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GRIFFITHS, Ann. B. Llanfihangel, Montgomeryshire, April 1776; d. Llanfihangel, August 1805. Ann Thomas was brought up on the farm of Dolwar Fach, Llanfihangel, the daughter of the devout Thomas family who worshipped at the local parish church and who prayed regularly together. She took a full part in local life, and is said to have been frivolous in her youth, much enamoured of dancing, and ready to mock the Methodists. She was only 18 when her mother died and she took over the running of the...
FRANCIS, Benjamin. b. Wales, 1734; d. Horsley, Gloucestershire, 14 December 1799. Francis was a Welsh speaker, who wrote hymns in Welsh and English, and edited a Welsh hymnbook (Aleluia: neu Hymnau perthynol I addoliad cyhoeddus, Caerfyrddin, 1774). JJ, p. 386, lists five hymns in Welsh that were in use in 1892. He trained at the Baptist College, Bristol, and served as a minister at Sodbury (Old Sodbury and Chipping Sodbury), Gloucestershire, and then, from 1757 to 1799, at Horsley, near...
Caneuon Ffydd (2001). In 1993 the five major denominations in Wales (Anglican, Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist, Presbyterian) appointed a joint committee to produce a hymnbook for the use of all the Welsh-speaking churches. A hope that such a book might be produced had been expressed in 1927, but never realized. The book, Caneuon Ffydd (Songs of Faith) appeared in 2001 with 873 Welsh texts and 704 tunes, and, in addition, 86 English texts without tunes, and 33 Psalms and Canticles.
The...
ROBERTS, Caradog. b. Rhosllanerchrugog, Denbighshire, 30 October 1878; d. Wrexham, Denbighshire, 3 March 1935. He trained as a carpenter but became a full-time musician, studying with J.C. Bridge, organist of Chester Cathedral. He was organist of Mynydd Seion Congregational Church, Wrexham (1894-1903), and of Bethlehem Congregational Church, Rhosllanerchrugog (1904-35). He was director of Music at University College of North Wales, Bangor (1914-20). As a hymn tune composer he is known outside...
Christ is the heavenly food that gives. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
This hymn for Holy Communion was first published in The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (Mirfield, 1922) with the first line 'Christ is the Sacrifice we plead', in three 8-line stanzas with a refrain, and subsequently in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). Stanza 1 was as follows in 1922:
Christ is the Sacrifice we plead Before th'eternal Throne;His Cross alone can cancel guilt And...
Christian Hymns (1977, 2004). Published in 1977 by the Evangelical Movement of Wales, this collection of 901 texts provided a rich selection of hymns by Isaac Watts* (71 hymns) and almost certainly the fullest representation of Charles Wesley* (93 hymns) outside Methodism. It also retained much classic Victorian hymnody, while introducing contemporary writers such as Alan Clifford, Eluned Harrison* and Vernon Higham* to a wider audience. A revision of the book appeared in 1985 and a full new...
Come, thou fount of every blessing. Robert Robinson* (1735-1790).
The first known publication of this hymn was in A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Church of Christ: meeting in Angel-Alley, Whitechappel, Margaret-Street, near Oxford-Market, and other churches in fellowship with them (1759). It was made widely known when it was included in Martin Madan*'s A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760) and in John Rippon*'s Selection of Hymns (1787), and it appeared in other 18th-century...
The Cymanfa Ganu is a distinctive contribution of Wales to hymn singing. As experienced in the 21st century in Wales and in Welsh communities around the world it is a festival of hymns, largely familiar to those within the culture, sung with great fervour under the direction of a conductor, who also leads the occasion with remarks on the hymns and on the manner in which they are to be sung. It is felt to be a success if a strong emotional response to the hymns is generated. Those present look...
HAMBLY, Cyril Grey. b. Cardiff, 6 January 1931; d. Shrewsbury, 4 December 1999. He was educated at the University of Wales (where he studied music), and trained for the Methodist ministry at Hartley Victoria College, Manchester. He was ordained in 1954, and held appointments in a number of circuits, principally in Wales and East Anglia. He was a contributor to Partners in Praise (1979) and published A Hymn for the Lectionary (1981), a collection of 70 hymns written by him to accompany the...
