Matthías Jochumsson, Iceland’s national poet and hymnist

Naturally enough, one of the most familiar Icelandic songs to the ears of people of Icelandic descent in North America is the country’s national anthem, Ó guð vors lands, which is routinely sung at community gatherings. It is a hauntingly beautiful tune and, while most English-speaking descendants don’t understand the words, it’s common to see people standing a little more erect when the crescendo arrives with “Íslands þúsand ár” – “Iceland’s thousand years!”

Ó gud vors lands was composed as a hymn to mark the millennium of the settlement of Iceland in 1874. It was played publicly for the first time on August 2 that year in Dómkirkjan, the National Cathedral, where the congregation included King Christian IX, who was on a royal visit to present Iceland with a new constitution. The lyrics, which are based on Psalm 90, were written by Rev. Matthías Jochumsson, a popular minister, poet, and playwright, while the tune was composed by Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson (1847-1927), a onetime theology student who turned to the study of music. The anthem came together in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Matthías was visiting Sveinbjörn, who was living there at the time, although there is good reason to believe that Matthías had already been working on the poem while still in Iceland.

Rev. Matthías Jochumsson died a century ago – on November 18, 1920 – a week after his 85th birthday, on which the University of Iceland honoured him with a doctorate of theology. He was only the third recipient of such an honour from the university.

Matthías was born on November 11, 1835, at Skógar in Þorskafjörður, a now abandoned farm at the entryway to the Westfjords. The son of Jochum Magnússon and Þóra Einarsdóttir, he grew up in relative poverty and intended to pursue a career in business, attending a commercial college in Copenhagen and working as a shopkeeper at Flatey in Breiðafjörður. He enrolled in Latínuskólann in Reykjavík (now Menntaskólinn), where he was one of the older students among his peers, before proceeding to Prestaskólinn, the theological college.

Matthías began his ministry at the churches in Brautarholt and Saubær, both on Kjalarnes, north of Reykjavík, which he served from 1866 until he went abroad in 1872. Returning to Iceland in 1874, he worked as editor of the newspaper Þjóðólfur until 1880, when he resumed his ministry at the churches at Oddi and Keldur in Rangárvallasýsla. In 1886, he accepted a call to the church at Akureyri, where he remained until his retirement in 1899. Matthías was one of the most liberal Icelandic ministers of his generation, holding Unitarian theological views while remaining within the Lutheran Church of Iceland, paving the way for the Ný guðfræði – the “New Theology” that dominated the Church of Iceland during the first half of the 20th century.

While still a student, he wrote the play Útilegumennirnir (The Outlaws), better known today after its lead character, Skugga-Sveinn, which remains among the most popular dramatic works in Iceland. He was also a prolific translator of poetry, prose, and plays, and his work includes the standard Icelandic versions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. In addition to writing his own hymn texts, he translated or interpreted the hymns of others, the most noteworthy examples being Hljóða nótt (one of the Icelandic versions of Silent Night) and Ó þá náð að eiga Jesú (What a Friend We Have in Jesus).

Matthías was married three times, but his first two wives, Elín and Ingveldur, died tragically young – losses that had a deep impact on this sensitive man’s life and worldview. (His first marriage lasted less than a month; his second, less than a year.) In 1875, he married Guðrún Runólfsdóttir, who was nearly 16 years younger than him, and they had 11 children, all but two of whom lived to adulthood.

He was well travelled for an Icelander in the 19th century. He attended school in Copenhagen during the winter of 1856 to 1857 and lived abroad in Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom from 1872 to 1874. He also travelled in retirement, visiting Scandinavia in 1905 and 1912. His most memorable adventure abroad, from the perspective of North Americans, was his trip to participate in the World Parliament of Religions during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, which was followed by a tour of the Icelandic communities in the Upper Midwest and Western Canada. In fact, he was the featured speaker at Íslendingadagurinn in 1893.

While Matthías is most widely remembered for his national anthem, he is more fully recognized as one of the literary giants of 19th century Iceland – a great poet and playwright, an inspiring educator and religious leader, and a profoundly sensitive soul.