Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Ísólfsson, Páll

(b Stokkseyri, 12 Oct 1893; d Reykjavík, 23 Nov 1974). Icelandic composer, organist, teacher and conductor. The son of an organist-composer, he began his musical studies with Sigfús Einarsson in Reykjavík in 1908. In 1913, with the financial assistance of his uncle, he enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory; his teachers there included Karl Straube (organ), Robert Teichmüller (piano), Hans Grisch (theory), and Max Reger (analysis). He became Straube's assistant at the Thomaskirche (1917–19), and completed his studies with Bonnet in Paris (1924–5). After his return to Iceland, he gradually assumed a central role in the reshaping of the country's musical life. He was principal of the Reykjavík College of Music from its foundation in 1930 to 1957, and head of the music department of the Icelandic State Radio from 1930 to 1959 (apart from the period 1937–8). He was organist first at the Reykjavík Free Church (1926–39), then at Reykjavík Cathedral (1939–68). He received the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Falcon (1940) and the Grand Cross (1955), and was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy in 1956.

The first Icelandic instrumentalist of international renown, Ísólfsson's repertory was centered around the works of J.S. Bach and Reger. He toured Scandinavia, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, made solo recordings for HMV, and appeared with soloists such as Rostropovich and Telmányi. A pioneer in the performance of large-scale choral music in Reykjavík during the second quarter of the 20th century, he conducted works by Brahms (including the Begräbnisgesang and movements from the German Requiem) in 1926 and Haydn's Creation in 1939. His compositions are in a late-Romantic idiom influenced by Bach, Brahms and Reger. Many of his larger works were composed for specific occasions: his first major work, the Althingishátíðarkantata, won a competition for a work to be performed at the millenary of the Icelandic parliament in 1930. Among his other large-scale works are an organ Chaconne on a plainchant antiphon from the Office of St Thorlak, and a set of late-Brahmsian piano variations on a theme by his father, completed when he was in his 80s. A master of small forms, his most successful compositions include the hauntingly beautiful Vögguljóð (‘Lullaby’, op.2) and the ethereal Máríuvers (‘Hymn to the Virgin Mary’) for female voices, from his incidental music to Gullna hliðið (‘The Golden Gate’).

WORKS

(selective list)

Incid music (dates are of stagings in Reykjavík): Gullna hliðið [The Golden Gate] (D. Stefánsson), 26 Dec 1941; The Feast at Solhaug (H. Ibsen), 17 May 1943; Myndabók Jónasar Hallgrímssonar [Jónas Hallgrímsson's Picture Album] (H. Laxness after J. Hallgrímsson), 26 May 1945.

Inst: Humoresques, op. 1, pf, c1918; 3 Pf Pieces, op.5, c1920; Introduction and Passacaglia, org, c1930, orchd 1938; Chaconne, org, c1940, orchd J. Thórarinsson, 1967; Ostinato et fughetta, org, 1963, Variations on a Theme by Ísólfur Pálsson, pf, 1964

Vocal: 4 Songs, op. 2, v, pf, c. 1925; Althingishátíðarkantata [Althing Festival Cantata] (D. Stefánsson), solo vv, SATB, orch, 1929; Skálholtsljóð [Skálholt Cantata] (S. Einarsson), solo vv, SATB, orch, 1956; Songs from the Song of Solomon, 1v, pf, ?1972

Principal publishers: Icelandic Music Information Centre, Viking, Engstrøm & Sødring, Lengnick

BIBLIOGRAPHY

M. Johannessen: Hundathúfan og hafið (Reykjavík, 1961)

J. Thórarinsson: Páll Ísólfsson (Reykjavík, 1963)

M. Johannessen: Í dag skein sól (Reykjavík, 1964)

J. Thórarinsson: ‘Páll Ísólfsson’, Andvari, no.104 (1979), 3–32

G. Bergendal: New Music in Iceland (Reykjavík, 1991)

ÁRNI HEIMIR INGÓLFSSON

Isomelism

(from Gk. isos: ‘identical’ and melos: ‘melody’; Ger. Isomelie).

