Jórunn Viðar

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Jórunn.

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). She was awarded the Order of the Falcon, Knight's Cross class (Riddarakross), for accomplishments in music.

Works

Jórunn Viðar has written a number of compositions based on 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)

Some of her compositions have been recorded and issued on CD, including:

• Vidar - Orchestral Works (2003) Smekkleysa, ASIN: B0000D9Y6S
• Tapestry of Dreams (2003) Smekkleysa, ASIN: B0000AQVMO