Björgvin Guðmundsson (16 April 1891 – 4 January 1961) was an Icelandic composer. He was born at Rjúpnafell,

Vopnafjörður Vopnafjörður () is a village and municipality in Northeast Iceland, standing on a peninsula in the middle of a mountainous bay by the same name. The main industries of Vopnafjörður are fish processing, agriculture and tourism and other servic ...

, Iceland, where he grew up. In Vopnafjörður he showed inclination for music, and in his twenties Björgvin moved with his family to the Icelandic colonies in Canada, where he stayed until 1926. In 1923 Björgvin married Hólmfríður Frímann, a Canadian-born woman of Icelandic descent. During this period Björgvin composed the oratorios

Strengleikar ''Strengleikar'' (English: ''Stringed Instruments'') is a collection of twenty-one Old Norse prose tales based on the Old French '' Lais'' of Marie de France. It is one of the literary works commissioned by King Haakon IV of Norway (r. 1217-1263) ...

(English: ''Stringed Instruments'') and Friður á jörðu (English: ''Peace on Earth''), in addition to the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

Adveniat regnum tuum. The cantata was performed in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the fall of 1925, after which the

Icelandic Canadian Icelandic Canadians are Canadian citizens of Icelandic ancestry or Iceland-born people who reside in Canada. Canada has the largest ethnic Icelandic population outside Iceland, with about 101,795 people of full or partial Icelandic descent as o ...

population organized to support Björgvin to study

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

in London. Björgvin studied at London's Royal College of Music for two years. During that time, Icelandic poet

Stephan G. Stephansson Stephan G. Stephansson (October 3, 1853 – August 10, 1927) was a Western Icelander, poet, and farmer. His given name was Stefán Guðmundur Guðmundsson. He was born in Skagafjörður, Iceland but immigrated to Wisconsin, United States i ...

sent him his work Þiðrandakviða, to which Björgvin composed one of his greatest works, the oratorio Örlagagátan (English: ''Riddle of Fate''). Björgvin moved back to Winnipeg, where he completed his last major composition in 1929, Íslands þúsund ár (English: ''Iceland's Thousand Years''), a cantata to

Davíð Stefánsson ''Davíð Stefánsson'' (21 January 1895 – 1 March 1964) from Fagriskógur was a popular Icelandic poet and novelist, best known for his ten volumes of poetry. He was born on 21 January 1895, in Fagriskógur, Eyjafjördur, Iceland and he died ...

's Alþingishátíðarljóð. At this time, Björgvin was offered teaching positions in his native Iceland, at both Akureyri Junior College and Akureyri's primary school. In 1931, Björgvin moved back to Iceland to teach singing in Akureyri. He held his position at ''Akureyri Junior College'' until 1957, when he resigned for health reasons. In Akureyri Björgvin composed numerous songs and minor musical works. He founded a cantata choir, which performed many of his works. Back in Iceland Björgvin started writing. He wrote articles for journals, the play Skrúðsbóndinn from an Icelandic

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

, and his memoirs. Many of his literary works have never been published. He died in 1961, and was buried in Akureyri. A bust of Björgvin can be found in ''Akureyri Junior College''.

External links

A 1961 obituary in Icelandic
1891 births 1961 deaths Bjorgvin Gudmundsson Bjorgvin Gudmundsson 20th-century composers 20th-century male musicians {{iceland-composer-stub