DOCSLIB.ORG

Writing Lilja: a Glance at Icelandic Music and Spirit J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Writing Lilja: a Glance at Icelandic Music and Spirit J View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Lehigh University: Lehigh Preserve Lehigh University Lehigh Preserve Post-crash Iceland: opportunity, risk and reform Perspectives on Business and Economics 1-1-2011 Writing Lilja: A Glance at Icelandic Music and Spirit J. Casey Rule Lehigh University Follow this and additional works at: http://preserve.lehigh.edu/perspectives-v29 Recommended Citation Rule, J. Casey, "Writing Lilja: A Glance at Icelandic Music and Spirit" (2011). Post-crash Iceland: opportunity, risk and reform. Paper 13. http://preserve.lehigh.edu/perspectives-v29/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Perspectives on Business and Economics at Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion in Post-crash Iceland: opportunity, risk and reform by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WRITING LILJA: A GLANCE AT ICELANDIC MUSIC AND SPIRIT J. Casey Rule My cOntributiOn tO this jOurnal is rather aesthetic that is in nO way singularly Or sim - Out Of the Ordinary: instead Of writing a tradi - ply defined. MOre impOrtantly, the prOduct tiOnal article, I was asked tO cOmpOse a piece wOuld be inescapably inauthentic. Taking this Of music. As an aspiring cOmpOser, this was an apprOach wOuld be like standing in a fOrest OppOrtunity I cOuld nOt turn dOwn; hOwever, and explaining tO sOmeOne what a tree is by it presented sOme immediate challenges. PrOb - drawing a picture Of it. Naturally, the pieces that ably the mOst impOrtant and certainly the mOst are mOst infOrmative Of Icelandic music are vexing Of these was deciding hOw I cOuld actual pieces Of Icelandic music. Trying tO sum - apprOach this prOject in a way that was apprO - marize a cOuntry’s musical traditiOn in a 15- priate fOr this particular publicatiOn. While I minute cOmpOsitiOn wOuld be artistically mean - certainly believe in the expressive pOwer Of ingless. music, I dO nOt pretend that there is nO differ - As I spent mOre and mOre time studying ence between an Orchestral piece and an aca - this traditiOn and writing this Orchestra piece, demic article. My gOal, therefOre, was tO cre - my directiOn changed cOnsiderably. Initially, I ate a cOmpOsitiOn that was richly infOrmed by saw this prOject primarily as a challenge tO prO - my study Of the Icelandic musical traditiOn. duce a cOmpOsitiOn that was as infOrmative My initial instinct was tO cOmpOse a piece abOut my study Of Icelandic music as if I were that was illustrative Of Icelandic music, using writing an article. In the end, hOwever, I real - traditiOnal Icelandic techniques and cOnven - ized that I had been given the OppOrtunity tO tiOns tO demOnstrate a distilled representatiOn express what I cannOt necessarily say in wOrds. Of “Icelandic style.” It did nOt take lOng fOr As such, this cOmpOsitiOn is nOt intended tO me tO realize that this was a senseless aim. TO be a survey Of Icelandic music nOr is it intended attempt tO write in the style Of Icelandic music tO be a representatiOn Of Icelandic style. It is, wOuld require a vast Over-simplificatiOn Of an simply, One student’s reactiOn tO One shOrt 125 year Of learning abOut this largely unknOwn and After the RefOrmatiOn in the sixteenth cen - underappreciated traditiOn. tury, Iceland was cOnverted frOm CathOlicism tO Lutheranism. This ushered in a new musical Iceland’s Musical Tradition style: the German prOtestant hymn. At first, the hymns sung in Iceland were simply translated My first gOal fOr this piece was tO express German hymns, but the style was later devel - sOmething abOut Icelandic music itself; hOw - Oped by Icelanders whO gave it a uniquely Ice - ever, I did nOt want tO simply mimic the music landic sOund, Often implementing the Lydian I heard. Instead, I strOve tO identify what makes mOde and unusual vOicing in parallel fifths Icelandic music “Icelandic” and find a new and augmented fOurths. (CrOnshaw, p. 168) way tO harness these aesthetics in my Own piece. Hallgrímur PéturssOn, a seventeenth-century FOr me, the quality that mOst identifies Ice - minister after whOm the icOnic Reykjavík chapel landic music and, in many ways, Icelandic Hallgrímskirkja is named, is prObably the mOst culture On the