| "Storhurven" (Big Hurv), "Litj-/Vetlhurven" (Little Hurv) or simply "Hurven" (also other 'hurv' combinations) are tune names found in a number of traditions in areas of Hedmark, Sør-Trøndelag, Jämtland, Dalarna and Värmland on either side of the Norwegian-Swedish border.
Some traditions feature two clearly separate (somewhat related) tunes, while in other localities only one 'hurv' is mentioned, at any rate nowadays. Some performers and connoisseurs entertain vague notions that a particular tune '…must be a hurv' (based on similarity), or that it contains a 'strain in the hurv mould' and can thereby readily be classified as a 'hurv'.
This interesting and diverse material inspired the Swedish scholar Märta Ramsten to write a dissertation on "THE HURV, a polska and its environment" (1971), in collaboration with Sven Nyhus (Norsk Folkemusikksamling, i.e. Norwegian Collection of Folk Music).
Many recordings in 1968 and 1969, on both sides of the border (some linked to the project, some in the course of general collecting), resulted in an extensive and valuable sound material of immense importance as a fundament for the present volume on the fiddle music of Hedmark (Vol. 4).
Both the work done and its presentation indicate that the principal aim was to document the fiddle tunes as such (i.e. those which could be connected with 'hurv' tunes). Naming the tunes appears to have been less important.
On being asked about "Storhurven", "Litjhurven" or "Hurven", some interviewees reply without hesitation, other are in doubt; some have heard of 'hurv' tunes from other fiddlers, or on the radio (generally Røros forms), while some have never heard such a name at all.
It turns out that the tunes in question are far more widespread than the 'hurv' names. Hence when a tune of the type in question is played, it happens that the interviewers bring up a 'hurv' name, and sometimes register the tune under that name, without clear-cut documentation that the tune name has been in use in the performer's tradition and district.
Tunes containing the term 'hurv'
In this volume the names "Storhurven" and "Litj-/Vetlhurven" are on occasion applied to variants of S87-90.
S87, called "Storhurven", played by Jakob Elgåen of Elgå in Engerdal, has one strain in common with 'ordinary' forms of "Storhurven" (see S88). Elgåen's second strain is clearly in another mould. Consequently it is classified here as a separate tune, but placed alongside S88 (one strain in common). Elgåen was himself certain of his use of the name, and knew of other forms of "Storhurven" (S88), for example from Røros.
S88, with or without a name ("Storhurven" is one of many names, see below), is particularly well documented on both sides of the border; in Hedmark through the material contained in this volume and in Sandvik's "Østerdalsmusikken" (no. 25, 38 a-d and 52). All told, this show occurrences of the tune in Åsnes, Våler, Elverum, Åmot, Trysil, Engerdal and Tolga (and Särna).
It is also documented in Sør-Trøndelag by Haugen/Reitan and Nyhus, and on the Swedish side in "Svenska Låtar", Dalarna og Värmland, and in Ramsten and Nyhus' work: "THE HURV, a polska and its environment"
The tune is also known from Gudbrandsdalen (see Vol. 1 S5-6, featuring forms from Sør-Fon, Vågå, Lom and Skjåk). Several tunes in Vol. 3, Nordfjord, are closely related to it, e.g. S15, and Per Bolstad has recorded a nameless variant from Sunnmøre (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation 748 k11).
S89, called "Vetlhurven", has only been recorded by Marius Trøen and his son Jostein - it is not closely related in terms of musical content to any other registered "hurv".
S90, with forms from northern Trysil and southern and central Engerdal, is linked by some to the name "Litjhurven" today. The question is whether this has roots in the tradition (see below). The uniform forms of S90 have one strain in common with the "Litjhurven" we know from Sør-Trøndelag (and Särna); the second strain is quite distinct and is classified as a separate tune here.
The same tune (S90) exists in two early transcriptions from Rendalen. Both bear references to Sundet/Elvdalenß which today lies in Engerdal (see comm. S90).
"Litjhurven", in the form in which it is known from Trøndelag and Särna, has no registered variant in the Hedmark material, but the first strain is, as mentioned, the same as S90, and the second strain is related to S26 (Trondsgård).