EVANS, David Emlyn. b. Pen'ralltwen, Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthen, 21 September 1843; d. Cemmaes, Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, 19 April 1913. He began life as a draper's assistant, but became a distinguished Welsh musician, much in demand as an Eisteddfod adjudicator. With David Jenkins* he edited Y Cerddor ('The Musician') from 1889 to 1913. He was the music editor of several Welsh hymnbooks, including the Congregationalist Y Caniedydd Cynulleidfaol (1895) and the Wesleyan Methodist Llyfr...
JENKINS, David. b. Trecastle, Breconshire, 30 December 1848; d. Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, 10 December 1915. He began life as an apprentice to a tailor. His talent for music enabled him to study under Joseph Parry* at Aberystwyth, 1874-78, and he became (from 1882) successively instructor, lecturer, and finally Professor of Music at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He was precentor of the English Presbyterian Church in Aberystwyth, and noted as a choral conductor. With David Emlyn...
PRYS, Edmwnd. b. Llanrwst, Denbighshire, 1542/3; d. Maentwrog, Merioneth, 1623. He received his early education in the Grammar School of the Diocese of St Asaph. He went as a student to St John's College, Cambridge in 1565 (BA 1568, MA 1571). He was ordained deacon in 1567 and priest in 1568. He became a Fellow of St John's College in 1570, College Preacher in 1574, College chaplain in 1575, and University preacher in the same year. He was appointed to parishes in North Wales, a number of which...
STEPHEN (Jones), Edward ('Tanymarian'). b. Maentwrog, Merioneth, 15 December 1822; d. 10 May 1885. Edward Jones took the name of Edward Stephen when a student. His father played the harp and his mother sang, and he himself studied music assiduously while working in the clothing trade, and then as a student of theology at the Congregational College, Bala. From 1847 he was minister of Horeb, Dwygyfylchi, near Conway, North Wales. He became known throughout Wales as a preacher, poet, lecturer,...
See 'Edward Stephen (Jones)'*
See 'Howell Elvet Lewis'*
HARRISON, Eluned (née Cornish). b. Cardiff, South Wales, 19 December 1934. She grew up in Dinas Powys, and was educated at Penarth County School for Girls and University College, London. She taught science at both school and college level. In 1960 she married Graham Stuart Harrison*, who was soon to become a long-serving church pastor in Newport. Of more than fifty hymns she has written, originally for use in personal devotion, the most in demand has been 'O Lord my God, I stand and gaze in...
God is love: let heaven adore him. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (1922), and republished in J.L. Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). Its first appearance in a major hymn-book was in BBCHB (1951), set to ABBOT'S LEIGH. It was included in 100HfT and thus in A&MNS, and has subsequently become one of the most popular of 20th-century hymns on both sides of the Atlantic (it is found, with alterations, in H82, for example). It was...
God of love and truth and beauty. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (1922), where it is dated 1916. It was included in BBCHB, to a tune, CAROLYN, commissioned from Herbert Murrill (1909-1952), then head of music at the BBC. It appeared subsequently in 100HfT (1969) and thus in A&MNS, headed 'Hallowed be thy name'; it is also in HP. It is little known outside Britain, although in the USA it was included in Rejoice in the Lord (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985), of...
JONES, Griffith Hugh ('Gutyn Arfon'). b. Ty Du, Llanberis, Caernarfonshire, January 1849; d. Rhiwddolion, Caernarfonshire, 26 July 1919. He attended music classes held by John Roberts* ('Ieuan Gwyllt') and worked as a teacher in Dolbadarn and Aberystwyth before becoming headmaster of Rhiwddolion primary school near Betws-y-coed. He founded a number of music classes in the area and encouraged instrumental music. His fame now rests on his hymn tune LLEF (the word means 'a cry'), a solemn yet...
