Education
Magnús studied with Franz Mixa and Victor Urbancic at the Reykjavík College of Music (1935-1937, 1939-1945) and with Bernard Wagenaar and Marion Bauer at the Juilliard School (1947-1953).
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Magnus Johannsson
Edit ProfileCareer
After a period in the United States of America (1977-1987), he took up residence again in Iceland. In the 1950s and early 60s Magnús was at the forefront of the Icelandic avant garde. His Fjórar abstraksjónir (‘Four Abstractions’, 1950) for piano was the first Icelandic 12-note composition.
He was also a pioneer in electronic music, composing his Elektrónísk stúdía for woodwind quintet, piano and tape in 1958.
In 1971 he stopped composing for almost a decade. This extended silence was eventually broken with his Adagio (1980) for strings, celesta and percussion, which marks a significant stylistic shift in his music
Like the works which followed, it abandons his earlier experimental style for a more simple, neo-romantic lyricism. Works (selective list):
Ballet: Frostrósir, dancers, chbr orch, tape, lighting, 1968
Orch: Punktar, orch, tape, 1961.
Adagio, str, cel, perc, 1980
Institute and tape: Fjórar abstraksjónir, pf, 1951.
Ionization, organisation, 1957. Elektrónísk stúdía, ww qnt, pf, tape, 1958. 15 Minigrams, fl, ob, cl, bn, 1960.
Samstirni, tape, 1961.
Sonorities III, pf, tape, 1972. Solitude, fl, 1983; Sonorities VI, vn, 1989
Songs, incid music, music for film and television
