Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.03.2017, Qupperneq 20

Mark of true genius
Jórunn’s music was like an exten-
sion of her personality: exuberant,
intelligent and cheerful. She was
a tremendously important figure
in 20th century Icelandic music,
not just because she was the first
female composer, but because she
figured out a new way to use the
style of Icelandic folk music. There
are basically two main types of
Icelandic folk song: tvísöngur
is quite slow and dignified, and
composers like Jón Leifs used it
to create music that is majestic
and powerful—and sometimes
also a bit gloomy. The other type
is the more lively rímur, which
became the inspiration for much
of Jórunn’s music. She was fasci-
nated by the way some of the old
folk singers, whom she recalled
from her youth, used to orna-
ment their singing with trills and
quavers. In some of her works she
even achieved something to which
every composer aspires: to write
something that resonates so per-
fectly with the spirit of her native
music that most people actually
think it’s a folk song. For example,
the Christmas song “Það á að gefa
börnum brauð” is 100% Jórunn
Viðar, but might just as well be
hundreds of years old. This is the
mark of true genius.
Árni Heimir Ingólfsson
Musicologist
JÓRUNN VIÐAR WAS BORN and
raised in Reykjavík. In 1937 she
graduated from Reykjavík Gram-
mar School, and the same year
travelled to Germany to study for
two years at the Music Academy in
Berlin, where she played the piano.
Later on she went to New York City,
where she studied composition at
the Juilliard. She died this Febru-
ary 27. She was 98 years old.
The first women to compose
music in Iceland, Jórunn was also
the first to compose for an Icelan-
dic film: ‘Síðasti bærinn í dalnum’
(or “The last farm in the valley,” in
English). Her songs had an impact
on the character of Iceland, and
there are few kids—or adults—
that don’t know the song “Það á að
gefa börnum brauð” (“You're sup-
posed to give children bread,” very
roughly translated). She was also
the first women to be a member
of a association of composers in
Iceland, and was the only female
member for two decades.
In 2004, Björk covered Jórunn’s
“Vökuró,” for her album ‘Medulla’.
Jórunn sometimes spoke about
her years in as a student in Ger-
many, shortly before the outbreak
of World War II. The atmosphere
was repressive: she remembers
fearing that her teacher could
have been arrested one morn-
ing, because he was teaching
her instead of listening to Hit-
ler's speech, which was manda-
tory. Luckily, no one tipped off the
authorities,so Jórunn played on
her piano while the dictator raged.
Knew the secrets to
every note
I will never forget the feeling of
honor and pride when Jórunn
asked me to turn the pages for her
when she performed her Piano
concerto “Slátta” with the Icelan-
dic Symphony in Háskólabíó, when
I was a piano student in my teens.
I went through the hardships of
pre-concert jitters with her that
day, and just before she started
her memorable performance, she
leaned over and said with humil-
ity and humour: “Promise me you
will perform this concerto prop-
erly when you are a little bit older.”
I was thrilled to be able to keep
that promise twenty years later
when I performed it with the same
orchestra. During the process of
preparation I had the privilege of
Jórunn’s guidance, and her pres-
ence during the rehearsal period.
We lived only a few yards away
from each other, and the moments
that I shared with her are some of
the most valuable moments I have
had as a pianist. She knew the
secrets to every note and had the
key to the profound musical ex-
perience one can only have in the
presence of a giant. That’s who she
was.
Steinunn Birna Ragnarsdóttir
Artistic Director and CEO
Icelandic Opera
Songs of future past
It must have been in 1999 I was
asked if I wanted to take part in a
music project celebrating the mil-
lennium. The idea was to get three
poets to compose poems about the
past, the present and the future,
and afterwards three compos-
ers would write music to them.
For reasons unknown to me I was
given the future as a subject, but
when the organisers asked if there
was a particular composer I'd like
to work with I instantly knew it
had to be Jórunn Viðar. Apart
from Jórunn being a cornerstone
of Icelandic contemporary cul-
ture, I felt it would take someone
with her knowledge of the Icelan-
dic tradition and the experience of
bringing it into the present to save
me from falling into cliché. So, I
was very glad when she agreed to
be a part of the project.
We met once or twice to dis-
cuss the poem—it is called “Seen
from the Moon” and is is written
from the point of view of some-
one in the future looking through
a telescope at life on Earth—and
then Jórunn took it away to do
her thing. And what a marvel-
lous thing it became, a piece for
a female voice, choir and a small
ensemble of instruments: it had
all the hallmarks of her best com-
positions: lightness and depth,
sweetness and clarity. It doubled
my pleasure that Jórunn chose my
wife Ágerður Júníusdóttir to sing
the solo and thus make the experi-
ence as personal as it was profes-
sional. It is one of the high points
of my literary life to have had the
honour of meeting and working
with Jórunn Viðar, I can think of
no better place for my words than
being preserved in the fabric of
her masterful music.
Sjón
Poet/writer
From Hitler to Björk:
Remembering Jórunn Viðar
OBITUARY
Words THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE

Art LÓA HJÁLMTÝSDÓTTIR

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20 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03 — 2017