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah/Redeemer (Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch). William Williams, Pantycelyn* (1717-1791).
This hymn, by the greatest of all the Welsh hymn writers, is the best known of all the Welsh hymns in English.
The original Welsh hymn, with six stanzas, originally appeared in Williams' collection Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y Môr o Wydr ('The Songs of those upon the Sea of Glass', Carmarthen, 1762) (JJ, p.77, wrongly ascribed it to the pamphlet Alleluia, Bristol 1745, and this...
See 'Griffith Hugh Jones'*
WILLIAMS, Gwilym Owen. b. East Finchley, North London, 23 March 1913; d. Bangor, 23 December 1990. Although born in London he was brought up in the North Wales village of Penisarwaun, and educated there and at Brynrefall Grammar School, Llanberis. From there he went to Jesus College, Oxford, where he read English (BA 1933) and then Theology (BA 1935). He took Holy Orders (deacon 1937, priest 1938) in the Church in Wales, and became successively curate of Denbigh (1937-40), chaplain and...
VAUGHAN, Henry, b. Newton-by-Usk, Llansanffraid, Breconshire, April 1622; d. Llansanffraid, 23 Apr 1695. Born into an old, though impoverished, Welsh family, he was educated by a clergyman-schoolmaster, Matthew Herbert of Llangattock, and then at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1638. Leaving in 1640 before taking his degree, Vaughan then studied law in London at the wish of his father. Attempting to escape the consequences of the Civil War (he fought on the Royalist side), he returned to South...
Here is love, vast as the ocean. William Rees* (1802-1883), translated by William Edwards (1848-1929) and Howell Elvet Lewis* (1860-1953).
This is Rees's best known and finest hymn, dating from some time in the 1870s. In the manner of earlier Moravian and Methodist hymns, there is an intense focus on the shedding of Christ's blood, which Rees explores through a series of water-inspired metaphors in the second stanza. Though Edwards' translation is somewhat free, he faithfully preserves this...
Holy Spirit, ever dwelling. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (Mirfield, 1922), where the date of composition was given as 1922, and in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). It was written in four 8-line stanzas, but it was shortened to three in Sermons and Hymns. The original stanza 4 was:
Holy Spirit, fount and channel
Of the sevenfold gifts of grace,
May we in our hearts for ever
Give to holy fear a...
LEWIS, Howell Elvet. b. Cynwyl Elfed, Carmarthenshire, 14 April 1860; d. Penarth, Glamorgan, 10 December 1953. Lewis was born into a farming family. He trained for the ministry in the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, but in fact he read so widely that he was largely self-taught. He was ordained in the Congregational ministry in 1880, serving from then until 1904 in English-speaking churches in Wales and England. It was, however, during this period that he was most active as a poet in Welsh,...
LLOYD, John Ambrose. b. Mold, North Wales, 14 June 1815; d. Liverpool, 14 November 1874. John Lloyd (he took the name Ambrose later) received a good education at Mold in Welsh, English and music. He moved in 1830 with his elder brother to Liverpool, where he was a commercial traveller and a distinguished amateur musician. In 1841 he took charge of the music at the newly founded Chapel Salem, Brownlow. There he founded a choir and taught the members to read music, using an early form of Tonic...
EDWARDS, John David. b. Penderlwyngoch, Gwnnws, Cardiganshire, 19 December 1805; d. Llanddoget, Rhosymedre, Denbighshire, 24 November 1885. He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford. He took Holy Orders (deacon 1832, priest 1833) and became vicar of Rhosymedre from 1843 until his death. He was a prolific musician, and much in demand as an Eisteddfod adjudicator. He published Original Sacred Music in two volumes (1839, 1843). He is chiefly known as the composer of the tune RHOSYMEDRE (sometimes...
HUGHES, John. b. Dowlais, Glamorgan, 22 November 1873; d. Llantwit Fardre, Pontypridd, Glamorgan, 14 May 1932. Like so many of the leading musicians in Wales, John Hughes, the composer of CWM RHONDDA, worked in the coal industry. He started work at the age of twelve at the Glynn Collery at Llanilltud Faerdref. In 1905 he was appointed clerk at the Great Western Railway, Pontypridd, at the southern end of the Rhondda Valley, where he remained for over forty years. He was active as a deacon and...
