Joseph Parry

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 Welsh community. There he again worked in a steel works. He joined a music class run by his fellow workers and as a result of winning a composition prize was sent by them in 1861 to a music college in...