Jórunn Viðar

Jórunn Viðar (7 December 1918 – 27 February 2017) was an Icelandic pianist and composer.

Biography

Jórunn Viðar was born and grew up in Reykjavík, Iceland. In 1937 she graduated from Reykjavík Grammar School, and the same year travelled to Germany to study for two years at the Music Academy in Berlin. She returned to Iceland and married Lárus Fjeldsted (1918–1985). In 1943–1945 the family lived in New York City where she studied composition with Vittorio Giannini at the Juilliard School of Music. After they moved back to Iceland, Jórunn worked as a pianist and accompanist. She gave several solo recitals and performed with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, for example in concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann, as well as her own composition, Slátta (1977).^[1] In 1989 she was awarded the Order of the Falcon, Knight's Cross class (Riddarakross), for accomplishments in music.^[2] She was Honorary Artist of the City of Reykjavík in 1999.^[3]

Works

Jórunn Viðar has written a number of compositions based on and inspired by Icelandic folk songs. She also composed music for the film Síðasti bærinn í dalnum (The last farm in the valley). Selected works include:

Gestaboð um nótt (Text: Einar Bragi Sigurðsson)
Glugginn (Text: Halldór Kiljan Laxness)
Hvítur hestur í tunglskini (Text: Aðalsteinn Kristmundsson)
Im Kahn (Text: Cäsar Flaischlen)
Júnímorgunn (Text: Tómas Guðmundsson)
Kall sat undir kletti (Text: Halldóra B. Björnsson)
Mamma ætlar að sofna (Text: Davið Stefansson)
Sönglað á göngu (Text: Valgarður Egilsson)
Þjóðvísa (Text: Tómas Guðmundsson)
Únglíngurinn í skóginum (Text: Halldór Kiljan Laxness)
Varpaljóð á Hörpu (Text: Jakobína Sigurðardóttir)
Við Kínafljót (Text: Þorgeir Sveinbjarnarson)
Vökuró (Text: Jakobína Sigurðardóttir) (covered by Björk on her album Medúlla)
Vorljóð á Ýli (Text: Jakobína Sigurðardóttir)
Það á að gefa börnum brauð (Text: Folk poetry)
Vort líf (Text: Aðalsteinn Kristmundsson)
Eldur (Fire), ballet score (orchestra, 1950)
Ólafur liljurós (Olaf the Lily-Rose), ballet score (orchestra, 1952)
Mansöngur fyrir Ólafs rímu Grænlendings (The Rhymes of Olaf the Greenlander), SATB choir and piano or string orchestra (ca. 1955; text: Einar Benediktsson)
Slátta, piano concerto (1977)^[4]

Selected recordings

Únglíngurinn í skóginum: Songs. Þóra Einarsdóttir, Elín Ósk Óskarsdóttir, Jón Þorsteinsson, Loftur Erlingsson, Gerrit Schuil. Smekkleysa 1998.
Slátta. Steinunn Birna Ragnarsdóttir, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Lovísa Fjeldsted, Valgerður Andrésdóttir, Laufey Sigurðardóttir, Selma Guðmundsdóttir. Smekkleysa 2000.
Fljúga hvítu fiðrildin. Þuríður Pálsdóttir and Jórunn Viðar. Smekkleysa 2001.
Mansöngur (Eldur, Ólafur liljurós, Mansöngur fyrir Ólafs rímu Grænlendings). Iceland Symphony Orchestra, The Hamrahlíð Choir, dir. Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, Árni Heimir Ingólfsson, piano. Smekkleysa 2002.
Jórunn Viðar: Songs. Erla Dóra Vogler, Eva Þyri Hilmarsdóttir. 2018.
Eldur and Ólafur Liljurós. Icelandic Works for the Stage. Iceland Symphony Orchestra, dir. Rumon Gamba. Chandos 2023.