Life and work

Halldór Jón Hansen was born in Reykjavík on June 12, 1927. He completed his official degree in medicine from the University of Iceland and then went abroad to New York for a candidate's program where he specialized in pediatrics and child psychiatry. After returning from the United States in 1960, he worked as a district doctor in Egilsstaðir for six months. He then moved to Reykjavík, where he worked at the Child Psychiatric Department at the Reykjavík Health Protection Center and took over the medical position of the infant control there on July 1, 1961, a position he held until he left due to age.

For a while, Halldór was chairman of the Association of Icelandic Pediatricians and a board member of the Association of Nordic Pediatricians and was made an honorary member of various medical organizations. Halldór was always very interested in music, especially singing, and had a large record collection with classical music. From childhood, it was his passion to attend concerts and opera performances, first in Iceland, but later wherever he was born in the world.

Singers who sang from the heart were always held in high esteem by Halldór, and some of the very leading ones became his good friends, such as Gerard Souzay and Elly Ameling. He wrote a lot about singing and musical issues both in newspapers and magazines and also plays for the Icelandic Opera. He taught at the Singing School in Reykjavík for years and was an artistic consultant for the Music Society in Reykjavík and the Icelandic Opera.

Many Icelandic singers enjoyed Halldór's guidance, borrowed albums, advice on voice or project selection. Halldór bequeathed the Iceland Academy of the Arts his music collection and house. In addition, Halldór founded a fund at the school, which will have the task of supporting young musicians and building the school's music library.

Halldór died on July 21, 2003, at the age of 76.

Text by Árna Tómas Ragnarsson

Halldór had an extremely warm and good presence He never pushed himself forward, speaking slowly and with great consideration He had a deep understanding of all things human and he avoided judging others for the longest time, so much so that it bordered on lack of attitude When I met him he was rather tight on the field, a bit teddy bearish in appearance, movement and all mannerisms In previous years he was tall and spangly, but then he smoked 3 packs a day and made a likely improvement when he quit.

Halldór was a true citizen of the world, having in his youth stayed in Vinaborg, at a young age in Paris and later studied pediatrics in New York These were always his favorite cities, his hometowns However, he traveled around the world throughout his life, either because of his work as a doctor or to listen to music or to meet some of his many foreign friends, most of whom were dealing with music, although mostly with the art of singing.

Halldór and I often talked about music and musiciansI lit up and talk, but Halldór curious and thoughtful. It didn't matter what name I mentioned; Halldór should always add when I had finished: „He, yes he's a good artist. I met him in New York in 1953 and we've been writing since“ It's always caused me brain breaks how the easy-going and unproductive Halldór could have met such an angry beast of people, many of whom world famous. But he was so true and humble and knew so many things and didn't judge; that's why he sucked people to himself.

But despite the large number of friends, I think Halldór was always very lonely The music was his spit, the records his children He did not marry and had no children and he was the last onion of his family bow so that when he died he had no legal heir. Most of his parents' and siblings' possessions remained with him in his large house on Laufásvegin, along with the memories, many of which were reluctant or downright very hurt. When he died, I helped Halldór's aunts slightly to take to his house. It sprayed and glutted with all kinds of stuff, but the atmosphere was most saturated with memories; memories of the family's grief, which had lived there and now had finally disappeared with Halldór. Apart from all the items, Halldór's own personal letters, his parents or siblings Yes, they were actually both letters from them, but not only wrote their letters, because they usually wrote their letters.

Halldór never intended to become a doctor After graduating from high school, he intended to study curtain making for operas in Paris He had been involved in making puppet tents as a child, when his interest in opera was sparked, and firmly believed that this was what he was meant to do But fate took over, his niece died while being run over outside his home on Laufásvegin The girl's father and brother Halldór had lived in the United States for several years, but joined the navy during World War II and drowned Halldór's father, Halldór Hansen Sr, fought a bitter custody dispute over the child and eventually managed to bring him to Iceland, but a few weeks later the tragic accident happened. This incident had a terrible effect on Halldór's whole family, so great that Halldór, who was then ready to Paris, decided to stay with his people and „killed time“ by studying medicine for the next few years.

After his graduate studies in pediatrics in New York, Halldór went back to Iceland, but the dream of opera life had not disappeared; he was finally going to Paris and pick up the thread, which had previously disappeared. Then his plans went out into the weather and wind a second time; his mother died in 1961 and his father remarried a year later and wanted to sell the house and settle the maternal inheritance with her children. But Halldór's foster-father, who had taken care of him with great care in his youth, when he was very ill for a long time, was now old and blind. Halldór could not imagine that she would be sent to a retirement home and knew that she would not be able to save herself anywhere other than in the house, which she had the family walk for. He forgot Paris, became chief physician at the children's department of the Health Care Center, bought the house from his father and thus lived his nanny for the next few years and then alone after her death for the rest of her life.

 The house on Laufásvegi

Halldór's father was Halldór Hansen Sr., chief physician and valued surgeon at Landakotsspítala; he was a man of bravery, a great athlete, worshiped and admired. His wife Ólafía and Halldór's mother were completely different and inclined to spiritualism in their later years. Halldór Jr. was the youngest of four siblings, very different from his father in all moods and his life was also always shaped by his great illness (astma) in his youth.

Shortly after the birth of Halldór the Younger, his father had a large house built on the outside of Laufásvegin. It was on two floors plus a basement. At the northern end of the building was a doctor's office and waiting room. This house held a great history of Halldór and his family, but Halldór would have his home there for the rest of his life.

