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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Páll Ísólfsson (1893-1974) was far better known as an administrator and arts entrepreneur than as a composer. He was there at the founding of several of Iceland's most important musical institutions: he was the first-ever rector of the Reykjavík College of Music from 1930 to 1957, served as a director of Icelandic National Radio from its 1930 establishment until 1959, and co-founded the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 1950. He was also one of the leading organists of the 20th century, touring internationally throughout his career.
As a composer, though, he suffered from being born far too late. He was regarded as an Icelandic Brahms -- perhaps not altogether surprising given that much of his musical education was in Leipzig -- and he preferred to compose in a Brahmsian vein right up until his last completed work in 1970. But he had the misfortune of being born just four years before Brahms died, and spending almost his entire working life in an Icelandic art music scene that was almost exclusively modernist from the 1950s onward, he lost favor as a composer even within his own country.
Nonetheless, Páll Ísólfsson managed to receive a few significant commissions over the course of his career. His Festival Overture is one of these. It was composed in 1949, commissioned for the inauguration of the National Theatre of Iceland, and was first performed at the National Theatre's opening in April 1950.
Páll Ísólfsson (1893-1974) was far better known as an administrator and arts entrepreneur than as a composer. He was there at the founding of several of Iceland's most important musical institutions: he was the first-ever rector of the Reykjavík College of Music from 1930 to 1957, served as a director of Icelandic National Radio from its 1930 establishment until 1959, and co-founded the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 1950. He was also one of the leading organists of the 20th century, touring internationally throughout his career.
As a composer, though, he suffered from being born far too late. He was regarded as an Icelandic Brahms -- perhaps not altogether surprising given that much of his musical education was in Leipzig -- and he preferred to compose in a Brahmsian vein right up until his last completed work in 1970. But he had the misfortune of being born just four years before Brahms died, and spending almost his entire working life in an Icelandic art music scene that was almost exclusively modernist from the 1950s onward, he lost favor as a composer even within his own country.
Nonetheless, Páll Ísólfsson managed to receive a few significant commissions over the course of his career. His Festival Overture is one of these. It was composed in 1949, commissioned for the inauguration of the National Theatre of Iceland, and was first performed at the National Theatre's opening in April 1950.