RICHARDS, John ('Isalaw'). b. Hirael, Bangor, Caernarfonshire 13 July 1843; d. 15 September 1901. He attended a school in Birmingham, where he began to learn music. On returning to Bangor he worked as a newspaper proof-reader, established a Tonic Sol-fa* class, wrote on musical subjects for newspapers and periodicals, and acted as a copyist and editor of the music of others. His own compositions include part-songs and anthems, but he is now best remembered for his hymn tune SANCTUS, set to...
ROBERTS, John ('Ieuan Gwyllt'). b. Tanrhiwfelen, near Aberystwyth, 27 December 1822; d. Y Fron, Llanfaglan, Caernarfonshire, 14 May 1877. Roberts was born into a musical family, and was brought up near Aberystwyth. In 1842 he obtained a place in a pharmacy in that town, but in 1844 took a post as schoolmaster. After a period of training in the Borough Road Normal School in London he returned to Wales in 1844 and became clerk to a firm of solicitors in Aberystwyth. In 1852 he moved to Liverpool...
THOMAS, John (I). b. Myddfai, Carmarthenshire, 1730 (baptized 25 March); d. between 1804 and 1811. He learned to read as a boy with the help of friends and through Sunday school. He was converted by the preaching of Howell Harris in 1743 and later went to Trevecca, subsequently teaching in Griffith Jones's circulating schools in south Wales. He joined the Congregationalists, attended the Academy at Abergavenny, and was ordained in 1767 as minister of Rhayader and Llandrindod. He left...
THOMAS, John (II). b. Blaenannerch, Cardiganshire, 11 December 1839; d. Llanwrtyd Wells, Breconshire, 25 February 1921. He was educated a Blaenannerch and at the Adpar grammar school in Newcastle Emlyn. Largely self-taught in music, he began to compose, and won prizes for part-songs at National Eisteddfodau in the 1860s. Thomas married in 1871 and moved to Llanwrtyd, where he remained for the rest of his life, enjoying popularity as an adjudicator and conductor of the Cymanfa Ganu*. He wrote...
PARRY, Joseph. b. Merthyr Tydfil, 21 May 1841; d. Penarth, Glamorgan, 17 February 1903. The most important figure in Welsh music in the final years of the 19th century, Parry was born into a poor family. By the age of nine he was working in a coal mine, and at twelve in a steel works. As in so many Welsh industrial towns, there was a strong musical life, and Parry sang in an oratorio choir from an early age. In 1854 his family moved to Danville, Pennsylvania, USA, where there was an expatriate...
COLLIHOLE, Marian (née Howells). b. Pontypridd, Wales, 14 August 1933. She was educated at Pontypridd Grammar School. She worked as a Primary School teacher in Smethwick, Birmingham. While there, she entered writing competitions, including a BBC TV hymn-writing competition in 1966. Her text, 'Where is God?' ('Woman racked and torn with pain') was written in response to the Aberfan landslide that year, which engulfed a primary school, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The entry was not...
RHYS, Morgan. b. Efail-fach, Cil-y-cwm, Carmarthenshire, 1 April 1716; d. August 1779. Very little is known of his life. Such as is known comes from the references to him in Welch Piety, the annual reports of the progress of the circulating schools that Gruffydd Jones (1683-1761) provided for the subscribers to that enterprise in universal education in Wales. It is clear that Morgan Rhys was a teacher in those schools between 1757 and 1775 and that his work with both children and adults was...
O crucified Redeemer. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
This hymn was printed in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946), where it was headed 'Calvary'. J.L. Rees said that it was taken from CR: the Chronicle of the Community of the Resurrection, but a careful search of the Chronicle has failed to reveal it there. It was included in BBCHB and crossed the Atlantic to find a place in The Hymn Book (1971) of Canada. In Britain it appeared in 100HfT and thus in...