whOle, is the cOmbinatiOn Of well knOwn cOntributOr tO the Icelandic seemingly incOngruent and Often anachrOnistic hymnOdy. traditiOns. Of cOurse, this is nOt unique tO Ice - In the late nineteenth century, Iceland land; the histOry Of every culture includes nOt began tO experience a new style Of music: EurO - Only the gradual evOlutiOn Of practices but pean ROmanticism. At this time, Iceland was alsO the synthesis at the interfaces Of distinct alsO starting tO prOduce its first prOfessiOnal custOms. HOwever, this phenOmenOn is partic - cOmpOsers, many Of whOm studied cOmpOsitiOn ularly prOnOunced in Icelandic music. abrOad and brOught the styles and techniques The reasOn fOr this is largely geOgraphical. they learned back tO their native cOuntry. Svein - Iceland is an island hundreds Of miles frOm björn SveinbjörnssOn was the first Icelander mainland EurOpe and was, fOr mOst Of its his - tO seek an internatiOnal career as a cOmpOser. tOry, relatively pOOr, sparsely inhabited, and (White, p. 303) While studying divinity, he cOmparatively free frOm Outside influence. FOr was persuaded by the NOrwegian cOmpOser-viO - mOst Of the last millennium, it was nOt linist JOhan Svendsen tO study music in COpen - immersed in EurOpean culture tO the extent the hagen and later in Leipzig with Carl Reinecke. cOuntries Of mainland EurOpe were but, instead, Sveinbjörn went On tO cOmpOse Lofsöngur , Ice - was expOsed tO discrete crOss-sectiOns Of the cul - land’s natiOnal anthem, and was the first cOm - tural develOpment Occurring in EurOpe. pOser tO be given a pensiOn fOr cOmpOsitiOn Because Of this, Iceland saw the interactiOn Of by the Icelandic parliament. musical styles that were separated by cen - The early twentieth century in Iceland saw turies in mainland EurOpe. an increasing number Of Icelandic cOmpOsers, such as Þórarinn JónssOn and Páll ÍsólfssOn, the A Brief History first rectOr Of the Reykjavík COnservatOry Of Music, fOunded in 1930. PrObably the best- When the NOrse peOple arrived in Ice - knOwn and arguably the first internatiOnally sig - land in the ninth century, they brOught with nificant Icelandic cOmpOser is JOn Leifs, whO in them slaves, mainly Of Celtic Origin. While few 1928 helped fOund the UniOn Of Icelandic Artists sOurces exist regarding this first music Of Ice - and fOunded the Icelandic COmpOsers UniOn land, it seems likely that this early music had in 1945. He is knOwn fOr incOrpOrating fOlk bOth Celtic and Scandinavian influences. music and elements Of Other early Icelandic In 1000 A.D., Althingi, Iceland’s parlia - music intO his cOmpOsitiOns. ment, Officially adOpted Christianity as the ThrOughOut the beginning Of the twenti - natiOnal religiOn. With Christianity came the eth century, as Iceland became less and less cul - traditiOn Of GregOrian chant. In additiOn, turally isOlated, the music Of Iceland began tO organum , an early fOrm Of pOlyphOny that devel - cOnfOrm mOre and mOre tO external aesthet - Oped Out Of GregOrian chant, was intrOduced ics. When the radiO arrived in 1930, the influ - tO Iceland nO mOre than a century after it ence Of Outside music was nO lOnger inhibited. appeared in mainland EurOpe in the ninth and With the radiO came access tO pOp and rOck, tenth centuries. styles that fused with indigenOus music tO 126 evOlve intO the vibrant Icelandic music scene Of Recently, rímur has fOund its way intO the tOday. mainstream Icelandic music scene as well. Preservation of Folk Tradition Steindór Andersen, a fishing bOat captain, has becOme One Of the mOst well-knOwn perfOrm - Icelandic culture is knOwn fOr its preser - ers Of rímur. In 2001, he cOllabOrated with vatiOn Of traditiOn, in cOntrast tO the relative pOpular Icelandic pOst-rOck band Sigur Rós in dynamism Of mainland EurOpean culture. One an album called Rímur , which features Steindór Of the mOst cited examples Of this is the devel - Andersen singing these traditiOnal chants. 