’m not sure we can confidently say that it was the performance of music that degraded the others’ reputation, but perhaps the manner of their music?
• “Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson argues that [Darraðarljóð in Brennu-Njáls saga] might in fact be the remnants of an old weaving song” (41)
• “Eíriks saga rauða has the famous scene where Guðriður Þorbjarnardóttir helped a völva by singing the appropriate chant…” (41)
• “Egils saga makes it apparent that people composed love-songs as well, as Aulvir does for his sweetheart, Solveig.” (42)
• “In other occasions, music was played simply for personal entertainment, as is the case in Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss, where Helga plays harp to herself all night in her bed.” (43) I like this!
• “In Viglundar saga, Earl Eiríkur entertains King Haraldur with singing and various instruments…” (43)
• “Morkinskinna (written in Iceland c. 1220 and preserved in a manuscript from c. 1275) contains such a short tale called Hreiðars þáttr heimska, and from this we can gather that horns were used to signal meetings and ship launches.” (43)
  • I always have to wonder, though, that when a character has to explain what something means (in the case the horn calls) it suggests (sometimes) that the audience was not actually familiar with that practice and therefore may not have been common? Or perhaps Icelanders remembered this but no longer did it themselves? Worth considering.

Reconstructing Viking-Age Music

• “There are several works of music theory dating to the Viking Ages that detail how instruments were tuned in continental Europe, but it is uncertain as to what extent this information is applicable to Germanic music.” (46)
• “The earliest recorded Scandinavian music is the melody from Codex Runicus (see ch. 4). This melody is the basis of the popular Danish song “Drømte mig en drøm i nat” (see fig. 14), which has many variations, but the arrangers of this tune have taken ample liberties with the music written in the manuscript, and the most well-known versions of this song are not accurate transcriptions of the manuscript.” (46)
• “Unlike in modern scores, medieval music notation does not have a time signature, meaning that the score does not indicate precise rhythm. What it does indicate are the pitches and sequence of the notes (i.e. the melody), depending on the clef.” (47)
• “Despite having changed from early medieval times, certain styles of music may give glimpses into late Viking Age Scandinavian music. One such style is a form of singing called gymel. A gymel is a type of polyphonic vocal music wherein a vocal part––usually the upper voice––is divided into two parts of equal range, with each part singing independently until they both converge in unison at the end of the piece.” (48)
• “Ballads are stories told through song, and “Margit Hjukse” tells the tragic tale of a young maiden who was abducted by and forced to wed the “Bergekongen” (mountain king). Its simple melody, mythological subject matter, and refrain structure of the lyrics is strongly evocative of medieval styles, making it quite probable that it is old, perhaps even stemming from motifs in medieval ballads.” (48)
• “…folk music is typically conservative by nature, and can preserve extremely old melodies for a remarkably long time.” (48)
• “Methods of oral transmission often produce variations of the original, and is particularly vulnerable to becoming lost. As the method of working that a song is tied to is discontinued, the songs may also become extinct.” (49)
  • An important point for all things!
• “Among known recorded Icelandic melodies include five set to Old Norse texts, recorded in Jean-Baptiste de la Borde’s 1780 book, Essai sur la Musique Ancienne et Moderne. […] While this is slightly dubious, the subject matters of these songs are undeniably intriguing. Among the five songs are two that are set to poems from the Poetic Edda, and another that is also a poem.” (49-50)
• “Once again, we turn to Icelandic musical traditions in the hopes of catching a glimpse into its pre-Christian past. Two traditions that may be so linked are the Icelandic rímur and tvísöngur. Rímur is a form of sung oral poetry, with the earliest written poems harkening back to the 14th century.” (53)
• “Yet despite the temptation to regard rímur or tvísöngur as evidence of some pure, unbroken traditions, this would be as foolhardy as thinking that the modern Icelandic Alþingi has remained completely unchanged since its inception in 930 CE. 99 It is necessary to look to any of these surviving traditions for inspirational purposes, and not as accurate historical sources.” (54)
• “Put more bluntly, it is impossible to know exactly how the music of the Germanic peoples during the Viking Age sounded without a time machine. It is both the beauty and the depressing truth of music that no words will ever do justice to capture it; a thousand eloquently written accounts will pale in usefulness to a single sheet of music that has notated the score.” (54)
• “…reconstruction via elimination. Given what we know about the instruments and accounts, it is possible to do a sort of reverse engineering by eliminating what it was not.” (55)
• “Pulling together information from archaeology, contemporary and later literary sources, and various musical styles, the picture of Viking Age music begins to show itself. […] …undoubtedly had significant regional and local variations. Their repertoire included solo voice, a cappella, or vocals accompanied with string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. Most often, string instruments were usually played indoors at drinking halls, accompanying songs of praise or those that told a story.” (55-6)
  • I’ve left out the lines about religious chanting and battle cries.
• “From Old Norse literary sources and later medieval musical styles, we learn the suspected contents of these songs, and can gather that there were likely different genres of music. There were almost certainly songs of praise for chiefs, warriors, and fallen heroes; songs about epics like the story of the Vǫlsunga saga; love songs; and likely domestic songs in the likeness of Grottaǫngr, Darraðarljóð-style weaving songs, or lullabies.” (56)
  • Hence a close relationship with poetic performance?

Conclusion

• “…music is ephemeral in nature. Music of the Viking Age Scandinavians has the added complication of not having had any standardized system of music notation, nor a writing culture with which they might have described their own music. We must then rely on biased descriptions from other peoples for primary sources.” (59)
• “…the majority of musical instruments that we may have been able to use to gain a better idea of early Scandinavian music have been destroyed, lost, or in most cases, decayed.” (59)
• “…music of the heathen Scandinavian peoples have been actively suppressed and destroyed by the Church.” (59)
  • This is not to say that such music was erased, but rather forced to adapt, change, or take to the shadows (so to speak).
• “…it should be understood that there were multiple musical styles, such as military, religious, praise, popular, and domestic music, with likely some crossover between similar genres.” (60)
• “The question is not whether it is possible or impossible to study Vikings Age Scandinavian music, but rather how to study it. The Vikings, we may confidently say, had plenty of music.” (60)

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Further Reading to Consider:

• Britt-Mari Näsström, “Magical Music in Old Norse Literature” (2014)
• Cajsa S. Lund, “People and Their Soundscape in Viking-Age Scandinavia” (2010)
• Ellen Pilsworth, “A Reassessment of the Performance of Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon Poetry, Considering the Role of Music and Possible Performance Contexts” (2014)