Heyr himna smiður

"Heyr himna smiður" (literally "Hear, smith of the heavens") is a medieval Icelandic hymn written by chieftain and poet Kolbeinn Tumason in the 13th-century. The music that accompanies the text was composed by Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (1938–2013) in 1973. This was the first known musical setting of the hymn to become widely popular, although the Icelandic composer Sigvaldi Kaldalóns set the text in the early 20th century; today, Sigurbjörnsson’s setting is among the best-known Icelandic hymns overall. Sigurbjörnsson composed his setting at the request of Róbert Abraham Ottósson, a German emigré who was at the time the Music Director (söngmálastjóri) of the Icelandic Lutheran Church. Ottósson expressed his regret that no worthy musical setting existed of the text, and thus encouraged Sigurbjörnsson to try his hand at it. Sigurbjörnsson later described how the music had come to him all at once as he was driving back home from the meeting with Ottósson, on a snowy afternoon in Reykjavík in January 1973.