Performers & composers

Jón Leifs

In recent years Jón Leifs (1899-1968) has become recognized as the most important and original composer of Icelandic music in the twentieth century. A controversial figure in his own lifetime, Leifs´s most important contribution to Icelandic music was his attempt to integrate elements of native folk music into the Western art music tradition in which he was trained. Although many Icelandic composers have since followed Leifs´s example by using folk elements in their music, Leifs´s creation of a national style in the early twenties was a radical departure from convention. The small number of native musicians trained in composition in the early years of the century had for the most part neglected folk music as a source for their works, and they treated Leifs´s ideas with skepticism, if not outright scorn. There is, indeed, much that is primitive in Leifs´s music; although there are moments of great expressive beauty in his works, they often have a harsh, rugged, and austere character. In fact, Leifs occasionally attempted to describe in music the severe and often desolate landscape of his native country, including volcanoes, geysers, icebergs, and waterfalls.

These are the opening lines of an article written by the musicologist Árni Heimir Ingólfsson, for the opening of the Jón Leifs website, May 1st 1999.

www.jonleifs.is