Icelandic Composer, Pianist, and Conductor. In 1916 he left for Germany to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. He graduated in 1921 having studied piano with Robert Teichmüller, but decided not to embark on a career as a pianist, devoting his time instead to conducting and composing. In the 1920s hes conducted a number of symphony orchestras in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Norway and Denmark, thus becoming the only internationally successful Icelandic conductor to date, although he failed to obtain a fixed position. During this period, he was also very active as a writer on music and musical interpretation, both in German and Icelandic. Between 1925 and 1928, he travelled to Iceland on three occasions to record folk songs among the population in his home county Húnavatnssýsla in North Iceland. His observations on this were published in both Icelandic and German periodicals. From the 1930s he concentrated his efforts on the composition of large orchestral works, some of which were not performed until after his death. Most of his output wa inspired by Icelandic natural phenomena. In the piece "Hekla", he depicts the eruption of the volcano Hekla which he witnessed. "Dettifoss" (Op. 57) was inspired by Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall. In the "Saga Symphony", he musically portrays five characters from the classic Icelandic sagas. In 1935 he was appointed Musical Director of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, but resigned two years later and returned to Germany. In 1944 he obtained permission to leave Germany and moved to Sweden. The following year, he moved back to Iceland (leaving his family in Sweden), and became a fierce proponent of music education and of artists' rights. This included working for the ratification by Iceland of the Berne Convention, which happened in 1947, and setting up the Performing Rights Society of Iceland in 1948. When his youngest daughter drowned in a swimming accident off the coast of Sweden in 1947, he composed four works dedicated to her memory, including "Requiem" (Op. 33b) for mixed choir, perhaps his most celebrated piece. The other works are "Torrek" (Op. 33a), for solo voice and piano, "Erfiljóð" (In memoriam) (Op. 35) for male choir, and the string quartet "Vita et mors" (Op. 36). His final work, "Consolation, Intermezzo" for string orchestra, was composed shortly before his death from lung cancer at the age of 69.