The first Icelandic operetta: Í álögum (Spellbound).

Sjálfstæðisyfirlýsing þjóðar í óperettu: óperettan Í álögum. (2022)

In January 2021 I received a grant from FÍH (Icelandic Society of Musicians) (Starfsmenntunarsjóður FÍH) to conduct formal research on the first Icelandic operatic work, the operetta Í álögum (Spellbound) from 1944. Updates will appear here (mainly in Icelandic): http://helgiingvarsson.com/ialogumrannsokn

The Icelandic operetta Í álögum (Spellbound) from 1944 by Sigurður Þórðarson (Sigurdur Thordarson) and Dagfinnur Sveinbjörnsson (Dagfinnur Sveinbjornsson), was the first Icelandic operatic work to be premiered in Iceland and includes references to Icelandic folk music, as well as containing many Icelandic themes, both political and mythological; royal Danish trade representatives and mystical elf royalty play antagonistic roles. Documents relating to the piece and the premiere are scattered and fragmented, and the Icelandic nation seems mostly ignorant to the work’s legacy. The investigator, Dr. Helgi R. Ingvarsson, has written an article which encompasses musical, compositional and historical facts hitherto inaccessible to the general public.

The article is ready (February 2022) and has been published by the Icelandic University of the Arts (in Icelandic): https://www.lhi.is/tolublad-7-sjalfstaedisyfirlysing-thjodar-i-operettu

The article will be translated into English in the near future.

For more information, contact Helgi R. Ingvarsson here: http://helgiingvarsson.com/contact