Distribution of "hurv" names and their use
The distribution of the names "Storhurven", "Litl-/Litj-/Lillehurven" and other 'hurv' names far from corresponds with the spread of the tunes to which they are linked, as documented on the recordings of the Norwegian Collection of Folk Music. Some 'hurv' registrations fail to tally with the performer's own presentation on the recording; moreover, the influence of radio, the activity of fiddler-groups, courses etc., must have given the 'hurv' names wider distribution in recent times.
(Sandvik refers to Ivar Åsen's explanation of "Hurv": i.e. someone who is agile, reckless. Ottar Andersen's explanation is along similar lines: "something moving quickly, rushing off".)
"Storhurven" ("Grovhurven", "Hurven")
In the Hedmark material (including Sandvik) the name "Storhurven" is used in Elgå in Engerdal in S87, and also - in S88 - in Vingelen, Hodalen, and in Ljørdalen in Trysil.
Johan Elgshøen in Flendalen (Trysil) and Embret Kveen in Engerdal (Td 1153) called S88 "Grovhurven". Hollseter just called it "Hurven" (uncertain), as did Martinus Amundsen in Sørskogbygda, Elverum (Sandvik's Østerdalsmusikken, no. 52, somewhat uncertain, the name may have been added to the manuscripts at a later point).
Spak (Olmorts) Olof Svensson in Särna has his recording of S88 registered as "Särnahurven", while a transcription after Lars Åhs, learned from Halvor Bäckmann (Spaken's "fiddling pal"), Särna, is named "Storhurven" (see S88k).
Haugen/Reitan and Nyhus (Sør-Trøndelag) have two 'hurv' tunes, of which "Storhurven" (corresponding to S88) was familiar to several performers in the border districts of Jämtland, Dalarna and Värmland (Ramsten).
In the strong areas of tradition of central and southern Engerdal, Lund has strangely enough only recorded this tune (S88) as a nameless runnom.
South of these areas, and further away from the border on both sides, the tune has other names, or is nameless.
In western Trysil it (S88) is called "Basrunnomen" (S. Halbakken, after Eivind Petershagen), in Åmot "Haugdølen" (Thingstad), in Våler/Åsnes it is known as "Puken i kjerkjetårnet" (Old Nick in the Church Tower) or "Da Grue-kjerka brann" (When Grue Church burnt), or is nameless.
The variants in Gudbrandsdalen (Vol. 1, S6 and S5) are called "Gråkøillin", "Gamel Mann", "Stor-Tuspen" etc., (see S88, comment on the tune-family).
Einar Nytrøhaug suggests possible use of "Storhurven" in Tynset (Td 1182), but this may be due to 'imports of pols tunes' from the north in the early 1900s - the tune he plays corresponds to "Vetlhurven" (Haugen/Reitan, no. 2).
"Storhurven" is no. 1 in Haugen/Reitan's collections. Reitan lived in Kvikne but probably brought this tune with him from his home community of Ålen - it tallies well with the Glåmos form recorded by Nyhus (no. 77).
Sandvik appends the name "Storhurven" to a tune from Kvikne (Østerdalsmusikken 110, Springleik 350, Stengel Skogstad, Kvikne, transcribed by O.T. Hagen), although this should not be given too much weight. It is a variant of S91 which, while it has one strain of the 'hurv' type, is not registered as a 'hurv' elsewhere. Moreover, a connoisseur of Kvikne music, Jakob Frengstad, had not heard the 'hurv' name (Td 1181).
Neither had Thorvald Trondsgård heard the term 'hurv' in Folldal (and has not recorded the tune), but believed that Eirik Strømmen at Fåset called some tunes by the name of 'hurv', without recalling which ones. Strømmen was a meeting point for fiddlers from many parts, some of them able to read music, so these 'hurv' tunes were not necessarily local.
"Vetlhurven", "Litjhurven"
The Nytrøens, father and son, are alone in applying the name "Vetlhurven" to S89, a tune comprising three strains which, although having some 'phrases' in common with the strain played on the two lower strings in other types of 'hurv' tunes, is otherwise devoid of similarities with them.
