Björgvin Guðmundsson

Who was Björgvin Guðmundsson?

Björgvin Guðmundsson was an Icelandic composer. He was born at Rjúpnafell, Vopnafjörður, Iceland, where he grew up. In Vopnafjörður he showed inclination for music, and in his twenties Björgvin moved with his family to the Icelandic colonies in Canada, where he stayed until 1926. In 1923 Björgvin married Hólmfríður Frímann, a Canadian-born woman of Icelandic descent. During this period Björgvin composed the oratorios Strengleikar and Friður á jörðu, in addition to the cantata Adveniat regnum tuum. The cantata was performed in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the fall of 1925, after which the Icelandic Canadian population organized to support Björgvin to study musicology in London.

Björgvin studied at London's Royal College of Music for two years. During that time, Icelandic poet Stephan G. Stephansson sent him his work Þiðrandakviða, to which Björgvin composed one of his greatest works, the oratorio Örlagagátan. Björgvin moved back to Winnipeg, where he completed his last major composition in 1929, Íslands þúsund ár, a cantata to Davíð Stefánsson's Alþingishátíðarljóð. At this time, Björgvin was offered teaching positions in his native Iceland, at both Akureyri Junior College and Akureyri's primary school.