Myllarguten

Torgeir Augundsson (1801 – 21 November 1872), better known as Myllarguten (meaning the Millerboy), is arguably the most acknowledged Norwegian folk musician to this day, and by far the most legendary.

One day the father returned early from work and heard someone inside playing, and asked astonished who the player was.

Amongst his teachers were the fiddlers Knut Lurås from Tinn, Jon Kjos from Åmotsdal, Mattis Flathus from Sauherad and Øystein Langedrag from Bø.

The other he held in esteem, was Håvard Gibøen, regarded as his traditional counterpart in folk music from Telemark.

He eventually got married, with Ingebjørg Eddandshaugen from Vinje, and had ten children by her, of whom at least four sons became fiddlers themselves, and through them, the music from Torgeir has been passed on down to this day in Telemark.

Myllarguten was a difficult person, an imaginative musical artist, but painstakingly slow in all other tasks than playing.

It is reported that Myllarguten, in spite of his talent, seldom earned enough to feed and clothe his wife and children.

Bull wrote down some of the tunes he heard, and borrowed Myllarguten's fiddle, and in turn played classical music for the fiddler.

The concert became a commercial success, and the hall was packed with 1500 excited listeners, among them some from Telemark, who had got free tickets.

The known author Aasmund Olavsson Vinje decided not to go, afraid that the concert might go awry for the sensible fiddler, and would not be held responsible as a man from the same district, which he was.

The concerts gave him money to raise a farm in Rauland, and the more experienced farmer Rikard Aslaksson Berge helped him in this.

His funeral was timid, consisting of one single boat and no flowers (it was custom to travel to the church by water, crossing the lake Totak.

The meeting with Ole Bull had a lasting impact on his style, and he began to explore the limits of his instrument in new and more advanced ways.

In 1853, Carl Schart, an organist in Bergen, transcribed five of Myllarguten's tunes, and those came later into print [1][permanent dead link‍].

Most of the sources for Myllarguten's life were written down from living memory, accounted by people who had met the fiddler, and his close relatives.

He had first-hand information, and collected material for twelve years, from 1896 to 1908, meeting many older people who remembered Myllarguten.

Concerning the fiddler's childhood: Told by Gunnhild Flatastøyl, daughter-in-law, Ingebjørg Pilodden from Sauherad, and Gregar Torgeirsson.