--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:

>
>
> THE LINK: I just came across this book online: "Kvæðaskapur: Icelandic
> Epic Song", by Hreinn Steingrímsson. It looks interesting although
> there's a lot that's too technical for me to understand. It discusses
> the possibility that the traditional Icelandic singing/chanting style
> might go back to very early times, and that Old English poetry could
> have been performed in a similar way. Unfortunately some of the
> special Icelandic characters don't show up, so watch out for missing
> 'ð', etc.

http://music.calarts.edu/KVAEDASKAPUR/KVAEDASKAPUR.html

I've just been told that this book was published in 2001 and is still
in print. Thanks Steingrímur.

http://www.skrudda.is/default.asp?p=1&id=17

Íslenskur rímnakveðskapur var eitt helsta bókmenntaform á Íslandi frá
því á 14. öld og fram undir aldamótin 1900. Af ýmsum ástæðum hefur
sáralítið verið fjallað um þetta listform á síðustu áratugum. Í
bókinni rannsakar Hreinn Steingrímsson einkum listina að kveða rímur,
þ.e. tónlistina sem tengist rímunum. Heimildir hans voru upptökur sem
gerðar voru af rímnakveðskap á árunum 1958-1974 á vegum Þjóðminjasafns
og Stofnunar Árna Magnússonar. Þessar upptökur fylgja bókinni á
geisladiski. Kvæðamennirnir sem rannsóknin byggir á voru allir fæddir
á 19. öld og flestir ættaðir úr Breiðafirði, en höfundurinn taldi að
þar hefðu gamlar hefðir við kvæðaskap varðveist lengur en annars staðar.

"Rímur verse was one of the main literary forms in Iceland from the
14th century right up to 1900. For various reasons, there has been
precious little discussion of this artform in recent decades. In the
book, Hreinn Steingrímsson investigates especially the art of chanting
rímur, i.e. the music associated with the rímur. His sources were
recordings which were made of rímur verse in the years 1958-1974 under
the auspices of The National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn) and the
Árni Magnússon Institute (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar). These recordings
come with the book on CD. The singers on whom the research is based
were all born in the 19th c., and most were of Breiðafjörður descent,
an area where--according to the author--the the old poetic traditions
had been preserved longer than in other places."