Jón Leifs (May 1, 1899 - July 30, 1968) was an Icelandic composer. He left Iceland in 1916 to study in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory. He graduated in 1921 having studied piano, and then devoted his time to conducting and composing. He became succcessful as a conductor, and also as a writer.
He married a jewish pianist, Annie Rithof, and had two daughters, Snot and Lif. He lived in Wernigerode and subsequently in Baden-Baden. His family was harassed by the Nazis. In 1944 he moved to Sweden, and in 1945 he moved back to Iceland.
He eventually divorced his wife.
One of his daughters, Lif, drowned in a swimming accident off the coast of Sweden, and he wrote his string quartet Vita et Mors in her memory.
His last work , Consolation, Intermezzo for string orchestra was written as he was dying. He died of lung cancer in Reykjavik in 1968.
Leifs and his wife are the subjects of the film Tears of Stone (1995), directed by the Icelandic director Hilmar Oddsson.
Leif's works include:
- Torrek - Intermezzo (piano piece)
- Studies for solo violin, Op 3
- Trilogia piccola (1920-1924)
- Overture to 'Loftr', Op 10
- Icelandic Folk Dances, Op 11
- Trois peintures abstraites, Op 44 (Prjù óhlutrĉn málverk)
- Mors et Vita, Op 21 (1st string quartet)
- Requiem, Op 33
- Vita et Mors, Op 36 (2nd string quartet)
- Baldr
- Saga Symphony
- Geysir, Op 51 (1961)
- Hekla, Op 52 (1964) for orchestra and percussion
- Elegy, Op 53
- El Greco, Op 64 (3rd string quartet)
- Consolation, Intermezzo for string orchestra, Op 66 (1968)
