Elf Sonaten, Reykjavik

Handel, Elf Sonaten

What repertoire does one pack to play in Iceland?

This question haunted me in the weeks before my recent trip to this remote and fascinating country. In doing a little reading I discovered that ancient mythologies are given great credence in Icelandic culture. This includes a strong belief in Elves, and the day I learned this my eye fell on an edition of Handel’s ‘Elf Sonaten’! This simply translates to ‘Eleven Sonatas’, but I couldn’t ignore the magic in the air before even heading for my connector flight out of Buffalo!

Imagine that, going to Iceland by Buffalo! Okay, bad joke, but perhaps not so ludicrous, as it turns out - my travel companion had worked on the sound production of a film about these two people of Icelandic descent, who travelled from Iceland to Gimley, Manitoba…on Icelandic ponies!! (I’ll try to find that link for you)

No, I didn’t play all ‘Elf Sonaten’, but here are a couple of contrasting movements. You don’t have to go to Iceland to encounter Elf Mythology, as this link on Histori.ca will reveal!