1 Opment Of the Icelandic language. This language AnOther intriguing example Of a preserved is Of particular interest tO linguists in that it has Icelandic fOrm is tvísöngur , which translates undergOne remarkably little change in hundreds as “twin-sOng.” Tvísöngur is a derivate Of Of years; it is, in fact, the clOsest spOken lan - medieval Organum, the first step in Western guage tO the Old NOrse Of the Vikings. (Bern - music frOm unisOn tO pOlyphOny tO, eventually, harðssOn) In the same way, Iceland has pre - the harmOny that mOdern ears nOw hear as served many Of the musical traditiOns that have intrinsic tO all tOnal music. TOday, this medieval influenced the cOuntry thrOughOut its histOry. pOlyphOny lives On in Icelandic tvísöngur, which As a result, Icelandic music nOw has clearly cOntinues tO be taught in cOntempOrary class - traceable qualities Of musical traditiOns that rOOms. As a result, present-day Icelanders are span a millennium in their Origin. still familiar with this medieval aesthetic, which PrObably the best example Of the preserva - the rest Of Western music has since assigned tiOn Of Icelandic musical technique is rímur tO antiquity. FOr this reasOn, tvísöngur is Of par - (rhymes)—Iceland’s traditiOnal epic pOetry that ticular interest tO musicOlOgists studying the was musically chanted and One Of the mOst well- develOpment Of early Organum. (White, p. 297) knOwn and mOst icOnic musical fOrms Of Ice - land. Rímur is unique in that it had gOne rela - Expressing History in Music tively unchanged and unchallenged as the dOm - inant musical fOrm in Iceland frOm as early as After examining Iceland’s musical histOry, the fOurteenth century thrOugh the nineteenth there were twO aspects Of Icelandic music that century, when pOets such as Jónas Hallgríms - I felt were necessary tO represent in my piece: sOn intrOduced fOreign meters tO Icelandic the initial stasis and later persistence Of early pOetry, ushering in a new style Of Icelandic Icelandic musical fOrms and the fusiOn Of var - ROmanticism.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pilgrims to Thule
    MARBURG JOURNAL OF RELIGION, Vol. 22, No. 1 (2020) 1 Pilgrims to Thule: Religion and the Supernatural in Travel Literature about Iceland Matthias Egeler Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Abstract The depiction of religion, spirituality, and/or the ‘supernatural’ in travel writing, and more generally interconnections between religion and tourism, form a broad and growing field of research in the study of religions. This contribution presents the first study in this field that tackles tourism in and travel writing about Iceland. Using three contrasting pairs of German and English travelogues from the 1890s, the 1930s, and the 2010s, it illustrates a number of shared trends in the treatment of religion, religious history, and the supernatural in German and English travel writing about Iceland, as well as a shift that happened in recent decades, where the interests of travel writers seem to have undergone a marked change and Iceland appears to have turned from a land of ancient Northern mythology into a country ‘where people still believe in elves’. The article tentatively correlates this shift with a change in the Icelandic self-representation, highlights a number of questions arising from both this shift and its seeming correlation with Icelandic strategies of tourism marketing, and notes a number of perspectives in which Iceland can be a highly relevant topic for the research field of religion and tourism. Introduction England and Germany have long shared a deep fascination with Iceland. In spite of Iceland’s location far out in the North Atlantic and the comparative inaccessibility that this entailed, travellers wealthy enough to afford the long overseas passage started flocking to the country even in the first half of the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • 34 Iceland As an Imaginary Place in a European
    ICELAND AS AN IMAGINARY PLACE IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT – SOME LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson University of Iceland [email protected] Abstract The article focuses on the image of Iceland and Iceland as an imaginary place in literature from the nineteenth century onwards. It is especially concerned with the aesthetics or discourse of the sublime, claiming that it is the common denominator in many literary images of Iceland. The main proponents of this aesthetics or discourse in nineteenth-century Icelandic literature are discussed before pointing to further developments in later times. Among those studied are the nineteenth-century poets Bjarni Thorarensen (1786-1841), Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807- 1845), Grímur Thomsen (1820-1896) and