famous but rarely heard fictitious singer in Laxness’ novel Brekkukotsanna.il. In common with many of his fellow com- posers, he has arranged a number of Icelandic folksongs that are often performed and excellently suited for amateur choir. The influence of folk music is also apparent in his own choral works, as for example in Log ur Kiljanskvidu, once again to poems of Laxness. More recently he has shown great interest in the organ (and also the synthesizer) with which he can give vent to any orch- estral ambitions he may have. A good deal of the organ music is clearly influenced by Bach, but the composer often uses old Icelandic melodies too. A beautiful example of this is the chorale prelude Jesu min morgunstjarna where the cantus firmus is taken from the Hdlabok. Jon Asgeirsson We now return, probably for the last time, to Musica Nova’s concert of Icelandic music in the spring of 1960. The concert opened with three songs from Regn i mat (Rain in May) by Einar Bragi. They were scored for one male and one female voice and an ensemble consisting of clarinet, horn, viola, cello and piano. The composer himself played the piano and his name was Jon Asgeirsson. He was born in 1928 and had thus reached the age of 32 though he was only just beginning his career as a composer. Of the five composers represented at the concert, he was the only one who could possibly have been suited for stepping into Jon Leifs’ shoes as the leader of a “national” school. But Jon Leifs made no mention of this in his aforementioned speech at the Artists Club. He merely complained about the declamation of the song text and added that “the aim of the work was quite clear - but there are two styles, and the composer ought to carry on searching for his true identity.” One can imagine that Jon Leifs’ reference to “two styles” indicated a cleft between modern classicism and nationalism. Jon Asgeirsson was soon to choose sides and become Ice- landic folk music’s most consistent spokesman in contempor- ary Icelandic music, after Jon Leifs. However, he was not to accept the latter’s general cultural and political ideas of a renaissance for a northern isle culture. They also differ in matter of style. He came from a fishing family in IsafjorSur in the north-west and had grown up in a nationalistic home 106

(1) Front Board
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