Ieuan Gwyllt was the bardic name of Welsh musician and minister John Roberts (22 December 1822 - 14 May 1877). His bardic name is derived from the nom de plume he used whilst writing poetry as a boy, Ieuan Gwyllt Gelltydd Melindwr (John of the Wild Woods near the Mill Tower). [1] He was born at Tanrhiwfelen, a house just outside Aberystwyth, and died in Caernarfon on 14 May 1877. He was buried at Caeathro cemetery near Caernarfon.
Roberts worked as a clerk to a company of dispensing chemists in Aberystwyth, but after two years started to teach at the Skinner Street School. After only a few months, however, he enrolled at the Borough Road Training College in London where he stayed for nine months. On his return to Aberystwyth in 1845 he opened a school. After only nine months there, he left to become clerk to a firm of solicitors where he stayed for nearly seven years. In 1852 he became assistant editor of Yr Amserau, a Welsh newspaper based in Liverpool.
On 15 June 1856 he preached his first sermon at Runcorn and in 1858 he moved to Aberdare to edit Y Gwladgarwr ("The Patriot"). The following year he was married to Jane Richards of Aberystwyth. In 1859 he was asked to become minister of Pant-tywyll Calvinistic Methodist church in Merthyr Tydfil and was ordained on 7 August 1861 at the Newcastle Emlyn Association.
Although he composed music from an early age, it was not until 1859 that he produced Llyfr Tonau Cynulleidfaol ("Book of Congregational Tunes"), a labour of some six years, with whose publication began a new era of Welsh congregational hymn singing. Roberts founded a number of regional musical festivals - the Gwent and Morgannwg in 1854, the Gŵyl Eryri in 1866, and the Gŵyl Ardudwy in 1868. In the 1870s he travelled widely throughout Wales, lecturing on congregational music.
From 1861 until 1865 he was the editor and publisher of the Welsh periodical Y Cerddor Cymreig and he remained its editor until 1873. In 1864 he produced a Tonic Sol-fa edition of his own Llyfr Tonau Cynulleidfaol and founded Cerddor y Tonic Solffa in 1869 of which he was editor until 1874. In 1865 he became minister of Capel Coch Calvinistic Methodist church in Llanberis, where he remained until his retirement in 1869 to Y Fron, Llanfaglan, near Caernarvon. In 1874 he issued Sŵn y Jiwbili an arrangement in Welsh of Moody and Sankey hymns and tunes.
Roberts was the translator of the Welsh hymns Mae d'eisiau, O mae d'eisiau (written in 1872 by Annie S. Hawks as "I Need Thee Every Hour") [2] and of Gwahoddiad (written and composed in 1872 by Lewis Hartsough with the title "I Am Coming, Lord").
William Williams, Pantycelyn, also known as William Williams, Williams Pantycelyn, and Pantycelyn, is generally seen as Wales's premier hymnist. He is also rated as one of the great literary figures of Wales, as a writer of poetry and prose. In religion he was among the leaders of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival, along with the evangelists Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.
Wales has a strong and distinctive link with music. Singing is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song". This is a modern stereotype based on 19th century conceptions of Nonconformist choral music and 20th century male voice choirs, Eisteddfodau and arena singing, such as sporting events, but Wales has a history of music that has been used as a primary form of communication.
William Nantlais Williams, better known simply as Nantlais, was a Welsh poet and a Presbyterian Christian minister who played a prominent role in the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival.
Lewis Edwards was a Welsh educator and Nonconformist minister.
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John James Williams, commonly known by his bardic name of "J.J.", was a Welsh poet and served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1936 to 1939.
Rev. Gwilym Richard Tilsley, commonly known by his bardic name of "Tilsli", was a Welsh poet who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales between 1969 and 1972.
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This article is about the particular significance of the year 1859 to Wales and its people.
"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" is a Christian hymn with words by the Free Church of Scotland minister, Walter Chalmers Smith, usually sung to the tune, "St. Denio", originally a Welsh ballad tune, which became a hymn in Caniadau y Cyssegr edited by John Roberts (1822–1877). Of this hymn, musicologist Erik Routley has written:
"[Immortal, Invisible] should give the reader a moment's pause. Most readers will think they know this hymn, the work of another Free Kirk minister. But it never now appears as its author wrote it, and a closer look at it in its fuller form shows that it was by no means designed to be one of those general hymns of praise that the parson slams into the praise-list when he is in too much of a hurry to think of anything else but a hymn about the reading of Scripture. Just occasionally editorial tinkering changes the whole personality of a hymn; it has certainly done so here."
Nathaniel Jones was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister and poet.
"Gwahoddiad" is a Welsh hymn of American origin.
Howell Elvet Lewis, CH, 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.
Hugh Hughes (1790?–1863) was a Welsh painter, engraver and writer.
Tom Beynon was a Welsh Presbyterian minister, author and historian.
David Rowlands was a Welsh Congregational minister, college head and poet.
Blodau cerdd was a 19th-century monthly Welsh language periodical.
Cerddor y Tonic Sol-ffa was a 19th-century monthly Welsh language magazine. It was first published by R. Hughes and Son in Wrexham in 1869, when it was edited by its founder, Methodist minister and musician John Roberts. He had studied tonic sol-fa since 1863, and the publication, which contained compositions, and articles about music and musicians, was intended for use by students during tonic sol-fa lessons.
Telyn y Plant was a 19th-century Welsh language periodical. It was produced for Welsh speaking young people involved with the anti alcohol charity Band of Hope, now known as Hope UK, by Methodist minister Thomas Levi (1825-1916), and musician John Roberts, in 1859. It contained mainly articles on subjects such as temperance, religion, and the activities of the Band of Hope, along with music and poetry.
Richard Owens was a Welsh architect, working mostly on urban housing in Liverpool, England and on the construction of chapels in Wales.
ANNIE S. HAWKS, 1835-1918 (I need Thee every hour) cyf. IEUAN GWYLLT, 1822-77CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
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