Kjølvang tentatively suggests (when asked about 'hurv' tunes) that S90, which he learned from his mother, may be "Vetlhurven". However, the second strain here is not related to other 'hurv' strains. And since his other recording of "Litjhurven" (dated 1976) refers to Hans Granrud/Per Solvang, this clashes with the tune name they must have used, "Gropstrengan", i.e. bottom strings (Sletmoen, Td 1150). The term 'hurv' was unknown to them (see S90a).
John Nysted's two recordings of S90 (not in our selection) are registered both as "Storhurven" after his grandfather Jon Nysted (year 1969), and as "Litjhurven" after Per Solvang (year 1980)! The uncertain use of names may be ascribable to their 'recent' provenance, possibly influenced by the recording situation, or by radio or organised folk-music activities (e.g. by a fiddle-group which made use of the 'hurv' names in the 1970s).
When interviewed, Embret Kveen (Td 1153) was not aware of the name "Litjhurven", although he was familiar with "Grovhurven"; see S88, comment on this tune-family.
Embret Lund was unaware of the tune name in 1969, "…never heard the name Litjhurven" (Td 1146). But he began to use it later on (for S90).
Neither the tune (S90) nor the name "Litjhurven" are to be found in the material Sandvik took down from Elgshøen, which is striking considering that "Grov-hurven", i.e. Deep Hurv, is included, and 'hurv' tunes from several other areas are mentioned. Whenever there were two of them, they were played together.
Based on our material the name "Litjhurven" was not current in early times in northern Trysil and southern and central Engerdal (the runnom/polsk area). The few, uncertain occurrences seem to be due to 'more recent' influence (see above), but from about 1970 onwards "Litjhurven" (and "Storhurven") became current tune names.
This tune (S90) is not a variant of any other 'Lijthurv' either (the first strain could be called a variant of forms from Sør-Trøndelag and Särna; the second strain is 'unknown').
The question is whether this tune (S90) has somewhat randomly been christened "Litjhurven", without clear-cut roots in the local tradition of Trysil/Engerdal.
How many 'hurv' tunes?
How uniform or composite is the 'hurv' material; how many 'hurv' tunes are there?
In order to gain a perspective on the 'hurv' tunes from Hedmark, it is useful to start outside the county, i.e. in Sør-Trøndelag where name usage and tune types appear to be uniform (in available sources).
Haugen/Reitan and Nyhus (Sør-Trøndelag) distinguish in the same way between "Storhurven" and "Litl-/Litjhurven". Spak Olof Svensson in Särna drew a similar distinction between "Särnahurven" and "Lillehurven" which showed close musical similarities with Røros forms - possibly learned from, or influenced by contact with, Ellev Holm? Of these, "Storhurven" corresponds to S88, while "Litjhurven" has one strain in common with S90 (not classified as a variant here).
In other words Elgåen's "Storhurven" (S87) marks itself out (see above), and Nytrøen is alone with his "Vetlhurven" (S89) in this material.
Thus in this 'hurv' area of Hedmark, Sør-Trøndelag, Jämtland, Dalarna and Värmland, the 'hurv' names appear in five different tunes registered by us - with related strains played on the two bottom strings as the surest common feature (the occurrence of the name in Kvikne is omitted).
"Litjhurven" in a form akin to Sør-Trøndelag and Särna has not been documented within Hedmark's boundaries (the Haugen/Reitan forms belong to Sør-Trøndelag).
Hence there are four tunes to which 'hurv' names are attached in Hedmark: the 'ordinary' S88, and Elgåen's form (S87), both called "Storhurven"; moreover, Nytrøen's S89 and Kjølvang's S90 (uncertain, see above) called "Litjhurven".
Strains which could be said to resemble the 'hurv' strain played on the two bottom strings are found in several tunes, for instance S91 (including Folldal), S162 (Vingelen), S34 (Alvdal).
Svenska Låtar no. 689 is called "Gammelhurven", Magnus Engzelius, Särna, after Smed-Jens, Røros. But neither the name nor the tune is documented in our material. |
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