Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson

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Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, portrait by Hans Peter Hansen .

Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson (born June 28, 1847 in Seltjarnarnes , † February 2, 1927 in Copenhagen ) was an Icelandic composer , pianist and music teacher .

Life

Sveinbjörn grew up under seven siblings and showed musical traits from an early age. His father, Higher Regional Court Director Þórður Sveinbjörnsson, died when Sveinbjörn was only nine years old. As a result, he later trained as a pastor in Reykjavík ; a career as a professional musician would have been practically impossible and not lucrative in Iceland at the time. In 1867, in the middle of his apprenticeship as a pastor, which he finally completed successfully in 1868, Sveinbjörn decided, at the encouragement of Johan Svendsen , to study music abroad. In Copenhagen he was a student of Vilhelm Carl Ravn in the subjects of piano and harmony, as well as a member of the choir of Niels Gade's Musikforeningen . Between 1872 and 1873 he took piano lessons from Carl Reinecke in Leipzig .

Soon it verschlug Sveinbjörn in the Scottish Edinburgh , where he taught piano from 1873 and 1919, was active as a pianist and music teacher. In 1874 he composed the later Icelandic national anthem Lofsöngur to the text of the poet Matthías Jochumsson on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the settlement of Iceland. In 1890 Sveinbjörn married the Scottish lady Eleanor, with whom he had two children. In the last years of his life he often moved with his family: to Canada in 1919 , back to his Icelandic homeland in 1922, and finally to Copenhagen in 1924. In 1925 and 1926 he made a few more music recordings before he died in 1927.

Works

The work of Sveinbjörn mainly includes piano and chamber music ; But there are also choral works in his oeuvre . He spent most of his life in Edinburgh, which is also reflected in his music: one can see a clear reference to the British salon entertainment music of the time ; there are rarely any really Icelandic echoes. Elsewhere, Sveinbjörn weaves melodies from Icelandic folklore together into a piece of music, for example in his two "Icelandic Rhapsodies".

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