Vienna, 1903 – 1958, Reykjavík
Viktor Urbancic was an Austrian composer, conductor, and pedagogue whose career was decisively shaped by exile following the Nazi seizure of power. Born in Vienna, he studied musicology, composition, and conducting at the University of Vienna and the Vienna Music Academy (today’s mdw), where he was formed by the traditions of late Romanticism and early twentieth-century modernism. During the 1920s and early 1930s he was active in Austrian musical life as a composer, critic, and teacher, and was associated with progressive musical and educational circles.
In 1930 Urbancic was among the founders of the Reykjavík College of Music (Tónlistarskólinn í Reykjavík), an institution that would become central to Icelandic musical life. Following the Anschluss in 1938, he was forced to flee Austria with his Jewish wife and settled permanently in Iceland, where he resumed his work at the College and became one of the most influential figures in the country’s musical education. He taught composition and theory, conducted choirs and orchestras, and played a decisive role in shaping Iceland’s professional music training. As a composer, Urbancic wrote orchestral, choral, chamber, and pedagogical works that combine Central European traditions with elements drawn from Icelandic musical culture. He remained in Iceland until his death in 1958, leaving a lasting legacy as a teacher, composer, and cultural mediator between Austria and Iceland.