Steingrímur Thorsteinsson (1831-1913), along with a number of contemporary Icelandic writers. Other literary discourses also come into play, such as representing Iceland as "the Hellas of the North", with the pastoral mode or discourse proving to have a lasting appeal to Icelandic writers and often featuring as the opposite of the sublime in literary descriptions of Iceland. Keywords Icelandic literature, Romantic poetry; the discourse of the sublime, the idea of the North; pastoral literature. This article will focus on the image of Iceland and on Iceland as an imaginary place in literature from the nineteenth century onwards. It will especially be concerned with the aesthetics of the sublime, claiming that it is the common denominator in many literary images of Iceland. The main proponents of this aesthetics in nineteenth-century Icelandic literature are discussed before pointing to further developments in later times. By looking at a number of literary works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it is suggested that this aesthetics can be seen to continue in altered form into the present day.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Religious Practice in Norse Greenland
    Hugvísindasvið Early Religious Practice in Norse Greenland: th From the Period of Settlement to the 12 Century Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs Andrew Umbrich September 2012 U m b r i c h | 2 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies Early Religious Practice in Norse Greenland: th From the Period of Settlement to the 12 Century Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs Andrew Umbrich Kt.: 130388-4269 Leiðbeinandi: Gísli Sigurðsson September 2012 U m b r i c h | 3 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.1 Scholarly Works and Sources Used in This Study ...................................................... 8 1.2 Inherent Problems with This Study: Written Sources and Archaeology .................... 9 1.3 Origin of Greenland Settlers and Greenlandic Law .................................................. 10 2.0 Historiography ................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Lesley Abrams’ Early Religious Practice in the Greenland Settlement.................... 12 2.2 Jonathan Grove’s The Place of Greenland in Medieval Icelandic Saga Narratives.. 14 2.3 Gísli Sigurðsson’s Greenland in the Sagas of Icelanders: What Did the Writers Know - And How Did They Know It? and The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition: A Discourse on Method....................................................................................... 15 2.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Overview
    HISTORICAL OVERVIEW DISCOVERY NATIONALISM Ancient Greek explorers, Irish monks, and Norse Vikings all Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavík was founded in 1784 after the trade happened upon Iceland—some by accident, others in search of peace monopoly was relaxed. Throughout the 1800’s, Icelandic intellectuals or new wealth. Each newcomer tried to describe the intense natural rallied for a free and independent Iceland, led by the national hero beauty of the land—the sun, the snow, and the grass—but the Viking Jón Sigurdsson (whose face now appears on Iceland’s 500 krónur Flokí discovered icebergs and called it ‘Ice Land’. The name stuck. note). The Althing was re-established in 1845, and in 1871, Iceland’s national anthem was performed for the first time at the country’s SETTLEMENT millennial celebrations. The first Icelanders were adventurers who sailed from Norway in open boats packed with horses and timber. They built homesteads INDEPENDENCE and benefitted from the natural hot springs while learning to live After two World Wars and a national referendum, Iceland was with the surrounding volcanoes. Today in Reykjavík, you can still declared independent on June 17, 1944. Self-government paved the visit the remains of a farm that was built in 874 AD. way for independent trade. Iceland only gained exclusive rights to fish their own waters after the “Cod Wars,” a series of conflicts that DEMOCRACY lasted until the 1970s. Iceland was founded as a country of free men without a king. To protect their freedom, the early Icelanders gathered in 930 AD and COOL ICELAND established the Althing—the world’s first parliament.
