Victor Urbancic

Victor Urbancic ( born August 9, 1903 in Vienna, † April 4, 1958 in Reykjavík ) was an Austrian composer, conductor, pedagogue and musicologist who worked in Iceland.

Life

Urbancic ( Urbantschitsch ) worked since 1926 at the Stadttheater in Mainz as a coach and operetta conductor, since 1930 as an opera conductor. After the transfer of power to the Nazis in 1933, he was terminated for racial and political reasons. From 1934 he worked at the Conservatory in Graz. After the Anschluss of Austria and his wife emigrated Urbancic from a Jewish family, born Melitta green tree, with her three children to Iceland. One of his fellow students, Franz Mixa, even an educated musicians from Austria, partially exchanged position with him. Urbancic spent the second half of his life in Iceland and at that time had an immense impact on the local music and its development.

Before he had to flee to Iceland, he was, inter alia, Vice director of the Conservatory in Graz and Director of the Music Research Institute of the University of Graz. In his last years he was musical director of the National Theatre in Reykjavík. So he conducted in 1951, the first opera, which was performed in Iceland, Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. Among his many activities included the organist and choirmaster of Landakotskirkja in Reykjavík. Urbancic received the Knight's Cross of the Falcon. He died on Good Friday 1958.