Árdís - 01.01.1950, Page 32

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ÁRDÍS
as we had refreshed ourselves at the hotel, we were whisked by
taxi to the Cathedral of the city where a special service was taking
place in honor of a group of people from Norway. There we heard
the Cathedral Choir of not many but good voices, for the first time.
We were immediately impressed and thrilled. Later we were to
hear many more including the choirs in our own parish. We never
ceased to marvel at their clarity of tone and perfect blending of
voices. Particularly did we notice the fine male voices, especially
the high, clear tenors. They were everywhere. If you travel in
Iceland by bus, be it a long or short ride, someone will invariably
strike up a song and is joined by nearly every passenger. Almost
without exception, one or two lovely clear tenors will soar above
the rest. At this time I cannot refrain from telling you a little abou.t
our home at Útskálar where we lived. It was the residence of the
pastor with whom we exchanged, and close by it was one of the
four churches of the parish. As is customary in Iceland the pastor
in the rural communities farms. This farm was rented to a neighbor
— the house and the garage being the limit of our domain. It used
to annoy us at first to be awakened at 6:30 every morning by the
sputtering and wheezing of the jeep, as Torfi — that was the
renters name — drove up the hill and past the house to the dairv
barn near by. But our annoyance never lasted long. Torfi always
sang — even on the darkest, windiest mornings, and when we heard
his beautiful clear voice which was wholly untrained, we not only
forgave him the disturbance but strained our ears to hear more.
I will never hear “Þú Bláfjalla Geimur” without thinking of Torfi.
As I have said this quality of voice, seemed common among the
men. Our theory of explanation is the outdoor life and the
atmospheric conditions. The latter is not peculiar to Iceland alone
but to other northern countries. Its chief characteristics being
unusual purity and clarity of vision. In addition to this it may be
stated that the people as a whole are lovers of vocal music and
have practiced it thru the centuries by the singing of rhymes and
ballads.
The most noted choir in Iceland is the male voice choir of
Reykjavik. Many of you heard it here in Winnipeg on the Celebrity
Series in 1946. We had the good fortune to hear it in concert twice
while there. Its conductor is Sigurdur Thordarson who is also one
of Iceland’s well known composers of today. Only in this last year