    [Show full text]
  • Outlawry Crimes in Medieval Iceland Sarah Stapleton [email protected]
    Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar Theses, Dissertations and Capstones 2015 Justice Done: Outlawry Crimes in Medieval Iceland Sarah Stapleton [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://mds.marshall.edu/etd Part of the Criminal Procedure Commons, Law and Society Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Stapleton, Sarah, "Justice Done: Outlawry Crimes in Medieval Iceland" (2015). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. Paper 967. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JUSTICE DONE: OUTLAWRY CRIMES IN MEDIEVAL ICELAND A thesis submitted to the Graduate College of Marshall University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by Sarah Stapleton Approved by Dr. Laura Michele Diener, Committee Chairperson Dr. Robert Deal Dr. William Palmer Marshall University December 2015 APPROVAL OF THESIS We, the faculty supervising the work of Sarah Stapleton, affirm that the thesis, Justice Done: Outlawry Crimes in Medieval Iceland, meets the high academic standards for original scholarship and creative work established by the Department of History and the College of Liberal Arts. This work also conforms to the editorial standards of our discipline and the Graduate College of Marshall University.
    [Show full text]
  • SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES and LITERATURES Sara De Kundo 10 and Tom Kilton; July 1984
    S 1-1 SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES Sara de Kundo 10 and Tom Kilton; July 1984 I. DESCRIPTION A. Purpose: To support the instructional and research programs of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures involving the literature and language studies of Old Norse/Icelandic, runes, and the historical and current literatures and languages of Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Faeroe Islands. B. Hist0tY of Collection: In the early 20th century, Scandinavian studies were taught in the English Department. The collections were built up significantly by prominent professors, notably Henning Larsen and George Flom. The George Flom Library of over 2,000 valuable items was donated in 1941, and the Henning Larsen collection was purchased in 1971. Since 1959 Scandinavian language, literature and cultural studies have been offered regularly through the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. C. Estimate of Holdinis: 23,475 volumes. D. State. Reiional. and National Importance: The Scandinavian collections at Illinois are considered by most scholars to be outstanding and to rank among the top ten North American libraries with collections in these areas. E. Unit Responsible for Collectini: Modern Languages and Linguistics Library. F. Location of Materials: Reference works and a small core collection are held in Modern Languages and Linguistics Library. The majority of materials are in the Bookstacks , but many are in the Reference Room, the Rare Book and Special Collections Library, and the Undergraduate Library. G. Citations of Works Describini the Collection: Downs, pp. 113, 206. Major, p. 59. II. GENERAL COLLECTION GUIDELINES A. Lan&Ua&es: Primarily Old Norse/Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and English, with selective acquisition of translations of primary source mate~ials as well as secondary criticism in other Western European languages.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Cincinnati
    UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: April 28, 2006 I, Kristín Jónína Taylor, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctorate of Musical Arts in: Piano Performance It is entitled: Northern Lights: Indigenous Icelandic Aspects of Jón Nordal´s Piano Concerto This work and its defense approved by: Chair: Dr. Steven J. Cahn Professor Frank Weinstock Professor Eugene Pridonoff Northern Lights: Indigenous Icelandic Aspects of Jón Nordal’s Piano Concerto A DMA Thesis submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in the Performance Studies Division of the College–Conservatory of Music 28 December 2005 by Kristín Jónína Taylor 139 Indian Avenue Forest City, IA 50436 (641) 585-1017 [email protected] B.M., University of Missouri, Kansas City, 1997 M.M., University of Missouri, Kansas City, 1999 Committee Chair: ____________________________ Steven J. Cahn, Ph.D. Abstract This study investigates the influences, both domestic and foreign, on the composition of Jón Nordal´s Piano Concerto of 1956. The research question in this study is, “Are there elements that are identifiable from traditional Icelandic music in Nordal´s work?” By using set theory analysis, and by viewing the work from an extramusical vantage point, the research demonstrated a strong tendency towards an Icelandic voice. In addition, an argument for a symbiotic relationship between the domestic and foreign elements is demonstrable. i ii My appreciation to Dr. Steven J. Cahn at the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music for his kindness and patience in reading my thesis, and for his helpful comments and criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • Society for Ethnomusicology 60Th Annual Meeting, 2015 Abstracts
