Sigvaldi Kaldalóns

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Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (born January 13, 1881 in Reykjavík as Sigvaldi Stefánsson ; † July 28, 1946 there ) was an Icelandic composer and doctor .

life and work

Sigvaldi was born in Reykjavík as the eldest child of a bricklayer and a midwife. He had three brothers, including the singer Eggert Stefánsson , who served the Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness as a model for the main character in his novel The Fish Concert . In 1908 Sigvaldi earned a degree in medicine from what was then the Icelandic Medical School ( Læknaskólinn ), which became part of the University of Iceland in 1911 . He continued his education in Copenhagen , where he came into contact with European music and also met his future wife, the nurse Karen Margrethe Mengel Thomsen.

After his return to Iceland, Sigvaldi lived with his wife from 1910 to 1921 on the Ármúli farm near the Kaldalón Bay in the Westfjords , where he worked as a district doctor. During this time he began to work as a composer, especially of songs . His brother Eggert Stefánsson, who was studying singing abroad, recognized Sigvaldi's talent during a visit and encouraged him to continue. In 1913 the brothers held the first public concerts in Ísafjörður with songs by Sigvaldi, who now called himself Kaldalóns after the area where he lived . This also included the equestrian song Á Sprengisandi based on a text by Grímur Thomsen , which has achieved the status of a folk song in Iceland . Other well-known songs by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns are Suðurnesjamenn and Ísland ögrum skorið .

He never fully recovered from typhoid fever in 1917. Sigvaldi Kaldalóns continued to work as a doctor in various Icelandic districts, from 1929 in Grindavík until he moved to Reykjavík in 1945, where he died in 1946.

Publications (selection)

  • Söngvasafn Kaldalóns . Sigurður Þórðarson, Reykjavík 1916.
  • Söngvar Kaldalóns . Reykjavík 1923–1938

literature

  • Ragnar Ásgeirsson: Sigvaldi Kaldalóns, tónskáld . In: Morgunblaðið . No. 174 , August 7, 1946, p. 7 ( online at timarit.is ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ragnar Ásgeirsson: Sigvaldi Kaldalóns, tónskáld . In: Morgunblaðið . No. 174 , August 7, 1946, p. 7 ( online at timarit.is ).
  2. ^ Halldór Guðmundsson: Halldór Laxness. A biography . btb, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-442-73918-9 , p. 415 .
Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .
personal data
SURNAME Sigvaldi Kaldalóns
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sigvaldi Stefánsson (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Icelandic composer and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Reykjavík
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1946
Place of death Reykjavík