Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson

Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson was born on June 28, 1842, in Nes near Reykjavík, the son of a Supreme Court judge. While completing theological studies, he met Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull, who recognized his musical gifts and urged him to study music in Leipzig under Carl Reinecke.

Settling in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he taught piano for nearly fifty years, Sveinbjörnsson composed cantatas, chamber trios, and song cycles. In 1874, for the millennium commemoration of the settlement of Iceland, he composed the music to Matthías Jochumsson's poem Ó, guð vors lands (O God of Our Land), which was officially adopted as the National Anthem of Iceland. In 1922, the Icelandic Parliament awarded him an honorary state pension.