WILLIAMS, Peter. b. West Marsh, near Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, 7 January 1723; d. Llandyfaelog, Carmarthenshire, 8 August 1796. He was educated at Carmarthen Grammar School. He was converted in 1743 by the preaching of George Whitefield*. He became a schoolmaster, and then decided to take Holy Orders: although he was ordained deacon, the Bishop of St David's refused to ordain him to the priesthood because of his Methodist sympathies. He was licensed as a curate, but his Methodism brought him...
Ride on, Jesu, all-victorious. William Williams* (1717-1791), translated by Gwilym Owen Williams* (1913-1990).
This hymn by William Williams Pantycelyn, 'Marchog Jesu, yn llwyddiannus', is part of a five-stanza hymn printed in Williams's Gloria in Excelsis (1772), beginning 'Mewn anialwch 'r wyf yn trigo'. The full text of the hymn is in Llyfr Emynau a Thonau y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd a Wesleaidd (1929) at nos. 420 (stanzas 4 and 5) and 421 (stanzas 1, 2 and 3).
This translation is of...
WILLIAMS, Robert. b. Mynydd Ithel, Llanfechell, Anglesey, 27 October 1782; d. Mynydd Ithel, 15 July 1818. He was blind from birth. He was a basket maker by trade, and a good musician. He is associated with the tune LLANFAIR, which is found in a manuscript book belonging to him, although it may have been a folk tune and he may not have been the composer of it. It had the name BETHEL, and was dated 14 July 1817. It was used by Vaughan Williams* for Charles Wesley*'s 'Hail the day that sees him...
PRICHARD, Rowland Huw. b. Y Graienyn, Bala, Meirionnydd (Merioneth), 14 January 1811; d. Holywell, Flintshire, 25 January 1887 ('Prichard was the usage in publications of his own time. 'Pritchard' has been used in the 20th century). Prichard worked at Bala as a weaver for most of his life, but moved in 1880 to Holywell in Flintshire to a post with the Welsh Flannel Manufacturing Company, where he remained. He was one of the minor figures working for the improvement of Welsh hymn singing in the...
See 'Edward Stephen (Jones)'*
They are all gone into the world of light. Henry Vaughan* (1622-1695).
From Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, the second Edition, in two Books; by Henry Vaughan, Silurist (1655). The word 'Silurist' refers to the Silures, the ancient inhabitants of South Wales, where Vaughan lived. The second part of this book, with 'The Authors Preface To the following Hymns, was dated 30 September 1654. It contains a tribute to 'the blessed man, Mr George Herbert, whose holy life and...
WILLIAMS, Thomas John. b. Ynysmeudwy, Pontardawe, Glamorgan, 25 April 1869; d. Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, 24 April 1944. He worked as an insurance man, and was organist of chapels in Pontardawe and Llanelli. He wrote hymn tunes and anthems. His best known hymn tune is EBENEZER, written in 1896 and named after Ebenezer Chapel, Rhos, Pontardawe. It was published in Yr Athraw ('The Teacher') in 1897, and used in Williams's anthem Goleu yn y Glyn ('Light in the valley') in 1899. It appeared in the...
WILLIAM, Thomas. b. Pendeulwyn, Glamorgan 1 Mar 1761; d. Llantwit Major, Glamorgan, 23 Nov 1844. Thomas William joined the Methodists as a young man but was later ordained as an Independent (Congregationalist) minister. He built Bethesda chapel at Llantwit Major in 1806 and ministered there until his death. His hymns were published in volumes and collected together in Dyfroedd Bethesda ('The Waters of Bethesda'), in 1824, with a second edition in 1841. Strongly biblical and full of scriptural...
REES, Timothy. b. Llanbadarn, Trefeglwys, Cardigan (now Llanon, Dyfed), 15 August 1874; d. Llandaff, 29 April 1939. He was educated at St David's University College, Lampeter (BA 1896) and St Michael's College, Aberdare. He took Holy Orders (deacon 1897, priest 1898), serving as curate of Mountain Ash, Glamorgan (1897-1901), and returning to St Michael's College, Aberdare as chaplain (1901-06). He became a member of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, in 1907, and was a licensed...
