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Requiem (Jón Leifs)
''Requiem'', Op. 33b, is a short a cappella choral piece by Icelandic people, Icelandic composer Jón Leifs (1899–1968), dedicated to the memory of his daughter who drowned in a swimming accident shortly before her 18th birthday. The piece has only the name in common with the traditional Latin Requiem, Mass for the dead. It is composed to a text which is a collage of Icelandic poetry, Icelandic folk poetry and selections from a poem by Jónas Hallgrímsson. The music has the character of a lullaby and together with the text evokes the idea of a parent singing to a sleeping child. The piece is composed around an open fifth between A and E and constantly alternates between Major chord, major and Minor chord, minor, ”giving it a serene halo mixing a sense of mystery, sadness and utter serenity“. ''Requiem'' is one of Leifs’ best-known compositions and contrasts with his general output, which is often described as "ungainly" and "dissonant". Composition history Leifs and his fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Cappella
Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance music, Renaissance polyphony and Baroque (music), Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for ''alla breve''. Early history Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 BC, while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century AD: a piece from Greece called the Seikilos epi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reykjavík Cathedral
Reykjavík Cathedral ( Icelandic: ''Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík''; Danish: ''Reykjavik Domkirke'') is a cathedral church in Reykjavík, Iceland, the seat of the Bishop of Iceland and mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the old city centre and environs. It is located at Austurvöllur, and next to it is Alþingishúsið (the parliament house). Since Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, was resurrected in 1845, each session of parliament has begun with a Mass at the cathedral, and from there the dean of the cathedral leads the members of parliament to the parliament house. History and architecture The cathedral was constructed in 1787 from a design by royal building inspector Andreas Hallander Andreas Hallander (13 November 1755 – 3 April 1828) was a Danish master carpenter and architect who made a significant contribution to the city of Copenhagen. Together with the buildings of Johan Martin Quist, his classically styled a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Ross (musician)
Graham Ross (born 29 April 1985) is a British conductor and composer. Since 2010 he has been the director of Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Early life and education Ross began his training as a treble, pianist, organist and violinist. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, studying composition with Giles Swayne, and conducting at London's Royal College of Music, studying with Peter Stark and Robin O'Neill. In 2004, whilst at Cambridge, he co-founded The Dmitri Ensemble, a performing group based around a string ensemble, of which he is Principal Conductor. Ross held a conducting scholarship with the London Symphony Chorus from 2008 to 2009. Conductor From 2008 to 2010 Ross was Musical Director of Concordia Chamber Choir and Kingston Choral Society. In 2010, he made his BBC Proms debut, with opera work taking him to Jerusalem, Aldeburgh, and Musique-Cordiale, Provence. Since 2013 he has been principal conductor at the Musique-Cordiale International Festival i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choir Of Clare College, Cambridge
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, is a mixed-voice choir whose primary function is to lead services in the chapel of Clare College, Cambridge. Since its founding in 1972, the choir has gained an international reputation as one of the leading university choral groups in the world. History The first chapel choir was formed in 1866. For the next one hundred years the choir consisted of undergraduate lower voices and a treble line provided by boys from city schools. In 1966, the use of boys was discontinued and for a brief period there was no upper line. The current mixed-voice choir was established in 1972 by Peter Dennison, a music fellow of the college. He was succeeded by the college's first director of music, John Rutter. Rutter left in 1979 to focus on composing but retains a close connection with the college as an honorary fellow. Timothy Brown directed the choir for 31 years until he was succeeded by the choir's current director of music, Graham Ross. Directors of M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir
Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir (also spelt Thorgerdur Ingolfsdottir) is an Icelandic choral conductor, known for founding and directing the Hamrahlid Choir. Biography Þorgerður was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, on November 5, 1943 and began her music studies at the age of seven. She completed her gymnasium studies at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1963, and a music teacher’s degree from the Reykjavík School of Music in 1965. From 1965 to 1967 she studied musicology and choral conducting at the master’s level at the University of Illinois in the United States. While at the University of Illinois, she sang in the choir. She also studied in Austria and England, and took courses in theology at the University of Iceland. She was a teacher at the Reykjavík School of Music from 1967 to2000. Þorgerður is known for her leadership of young people interested in choral music. She founded the Hamrahlid College Choir in 1967; and a choir of its graduates, the Hamrahlid Choir, in 1982 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ISCM
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the Internationale Kammermusikaufführungen Salzburg, a festival of modern chamber music held as part of the Salzburg Festival. It was founded by the Austrian (later British) composer Egon Wellesz and the Cambridge academic Edward J Dent, who first met when Wellesz visited England in 1906. In 1936 the rival Permanent Council for the International Co-operation of Composers, set up under Richard Strauss, was accused of furthering Nazi Party cultural ambitions in opposition to the non-political ISCM. British composer Herbert Bedford, acting as co-Secretary, defended its neutrality. Aside from hiatuses in 1940 and 1943-5 due to World War II and in 2020–21 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the ISCM's core activity has been an annual fest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hamrahlid Choir