    Society for Ethnomusicology 60th Annual Meeting, 2015 Abstracts Walking, Parading, and Footworking Through the City: Urban collectively entrained and individually varied. Understanding their footwork Processional Music Practices and Embodied Histories as both an enactment of sedimented histories and a creative process of Marié Abe, Boston University, Chair, – Panel Abstract reconfiguring the spatial dynamics of urban streets, I suggest that a sense of enticement emerges from the oscillation between these different temporalities, In Michel de Certeau’s now-famous essay, “Walking the City,” he celebrates particularly within the entanglement of western imperialism and the bodily knowing of the urban environment as a resistant practice: a relational, development of Japanese capitalist modernity that informed the formation of kinesthetic, and ephemeral “anti-museum.” And yet, the potential for one’s chindon-ya. walking to disrupt the social order depends on the walker’s racial, ethnic, gendered, national and/or classed subjectivities. Following de Certeau’s In a State of Belief: Postsecular Modernity and Korean Church provocations, this panel investigates three distinct urban, processional music Performance in Kazakhstan traditions in which walking shapes participants’ relationships to the past, the Margarethe Adams, Stony Brook University city, and/or to each other. For chindon-ya troupes in Osaka - who perform a kind of musical advertisement - discordant walking holds a key to their "The postsecular may be less a new phase of cultural development than it is a performance of enticement, as an intersection of their vested interests in working through of the problems and contradictions in the secularization producing distinct sociality, aesthetics, and history. For the Shanghai process itself" (Dunn 2010:92).
    [Show full text]
  • Reykjavík Unesco City of Literature
    Reykjavík unesco City of Literature Reykjavík unesco City of Literature Reykjavík unesco City of Literature Reykjavík City of Steering Committee Fridbjörg Ingimarsdóttir Submission writers: Literature submission Svanhildur Konrádsdóttir Director Audur Rán Thorgeirsdóttir, (Committee Chair) Hagthenkir – Kristín Vidarsdóttir Audur Rán Thorgeirsdóttir Director Association of Writers (point person) Reykjavík City of Non-Fiction and Literature Trail: Project Manager Department of Culture Educational Material Reykjavík City Library; Reykjavík City and Tourism Kristín Vidarsdóttir and Department of Culture Esther Ýr Thorvaldsdóttir Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir and Tourism Signý Pálsdóttir Executive Director Tel: (354) 590 1524 Head of Cultural Office Nýhil Publishing Project Coordinator: [email protected] Reykjavík City Svanhildur Konradsdóttir audur.ran.thorgeirsdottir Department of Culture Gudrún Dís Jónatansdóttir @reykjavík.is and Tourism Director Translator: Gerduberg Culture Centre Helga Soffía Einarsdóttir Kristín Vidarsdóttir Anna Torfadóttir (point person) City Librarian Gudrún Nordal Date of submission: Project Manager/Editor Reykjavík City Library Director January 2011 Reykjavík City The Árni Magnússon Institute Department of Culture and Audur Árný Stefánsdóttir for Icelandic Studies Photography: Tourism/Reykjavík City Library Head of Primary and Lower Cover and chapter dividers Tel: (354) 411 6123/ (354) 590 1524 Secondary Schools Halldór Gudmundsson Raphael Pinho [email protected] Reykjavík City Director [email protected]
    [Show full text]
  • Halldór Laxness - Wikipedia
    People of Iceland on Iceland Postage Stamps Halldór Laxness - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halldór_Laxness Halldór Laxness Halldór Kiljan Laxness (Icelandic: [ˈhaltour ˈcʰɪljan ˈlaxsnɛs] Halldór Laxness ( listen); born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer. He won the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature; he is the only Icelandic Nobel laureate.[2] He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and short stories. Major influences included August Strindberg, Sigmund Freud, Knut Hamsun, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht and Ernest Hemingway.[3] Contents Early years 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s Born Halldór Guðjónsson Later years 23 April 1902 Family and legacy Reykjavík, Iceland Bibliography Died 8 February 1998 Novels (aged 95) Stories Reykjavík, Iceland Plays Poetry Nationality Icelandic Travelogues and essays Notable Nobel Prize in Memoirs awards Literature Translations 1955 Other Spouses Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir References (m. 1930–1940) External links [1] Auður Sveinsdóttir (m. 1945–1998) Early years Laxness was born in 1902 in Reykjavík. His parents moved to the Laxnes farm in nearby Mosfellssveit parish when he was three. He started to read books and write stories at an early age. He attended the technical school in Reykjavík from 1915 to 1916 and had an article published in the newspaper Morgunblaðið in 1916.[4] By the time his first novel was published (Barn náttúrunnar, 1919), Laxness had already begun his travels on the European continent.[5] 1 of 9 2019/05/19, 11:59 Halldór Laxness - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halldór_Laxness 1920s In 1922, Laxness joined the Abbaye Saint-Maurice-et-Saint-Maur in Clervaux, Luxembourg where the monks followed the rules of Saint Benedict of Nursia.
