Jón Laxdal

Jón Laxdal was one of Iceland’s most important composers around the turn of the twentieth century and during the first decades of the 1900s. He is best known for the song Sólskríkjan (“The Golden Plover”), but the song Sjá roðann á hnjúkunum háu (“See the Glow on the High Peaks”) is also widely known and is performed every year on June 17 when a wreath is laid at the grave of Jón Sigurðsson.

Jón Laxdal was also the first Icelandic composer to write a song cycle. His cycle Helga hin fagra (“Helga the Fair”) was premiered in 1914, and a year later another song cycle, Gunnar á Hlíðarenda, followed. The latter includes the song Bergljót, one of Jón’s most popular compositions.

The program will also feature three children’s songs composed by Jón during 1917–1918, when he and his wife Elín Laxdal were working on the first Icelandic songbook for children. These children’s songs were recorded by RÚV in 2013.