The Hamrahlid Choir or Hamrahlíðarkórinn as it is called in Icelandic was founded in 1981 by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, who remains its conductor. The choir consists of alumni of Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð (Hamrahlid College) in Iceland who were formerly members of The Choir of Hamrahlid College, conducted by Ingólfsdóttir until 2017. The choir has traveled extensively and toured dozens of countries in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as Israel and collaborated with renowned conductors such as Tõnu Kaljuste, Osmo Vänskä, Lukas Foss, László Heltay, Robert King, Timothy Brown, Gustav Sjökvist, Willi Gohl, Hansruedi Willisegger, Johan Dujick, Petri Sakari and Thomas Adés. Recent ventures include the 2015 Europa Cantat festival in Pécs, Hungary and the 2017 Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland. The choir has also made a career in Iceland by singing big pieces by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky with the distinguished Iceland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Urbancic
Dr. Victor Urbancic or Viktor Ernest Johann von Urbantschitsch (9 August 1903 – 4 April 1958) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and music scholar from Vienna. He emigrated to Iceland in 1938. His wife, Melitta, came from a Jewish family. Urbancic stayed for the second half of his life in Iceland and had a big influence on the music development in the country at the time. Urbancic worked as teacher and director of the opera studio at the Conservatory of Graz before he came to Iceland in 1938. He also was lecturer of musicology of the University of Graz. In Iceland he was very important for the music-life. He became music director of the Icelandic National Theater in Reykjavík. He conducted the first opera in Iceland which was Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi in 1951. He taught at the Reykjavík College of Music. He was organist and choir director of the Landakotskirkja in Reykjavík. Urbancic died on Good Friday in 1958 in Reykjavík. He is the grandson of Viktor Urbants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egill Skallagrímsson
Egil Skallagrímsson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period from approximately 850 to 1000 AD and is believed to have been written between 1220 and 1240 AD. Life Egil was born in Iceland, to Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttir; he was the grandson of Kveld-Úlfr (whose name means 'evening wolf'). Another of his ancestors, Hallbjörn, was Norwegian- Sami. Skalla-Grímr was a respected chieftain, and mortal enemy of King Harald Fairhair of Norway. He migrated to Iceland, settling at Borg where his father Kveld-Úlfr's coffin landed after being ritualistically set adrift as Skalla-Grímr's boat approached Iceland. Skalla-Grímr and wife Bera had two daughters, Sæunn and Þórunn, and two sons, Þorolfr and Egil. Egil composed his first poem at three years old. He exhibited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic People
Icelanders () are an ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland. They speak Icelandic, a North Germanic language. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 CE when the (parliament) met for the first time. Iceland came under the reign of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish kings but regained full sovereignty from the Danish monarchy on 1 December 1918, when the Kingdom of Iceland was established. On 17 June 1944, Iceland became a republic. Lutheranism is the predominant religion. Historical and DNA records indicate that around 60 to 80 percent of the male settlers were of Norse origin (primarily from Western Norway) and a similar percentage of the women were of Gaelic stock from Ireland and peripheral Scotland. History Iceland is a geologically young land mass, having formed an estimated 20 million years ago due to volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. One of the last larger islands to remain uninhabited, the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minor Chord
In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on A, called an A minor triad, has pitches A–C–E: In harmonic analysis and on lead sheets, a C minor chord can be notated as Cm, C−, Cmin, or simply the lowercase "c". A minor triad is represented by the integer notation . A minor triad can also be described by its intervals: the interval between the bottom and middle notes is a minor third, and the interval between the middle and top notes is a major third. By contrast, a major triad has a major third on the bottom and minor third on top. They both contain fifths, because a minor third (three semitones) plus a major third (four semitones) equals a perfect fifth (seven semitones). Chords that are constructed of consecutive (or "stacked") thirds are called '' tertian.'' In Western classical music from 1600 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Chord
In music theory, a major chord is a chord (music), chord that has a root (chord), root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major Triad (music), triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitches C–E–G: In harmonic analysis and on lead sheet, lead sheets, a C major chord can be notated as C, CM, CΔ, or Cmaj. A major triad is represented by the Pitch class#Integer notation, integer notation . A major triad can also be described by its Interval (music), intervals: the interval between the bottom and middle notes is a major third, and the interval between the middle and top notes is a minor third. By contrast, a minor triad has a minor third interval on the bottom and major third interval on top. They both contain fifths, because a major third (four semitones) plus a minor third (three semitones) equals a perfect fifth (seven semitones). Chords that are constructed of consecutive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
