Black Fiddle Lecture with Paul Sveinall and Performance with Nina Byttingsmyr

Learn about the “Black Fiddle” with Paul Sveinall before a performance on it by Nina Byttingsmyr.

Søren Fleskåsen, called Reve-Søren, was a well-known fiddler from Vest-Agder, Norway. He made a fiddle but dyed it a dark color to disguise its inferior quality. He used it as a loaner instrument, mostly to fiddlers who were going to play outdoors at weddings. 

From the outset, every time the fiddle was played things got out of hand. Fights began and sometimes the fiddler would be attacked! It didn’t take long for people to be convinced that the fiddle had an evil spirit. They called it “Svartefela” or the Black Fiddle.  

Around 1851, the fiddle disappeared. Norwegian musicians and historians searched for this fiddle for many decades. Eventually it was uncovered in the United States and came to Donald Roisland and his wife Dorothy. Dorothy and Paul Sveinall, who is a traditional fiddler from Vest-Agder, had it evaluated and painstakingly restored by a master craftsman in Grimstad, Norway, in 2008. 

Come and find out the full story of this amazing fiddle and hear it played by Norwegian fiddler Nina Byttingsmyr. Since it has been restored, there have been no incidents!

The Museum Store will be open until 7:00 p.m.

This event is presented in connection with the exhibit Hand Me Down the Fiddle: Norwegian Fiddlers, Fiddles, and Fiddle Tunes in the Upper Midwest open at Vesterheim August 15, 2024 – May 18, 2025. The “Black Fiddle” will be in the exhibit on loan from Dorothy Roisland.

The exhibition and events are supported by a Scandinavian Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions in the Upper Midwest grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) and a generous gift to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from Carol Birkland and Tom Woxland, and Peter Dahlen and Mary S. Carlsen.