The system of learning the notes of the musical scale to syllables has a long history going back at least to Guido d'Arezzo in the 11th century (see 'Ut queant laxis'*), but the modern Curwen system originates in a meeting of friends of the Sunday School Movement in Hull in 1841. The Revd John Curwen (1816-1880) was urged to bring out a simple method of learning to read music. He based his system on that of Miss Sarah Ann Glover (1785-1867) whose work he had seen in Norwich and on that of John...
Up to those bright and gladsome hills. Henry Vaughan* (1622-1695).
From Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1650). The first two words of this title mean 'sparkling flint'. It was headed 'Psalm 121'. It is a simple paraphrase of the Psalm by one who loved the hills of South Wales, where he lived. The 1650 text was as follows:
Up to those bright, and gladsome hils, Whence flowes my weal and mirth, I look, and sigh for him, who fils, (Unseen,) both heaven, and earth.
He...
We praise thy name, all-holy Lord. Ebenezer Josiah Newell* (1853-1916).
This hymn on Saint David (ca. 500- ca. 589) was included in EH and NEH, SofPE, and A&MR. The three stanzas in EH and subsequent books were selected from a hymn in seven stanzas on the Welsh saints, published in The Northern Churchman and St David's Weekly (29 February 1896, i.e. just before Saint David's day, 1 March). There is reference to David's noble birth (he was the son of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion)...
This entry is in two parts, the first by Sally Harper, the second by Alan Luff.
Welsh carols before 1700
There is little evidence to confirm that Wales had its own vernacular counterpart to the regular strophic structure and repeated burden of the English medieval carol (See 'English carols'*), although two carol-like texts recorded retrospectively from oral tradition in the 1950s in rural Cardiganshire may indeed be medieval survivals. Both are couched in rhymed accentual verse with a burden...
This entry is in three parts: pre-Reformation Welsh hymnody by Sally Harper; post-Reformation hymnody, and Welsh tunes, by Alan Luff.
Medieval Welsh hymnody
Some form of liturgical hymnody was clearly sung in parts of the early 'Celtic' church in Wales. The 7th-century Latin Vita of St Samson (composed by a Breton monk) claims that St Illtud's death occurred as the community at Llantwit Major in Glamorgan was singing hymns, while St David's biographer Rhigyfarch (ca.1056–99) records David's...
ROWLANDS, William Penfro. b. Dan-y-coed, Cwmderi, Pembrokeshire, 19 April 1860; d. Swansea, 22 October 1937. Born William Rowlands, he adopted the middle name 'Penfro' in honour of his native county. He showed promise as a musician when only a boy, and at 17 became precentor of the Calvinistic Methodist chapel at Gwastad. Following his appointment as a teacher at Pentre-poeth boys' school in 1881 he moved to Morriston, near Swansea, where he served as precentor of Bethania Calvinistic Methodist...
REES, William. b. near Llansannan, Denbighshire, 8 November 1802; d. Chester, 8 November 1883. Brought up as a Calvinistic Methodist, Rees was ordained as a Congregationalist minister in 1832. He served chapels in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Liverpool, as was a renowned preacher and lecturer. Having studied Welsh poetry from a young age, his own strict-metre compositions won prizes at eisteddfodau in Brecon (1826) and Denbigh (1828). He took the Bardic name Gwilym Hiraethog. Rees was also...
WILLIAMS, William, Pantycelyn. b. Cefncoed, Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Camarthenshire, 11 February 1717; d. Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, 11 January 1791. Williams was the fourth child of John Williams, a farmer. In 1731 William's mother, Dorothy, inherited the farm of Pantycelyn, into which, following the death of her husband, she moved in 1742. Williams married Mary Francis of Llansawel in about 1748 and they moved to live with his mother. In the Welsh manner Williams was distinguished from others of...