Gripla - 01.01.2003, Page 20

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GRIPLA
1694 or 1695. Later he served as rector of Skálholt (1696-1698) before
moving to Hólar, where he was conrector until his death.30 ÍB 669 8vo (1735)
contains two of Jón Einarsson’s translations of Buchanan’s poetry. Buc-
hanan’s Psalm 128 (Felix o ter et amplius) is translated as “Ó hvað farsæll er
sá mann,” but the translation employs a different meter (and thus a different
Olthof melody) than Buchanan’s original.31 A translation of Psalm 23 (“For-
gefins muntu mér"IQuidfrustra rabidi me) follows immediately in the manu-
script, to the same melody as the Buchanan paraphrase. Jón Einarsson was not
the only high-ranking Hólar official to translate Buchanan’s poetry. Steinn
Jónsson (1660-1739), was elected bishop of Hólar in 1712.32 His prodigious
literary output includes a translation of Buchanan’s paraphrase of Psalm 66
(Incolae terrarum), which is transmitted along with Olthof’s tenor line in ÍBR
111 8vo.
Icelandic poets continued to produce texts to Olthof s melodies throughout
the eighteenth century. The most prolific was Eggert Ólafsson (1726-1768), a
leading champion of enlightenment ideals and renowned both for his poetry
and for his landmark contributions to natural history. Of his 14 poems to
Olthof’s melodies, nine are part of an extensive cycle of wedding poetry.
Three of the wedding poems appear in his 1757 document titled Uppkast til
forsagna um brúðkaupssiðu hér á landi (Draft for Instructions for Wedding
Ceremonies in our Country), a detailed prescription for an elaborate three-day
wedding that contains speeches and texts to be sung at various points in the
ceremony.33 Another three texts by Eggert Ólafsson to Olthof s melodies
appear in a 1763 appendix to his Wedding Instructions.34 The only source to
transmit his complete cycle of wedding poetry is JS 1 4to, a manuscript be-
30 ÍÆ vol. 3, 97.
31 Buchanan’s paraphrase uses “carminus genus XXV,” which first appears to Psalm 113
(Psallite Dominum). Since the Icelandic translation is written to “carminus genus XXVI”
(Toto pectore diligam), the rubric in the Icelandic manuscript is thus misleading (p. 270:
“CXXVIII Psalmur Davids iir Latinskum liödum a Islendsku íitsettúr, under spmu Melodiu,
af Jone Einarssyne, Skalhollts skoola Heyrara” [“Psalm 128 translated from Latin to the same
melody, by Jón Einarsson, conrector of the school at Skálholt”]).
32 See/Ævol. 4, 351-352.
33 Eggert Ólafsson, Uppkast tilforsagna um brúðkaupssiðu hér á landi, eds. Þorfmnur Skúlason
and Öm Hrafnkelsson. The poems are “Hér er innborin hjóna skál,” “Vær gefum góða nótt,”
and “Að bónda minni biðjum vér.” Two manuscripts preserve the text of Eggert Ólafsson’s
Wedding Instructions: Lbs 551 4to (autograph) and JS 138 4to.
34 JS 138 4to, 278-290. The poems are “Minn vinur maklegt er,” “Vor góði vinur nú,” and
“Mörg eru mungáts orð.”