It's both strange and difficult to describe this home inside. When you entered the hole, you immediately felt that it was as if time had been there decades before. The air was heavy and smoke-saturated (long after Halldór stopped smoking). Mublur was big and old, the carpets themselves were worn out and the walls were not painted in the high lord's time. The lighting was minimal, books, papers, but especially records lay everywhere, the stacks of them could be put. was not exactly gloomy, at least not when Halldór was at home, because his own warm radiance was easily, but friendlyly received by his guests and led them into the main rooms at the southern end of the building. There on the shelf was the only gramophone of his and recording device for copying the plates on the table, and the press was probably the place where the small room was finished.

When a guest arrived at the yard, Halldór turned off the gramophone. He invited to a seat and listened to the guest. He didn't say much, but did pop in a unique word or comment except when he was really asked, which was often, because people not only approached him in teasing vibes to get information about music, but he was also the soul-saddler for so many people who struggled Many people asked for a recording with a certain composition or song, now or the performers, and then Halldór got up and rambled a little in the piles It was like a miracle that he always knew exactly where everything was in these piles, and that the person had the album in their hands and it was then put on the phone Early the next morning, a cassette with a copy of the album was inserted through the guest's letterbox. The matter was settled, no slowdown there!

But more about the house itself. It seemed huge. Outside the living rooms and the kitchen at the south end, there were countless cupboards and shelves, which were swayed from the north end of the building and in there by his doctor's office and then a waiting room with a separate entrance. From the hole, a very long staircase went into the ceiling where there were the bedrooms, 4-5 in number. Up there were countless cupboards and shelves that swayed from Halldór's records, also piles of music magazines on tables and chairs, but in the innermost room to the south was Halldór's own bedroom. There were musical gadgets in a large selection at the footboard of his old bed, it was mainly in the bedroom, which Halldór's loneliness became the lightest, he was still the boy who had had had had no realities. It was also clearly visible in the storage room in the attic model where two play tent models, which Halldór had not been badly built in the childhood.

But certainly Halldór was not always in the house. He was on constant trips to the world where he had many friends, not least among musicians. He was on good friends with many people, but especially the French lyric singer Gerard Souzay, the Dutch Elly Ameling and then their co-star Dalton Baldwin, but they all came to Iceland and held concerts and courses through Halldór. In his last years, Haldór went to the United States to visit old friends; in Halldór's opinion, their character was not separated from their art, they spoke from their hearts, which was what Halldór put the most emphasis on, whether the person was world famous like them - or just graduating from a small music school in Iceland. In his last years, Haldór often went to the United States to visit old friends; Jimmy Shoemade, who was a voice coach (coach) in New York and Francis Holden, who was both his friend and sister and assistant to live in his song, as well as a singer.

Among the other singers, whom Halldór most celebrated, we can mention Maria Jeritza, whom Halldór saw young in Vienna and then Jarmila Novotna, whom Halldór also met in Vienna. They were both beautiful and sang like angels. Fate made it so that Haldór once sat on a bench in a square in New York and was eating a sandwich, when a gorgeous older woman sat next to him. Hallldór then realized that Jarmila Novotna herself had come there. He then became her friend and had a signed picture of her, which he always carried near him.

The Record Museum

Halldór did not collect records In any case, not like people collect stones, grasses, or stuffed birds There was no rule in how Halldór bought records He just went off to a record store, anywhere in the world, and bought the records, which he wanted Not the ones he was missing from the collection No, the ones he wanted to hear; a piece or performer, doesn't matter, just something he found exciting and wanted to hear, preferably over and over, preferably to be able to share it with othersThat's why his record collection is so unique and at the same time so personal It's not a „collection“ It's a testament to passion, to a man who couldn't live without music and not without vocals at all.

Halldór had little or no order about his record collection, which at the time of his death amounted to over ten thousand records The records were always available, whether in the stacks on the floor, chairs, tables or in the cupboards He always knew where they were, just as a good mother knows everything about her children And he shared them with him to anyone who wanted to.

He traveled widely and everywhere he bought records Therefore, there were 50 suitcases in his basement at the time of his death He went out with one and came home with two, the new one was under the plates In fact, this also applied to all the alarm clocks found with him He bought himself a new one in every city, but left home when he set off on the next trip Fifty alarm clocks - without collecting them! Or the currency Before the time of the credit cards, one had to get notes to save himself on foreign soil When he got home, people put the money in a drawer to take them along on the next trip But not Halldór He put his currency on top of a plastic bag and the bag in a closet or drawer and then forgot where it was for the next trip After his death, the aunts found currency in almost every closet and drawer they opened a glass bag!.

Halldór bequeathed his album collection, houses and other belongings to the Iceland Academy of the Arts, which was also a glass of money. For them, his fund was established, which aims to preserve his album collection, reward young and promising musicians and to support the LHÍ Music Library.

Halldór

Halldór was a unique man in so many ways that no words can quite describe him When he died in the convalescent ward of Landakotsspítala, where his father was once the chief physician, we were some of his friends at the hospital bed At the end of the day I started tinkering with the stuff on his table and found there a CD, which Halldór had recently been given with a Japanese countertenor (Yoshikatzu Mera). I put the disc in the device and then the wonderful tones of Richard Strauss„ poetry sounded. Just when Halldór gave up the duck, it was sung from Morgen: “Und Morgen wird die Sonne wieder Scheinen" At that moment, the sun's rays shot out of the clouds and lit up the living room, it was a beautiful moment, unearthly and unforgettable. Like Halldór himself!

• A singing party in honor of Halldór Hansen
• Halldór Hansen honored
• Halldór is one of the few who does not judge
• Friend threats suitable for chiefs
• A well of knowledge and wisdom with unchanging tastes
• Memorial concert dedicated to Halldór Hansen
• Memorial concert dedicated to Halldór Hansen

• Memoirs of July 31, 2003
• Memoirs of August 1, 2003
• Memoirs of August 2, 2003
• Memoirs of August 5, 2003
• Memoirs of August 13, 2003