Person Results

Switch back to the old search page.Advanced Search

Showing 1 - 10 of 10Results Per Page: 10 20 50

William Owen

1813 - 1893 Person Name: Wm. Owen Composer of "DEEMSTER" in Welsh and English Hymns and Anthems Owen, William (‘William Owen of Prysgol,’ 1813-1893), musician; b. 12? Dec. 1813 [in Lônpopty], Bangor, the son of William and Ellen Owen. The father was a quarryman at Cae Braich-y-cafn quarry, Bethesda, and the son began to work in the same quarry when he was ten years old. He learnt music at classes held by Robert Williams (Cae Aseth), at Carneddi, and from William Roberts, Tyn-y-maes, the composer of the hymn-tune ‘Andalusia.’ He wrote his first hymn-tune when he was 18 — it was published in Y Drysorfa for June 1841. After the family had [removed] to [Caesguborwen], Bangor, [sometimes called Cilmelyn] — they had spent some years [at Tŷhen] near the quarry — William Owen formed a temperance choir which sang ‘Cwymp Babilon,’ the work of the conductor, at the Caernarvon temperance festival, 1849. In 1852, with the help of some friends at Bethesda, he published Y Perl Cerddorol yn cynnwys tonau ac anthemau, cysegredig a moesol; of this 3,000 copies were sold, A solfa edition appeared in 1886 of which 4,000 copies were sold. He composed several temperance pieces, some of which were sung in the Eryri temperance festivals held at Caernarvon castle. His anthem, ‘Ffynnon Ddisglair,’ and the hymn-tunes ALMA and DEEMSTER became popular, but it was the hymn-tune called BRYN CALFARIA which made the composer famous; this continues to have a considerable vogue in Wales and in England. He married the daughter of the house called Prysgol and went there to live; he also became precentor at Caeathro C.M. chapel. He died 20 July 1893, and was buried in Caeathro chapel burial ground. --wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/

H. Elvet Lewis

1860 - 1953 Person Name: H. E. L. Translator (stanzas 2-4) of "Mae'r gwaed a redodd ar y groes (The blood that on the cross did flow)" in Mawl a chân = praise and song Lewis, Howell Elvet, M.A., born April 14, 1860, and educated for the Congregational Ministry. After holding several charges in the country, he removed to London in 1898. His Sweet Singers of Wales, 1889, contains translations of standard Welsh hymns. They are well done, and worthy of attention on the part of hymn-book compilers. Mr. Lewis is M.A. of the University of Wales. [Rev. T. G. Crippen] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================= Howell Elvet Lewis, CH (14 April 1860 – 10 December 1953), widely known by his bardic name Elfed, was a Welsh Congregational minister, hymn-writer, and devotional poet, who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1924 to 1928. Elfed was born on 14 April 1860, the eldest son of twelve children of James and Anna Lewis, of Y Gangell, near Blaenycoed, Carmarthenshire. His father was a farm labourer and his mother was a local shopkeeper. He had a very limited early education, but through self-study and attendance at the local chapel schoolroom he managed to gain entry to Newcastle Emlyn Grammar School at the age of 14. Two years later he succeeded in an examination for admission to the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, where he trained for the ministry. Elfed was ordained in 1880 and was made pastor of St John’s English Congregational Church in Buckley, Flintshire, where the local Secondary School Elfed High School is named after him. In 1884 he moved to minister at Fish Street Church, Hull. He returned to Wales in 1891 as minister of the English Congregational Park Chapel, Llanelli. In 1898 he accepted a calling to Harecourt Chapel in London, where he remained until 1904. In 1904 he became minister of Tabernacle Chapel (Capel y Tabernacl in Welsh) – a Welsh language Congregational chapel in King's Cross, London. He remained at Y Tabernacl until his retirement in 1940. He retired to Penarth, where he became a member of Ebeneser Chapel, Cardiff. Apart from serving as a church minister Elfed's ministry included two periods as chair of the London Missionary Board in 1910 and 1922. He was one of three representatives of the Congregational Union of England and Wales invited to visit Madagascar to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the first missionaries to the country. He was elected President of the National Free Church Council, 1926–27, President of the Welsh Union of the League of Nations, 1927–28, and chairman of the Congregational Union in 1933. Elfed's literary output was prolific: he wrote essays, historical treaties, obituaries, devotional works and poetry. He won the National Eisteddfod Crown consecutively in 1888 (Wrexham) and 1889 (Brecon), and the Chair in 1894 (Caernarfon).[5] He was inaugurated into the bardic order of the Gorsedd in 1888 and enthroned as its Archdruid in 1924, a position which he held until 1928. Elfed's greatest contribution to Welsh literature was in the field of hymnody and hymnology. He published his first hymn, O Dywysog Pob Daioni, in 1881 during the first year of his ministry, he went on to write a large number of original hymns in Welsh and in English and to translate hymns between the two languages, many of which are still popular with congregations today. Among his best known original Welsh language hymns is the patriotic hymn Cofia'n gwlad Benllywydd tirion (described as "a kind of second national anthem"); while his original English hymn Lord of Light, Your Name Outshining is widely used in hymn books on both sides of the Atlantic. A number of Welsh hymns translated into English appeared in a series of articles published in the magazine Sunday at Home, and were republished in book form in 1889 by the Religious Tract Society as Sweet Singers of Wales. The University of Wales awarded Elfed three honorary degrees: MA (1906), D.D. (1937) and Ll.D (1949). He was the first person to achieve such an honour from the University. He was created a Companion of Honour in 1948. Marriage and family Elfed married three times. Elfed died on 10 December 1953. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in Blaenycoed Principal publications: Welsh Caniadau (2 vols, 1895-1901) English My Christ and other Poems (1891) Israel and other Poems (1930) Songs of Assisi (1938) --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (excerpts) See also in: Wikipedia

David Emlyn Evans

1843 - 1913 Person Name: D. Emlyn Evans Composer of "GLANCERI" in Cân a Mawl Born: September 21, 1843, Penralltwen, near Castellnewydd Emlyn (Castle Emlyn), Carmarthenshire, Wales. Died: January 19, 1913, Cemmaes, Montgomeryshire. Buried: Llandyfriog (near Newcastle Emlyn), Wales. Evans was a composer, adjudicator, conductor, editor, critic, music historian and entrepreneur. Frequently irascible, especially in his last years which he spent in severe and immobilizing pain, he was one of the foremost figures in Welsh musical life in the period leading up to World War I. He was self taught, via the most popular of all Welsh music publications, John Mills’ Gramadeg Cerddoriaeth, and the two parts of Thomas Williams’ Ceinion Cerddoriaeth (Musical Gems, 1852) with its 200 hymn tunes and seventy anthems and choruses. Later, formal lessons by a music teacher, Mr. Hughes of Llechryd, a few miles from his home, gave him a firmer grounding in the old notation used until 1858. The same year, in Bridgend, he sang his first song in public, conducted his first choir and won his first prize for composition. In 1863 he moved to Cheltenham, where he worked as a shop assistant and received further lessons in piano and organ. He became a commercial traveler in 1871, and traveled in this capacity for the next 20 years the length and breadth of Wales, making contacts and observing the growth of music throughout Wales. It was probably during his overnight stays in hotels that most of his musical compositions were created at the end of his working day. Throughout this period, 66 of his pieces won prizes in competitions in Wales, England and America. Evans’s works include: Y Caniedydd Cynulleidfaol, 1895 (editor) --www.hymntime.com/tch