Páll Ísólfsson

Páll Ísólfsson (12 October 1893 – 23 November 1974) was an Icelandic organist, composer, pianist, conductor, and school director. He was one of the first Icelanders to study music abroad and is seen as one of the most influential Icelandic musicians in the first half of the twentieth century. Through his work as performer, composer, conductor, and the first director of the Reykjavík School of Music, he played a large part in creating a culture of Western classical music in Iceland. Life and career Páll Ísólfsson was born in Stokkseyri in southern Iceland on 12 October 1893, the son of the composer, organist, and inventor Ísólfur Pálsson and his wife Þuríður Bjarnadóttir. Ísólfsson left the small town for Reykjavík at age 15, living with his uncle, Jón Pálsson, and his wife, Anna S. Adólfsdóttir. Although Ísólfsson had initially intended to study printing, his uncle decided to pay for his organ studies in Germany, and thus Ísólfsson left for Leipzig in autumn 1913. There, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with the renowned organist Karl Straube, making excellent progress, and often substituting for his teacher at the St. Thomas Church. It was during a break from his studies, wh