In 1957 the Icelandic National Radio took the initiative of holding a celebratory concert in honour of Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson (1847-1927). The composer’s widow had given the radio station permission to go through manuscripts and choose works for the performance. It soon became clear that they had unearthed autographed manuscripts of unknown works which had never been performed – songs, choral pieces and orchestral works. This demonstrates without doubt that Sveinbjörnsson was no mere songwriter, but his country’s first serious composer.