Apart from various capriccios, humoresques, intermezzi and other piano piece in the style of the Norwegian (another Viking race) Edvard Grieg (qv), he wrote chroruses and, in 1930, a cantata for the 1000th anniversary of the Althing (Modern Icelandic Alþingi; Old Norse Alþing), the national parliament: literally, the “all-thing”, of Iceland. Further he compiled choral compositions by others, and wrote his 2-part autobiography in 1963–64, a decade before his death.
Biography
After organ studies in Germany (1913–18 with Straube at the Leipzig conservatory) and Paris (1925 with Joseph Bonnet) he returned to his native island. He became in 1938 organist of Reykjavík cathedral (till 1968), and in 1930 was appointed director of both the Reykjavík conservatory (till 1957) and the Icelandic Radio (till 1959).
Contribution based on N. Slonimsky’s “The Concise Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians”, 8th edition, New York, Schirmer Books, 1994.
