A closed $k$-form is called *intrinsically harmonic* if there is some Riemannian metric with respect to which it is harmonic. E. Calabi

<cite authors="Calabi, Eugenio">_Calabi, Eugenio_, An intrinsic characterization of harmonic one-forms, Global Analysis, Papers in Honor of K. Kodaira 101-117 (1969). [ZBL0194.24701](https://zbmath.org/?q=an:0194.24701).</cite>

showed that a one-form having non-degenerate zeros on a compact manifold without boundary is intrinsically harmonic if and only if it satisfies a property called *transitivity*. The precise statement and proof can be found in chapter 9 of M. Farber's book "Topology of closed one-forms". In what comes I am following Farber. That a closed one-form $\omega$ have non-degenerate zeros means that near each zero it can be written in the form $\omega = df$ with $f$ a Morse function. For such a one-form, the additional assumption of harmonicity means that the Morse index of a zero cannot be $0$ or $n$ (write $\omega = df$ near the zero; because $\omega$ is co-closed, $f$ is harmonic, so by the maximum principle cannot have a max or min at the zero). That $\omega$ be *transitive* means that for any point $p$ of $M$ which is not a zero of $\omega$ there is a smooth $\omega$-positive loop $\gamma: [0, 1] \to M$; that is, $\gamma(0) = p = \gamma(1)$, and $\omega(\dot{\gamma}(t)) > 0$ for $t \in [0, 1]$. Then Calabi's theorem states that a closed one-form with non-degenerate zeros is intrinsically harmonic if and only if it is transitive. 
Near a non-degenerate index $0$ zero of a closed one-form the one-form can be written in the form $\delta_{ij}x^{i}dx^{j}$, for which it can be checked there are no positive loops beginning sufficiently near the origin.

(If one can handle $k$-forms then by Hodge duality one expects to be able to get somewhere with $(n-k)$-forms. The intrinsic harmonicity of $(n-1)$-forms was characterized in terms of transitivity in the thesis of Ko Honda, available on his web page).

<cite authors="Volkov, Evgeny">_Volkov, Evgeny_, [**Characterization of intrinsically harmonic forms**](http://dx.doi.org/10.1112/jtopol/jtn014), J. Topol. 1, No. 3, 643-650 (2008). [ZBL1148.57036](https://zbmath.org/?q=an:1148.57036).</cite> 

weakens the non-degeneracy condition, replacing it with the condition that the closed one-form be *locally intrinsically harmonic* - that is, the restriction of the form to a suitable open neighborhood of its zero set is intrinsically harmonic.

As far as I know, for higher degree forms nothing much is known at all, though for some special cases, like $2$-forms on $4$-manifolds, something more has been said. One imagines that with further assumptions on the form, perhaps more can be said - for example a symplectic form is always intrinsically harmonic (use the metric determined by a compatible almost complex structure). On the other hand, Volkov's paper exhibits a closed $2$-form of rank $2$ on a $4$-manifold which is transitive but not intrinsically harmonic.