A term coined by Heinrich Besseler for the melodic resemblances in the upper parts between different sections of certain isorhythmic motets of the first half of the 15th century. Isomelic recurrence may take place at the beginning of successive taleae and may involve transposition, as in the triplum of Du Fay’s Rite maiorem (ex.1). Since color and talea do not normally overlap in 15th-century motets (by contrast with earlier practice), isomelic resemblance may also be found at the beginning of successive colores, as in the triplum of Du Fay’s Fulgens iubar (ex.2). Isomelism of this kind, also found in music of the Old Hall Manuscript (see Bukofzer), is not related to the cantus firmus. (In this special meaning of coloration, the term was used by E. Reeser.)

Isomelism was once regarded as highly significant, but its importance has since been disputed. Scholars at first interpreted it as a product of conscious compositional procedure: either as a means of ‘symbolizing’ isorhythmic structures, and hence clarifying them (Besseler), or simply as a device which could be inserted in order to mark off isorhythmic sections (Bukofzer, Eggebrecht, Reichert). At the other extreme, Sanders regarded it as a mere by-product of motet composition. More recently, an intermediate view has gained acceptance (see Finscher and Laubenthal).

The majority of melodic connections within motets involve variation rather than strict repetition. It does not seem in such cases that a calculated decision has been made; however, the decision has been not for identity, but against it. In other words: the compositional procedure for the upper parts involves working out certain passages a number of times using variational techniques: the basic contrapuntal outline remains the same each time because of the construction of the tenor part. This is particularly clear in the case of panisorhythmic motets, because of their especially narrow pre-compositional constraints. The technique of variational changes at the openings of successive taleae and colores (which originated either in England or in the Ciconia circle) can therefore be seen as a means of avoiding similarity between sections. In this way it is comparable to certain techniques of cantus firmus coloration (in the sense of diminution).

In some exceptional cases (as in the motetus of O proles Hispanie, probably by Ciconia, and in certain works by Du Fay), upper parts do contain precise repetition of melodic material, and here a conscious compositional decision in favour of isomelism may indeed be inferred. Like so many other highly individual techniques used by motet composers between 1400 and 1450, however (including melodic and rhythmic imitation, duet construction etc.), these must be put down to the subtilitas of the composer; the intention is not to create a separate compositional genre.

(2) Although the term ‘isomelic’ normally refers exclusively to upper parts, it has also been used in connection with certain aspects of color construction and hence with the tenor part, notably by Reeser and Reese.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ReeseMR

H. Besseler: Die Musik des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (Potsdam, 1931), 206

E.Reeser: ‘ Een “iso-melische mis” uit den tijd van Dufay’, TVNM, xvi (1946), 151–2

M.F. Bukofzer: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music (New York, 1950)

G. Reichert: ‘ Das Verhältnis zwischen musikalischer und textlicher Struktur in den Motetten Machauts’, AMw, xiii (1956), 197–216

S.E. Brown: ‘ New Evidence of Isomelic Design in Dufay’s Isorhythmic Motets’, JAMS, x (1957), 7–13

H.H. Eggebrecht: ‘Machauts Motette Nr.9’, AMw, xix–xx (1962–3), 281–93; xxv (1968), 173–95; repr. in Sinn und Gehalt: Aufsätze zur musikalischen Analyse (Wilhelmshaven, 1979), 43–105

E.H. Sanders: ‘ The Medieval Motet’, Gattungen der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen: Gedenkschrift Leo Schrade, ed. W. Arlt and others (Berne, 1973), 497–573

L. Finscher and A. Laubenthal: ‘“Cantiones quae vulgo motectae vocantur”: Arten der Motette im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert’, Die Musik des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, ed. L. Finscher (Laaber, 1990), ii, 277–370

LAURENZ LÜTTEKEN