    [Show full text]
  • 263 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Monographs
    SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Monographs: Adorno, Theodor. The Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, 2001. Ahokas, Jaakko. A History of Finnish Literature. Indianapolis: Indiana University Publications, 1973. Ake, David. Jazz Cultures. California: University Of California Press, 2002. Albertsson, Ólafur Vignir. Einsöngslög IV. Reykjavik: Ísalög, 1997. Almén, Byron. A Theory of Musical Narrative. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2008. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. New York, Verso, 1983. Andersson, Greger et al. eds. Musiken i Norden. Stockholm: Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien, 1998. Apollonio, Umbro, ed. Futurist Manifestos New York: Viking Press, 1973. Atkins, E. Taylor. ed. Jazz Planet. Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 2003. Attali, Jacques. Noise: The Political Economy Of Music. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985. Austerlitz, Paul. Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity. Connecticut, Wesleyan University Press, 2005. Baraka, Amiri. Jazz and the White Critic. Black Music. New York: Morrow, 1960. Barthes, Roland. Image, Music, Text. London: Fontana Press, 1977. Beard, David and Kenneth Gloag. Musicology: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge, 2005. Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. New York, Schocken Books, 1968. Berendt, Joachim‐Ernst and Günther Huesmann, The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2009. Bergendal, G. (1991). New Music In Iceland. Reykjavik, Iceland Music Information Centre. Berger, Harris M. and Giovanna P. Del Negro. Identity and Everyday Life: Essays in 263 the Study of Folklore, Music, and Popular Culture. United States: Wesleyan University Press, 2004. Bergh, Johs and Jan Evensmo. Jazz Tenor Saxophone in Norway 1917­1959. Oslo: Norsk Jazzarkiv, 1996. Berliner, Paul. Thinking In Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1994.
    [Show full text]
  • The Icelandic Language at the Time of the Reformation.: Some Reflections on Translations, Language and Foreign Influences
    http://www.diva-portal.org Postprint This is the accepted version of a paper published in . This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Citation for the original published paper (version of record): Óskarsson, V. (2019) The Icelandic Language at the Time of the Reformation.: Some Reflections on Translations, Language and Foreign Influences. Nordlit, 43: 102-114 https://doi.org/10.7557/13.4960 Access to the published version may require subscription. N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-397166 THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION: SOME REFLECTIONS ON TRANSLATIONS, LANGUAGE AND FOREIGN INFLUENCES Veturliði Óskarsson (Uppsala University) Abstract The process of the Reformation in Iceland in its narrow sense is framed by the publication of the New Testament in 1540 and the whole Bible in 1584. It is sometimes believed that Icelandic language would have changed more than what it has, if these translations had not seen the day. During the 16th century, in all 51 books in Icelandic were printed. Almost all are translations, mostly from German. These books contain many loanwords, chiefly of German origin. These words are often a direct result of the Reformation, but some of them are considerably older. As an example, words with the German prefix be- were discussed to some length in the article. Some loanwords from the 16th century have lived on to our time, but many were either wiped out in the Icelandic language purism of the nineteenth and twentieth century, or never became an integrated part of the language, outside of religious and official texts.
    [Show full text]