The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1964, Qupperneq 40

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Autumn 1964
38
had the clearest, cleanest tone articu-
lation he had ever heard. Another
guest conductor said that Dan was the
best clarinetist on the west coast. Dan
is very modest and would never divulge
these statements.
Dan has experimented in the cre-
ative element of music. He played a
recording for us of a Folk Song Suite
for Woodwind Quintet which he
calls Icelandia and which Ire has trans-
scribed into a descriptive style. The
arrangements are in good taste and
prove his sensitivity for the texts. The
suite consists of the well known old-
time Icelandic songs, —Sleep my darl-
ing sleep (SofSu unga astin min),—
Hoffinn is a-coming (Hjer er kominn
Hofinn), — Lullaby Baby (Bi, bi og
blaka) — Beautiful Chirping of the
Bird (Fagurit syngur fuglinn), —Now
the weather is good (Nu er veSrir svo
gott)—God of our country—Iceland’s
National Anthem (6 guS vors lands).
Together with the recording our visit
was climaxed very profitably and in-
spiringly when Dan played Debussy’s
Premiere Rhapsoclia, this time with
piano accompaniment skillfully and
sympathetically rendered by his wife.
We enjoyed that treat very much.
Dan is presently enrolled in a cor-
respondence course titled “Elementary
Icelandic” given through the Univer-
sity of California at Berkeley. Dr. L.
L. Bjarnason is the teacher for this
course. The purpose of the course is
twofold: (1) to give credits toward his
academic standing and (2) to acquire a
working knowledge of the language.
The latter is most important because
he has hopes of someday going to Ice-
land and teaohing in the United State:
Navy Dependent School.
Magnus Daniel (Dan) is the son of
Kjartan Magnusson and Svava Reyk-
dal. Kjartan was born in Iceland in
1872 and four years later came to Arn-
merica with his parents in the “Large
Group” which settled in 1776 on the
west shore of Lake Winnipeg. They
landed where Riverton is now. A
smaller group had landed the year be-
fore where Gimli is now. The whole
settlement was originally called “Nyja
Island”, now generally known as the
Gimli district. Kjartan’s parents soon
settled in Gimli. Kjartan died April
14, 1930, in San Diego.
Dan’s mother, Svava Reykdal Magn-
usson was also born in Iceland. Svava’s
parents came to America in August
1881 when Svava was not quite one
year old.
Svava will be 84 years old this Sep-
tember. She keeps her own modest at-
tractive stucco house in shipshape con-
dition—and gardens. She has an engag-
ing personality and one senses a long
range vision far beyond human circum-
spection. The loving kindly wrinkles
that a;race her face win hearts. But
most of all, her gentle strength has
achieved a goal that she has, no doubt,
yearned for from early youth. Once
she played a little organ in a little
church in Hallson, N. D. Her dreams
must have been far beyond that place.
Now, her own ambitions are fulfilled
in the accomplishments of her son
Dan, for she has during the years en-
couraged him and given him moral
support. For instance, one day in 1939,
when Dan was out, his teacher Kuehne
came to the house to announce that
the Claninet First Chair had just been
vacated and that he should go down
early in the morning to apply for the
position. Dan didn’t come home when
expected. Kuehne had to leave with-
out seeing him, trusting the message
to Dan’s mother. That evening Svava
told him the news. He refused to con-
cede to Kuehne’s suggestion, contend-
ing that he was not qualified. Mother
and son stayed up all night debating