"Marwnad yr Ehedydd" ("The Lark's Elegy") is a traditional Welsh folk song. A single verse was published by the Welsh Folk Song Society in 1914. [1] It was attributed to the singing of Edward Vaughan, Plas-rhiw-Saeson, collected by Soley Thomas.
"Marwnad yr Ehedydd" ("The Lark's Elegy") is a traditional Welsh folk song. A single verse was published by the Welsh Folk Song Society in 1914. [1] It was attributed to the singing of Edward Vaughan, Plas-rhiw-Saeson, collected by Soley Thomas.
Mi a glywais fod yr 'hedydd | I heard that the Lark |
There has been speculation that it is one of the oldest existing songs in Welsh, because the lark in the song may be a coded reference to Owain Glyndŵr and could have been written by one of his followers. [2] The single stanza has been 'exploded' [3] into longer songs at least four times. The first was by Enid Parry, [4] adding three more verses about other birds. Her words were also published in two books of Welsh folksongs. [5] [6]
A second version was written by Albert Evans-Jones (bardic name Cynan), [7] adding four verses again about other birds.
1. Mi a glywais fod yr ’hedydd, | 1. I heard that the lark |
This second version was used, for example, by Bryn Terfel on CD, [8] and by Arfon Gwilym for Trac Cymru (Folk Development for Wales). [9]
A slightly modified melody, compared to the original field-recording, is used in some publications and recordings. [10]
In 1979, Myrddin ap Dafydd created a third version of the words, based on the idea of it being about Glyndŵr, for the folk group Plethyn who released it on a cassette entitled 'Blas y Pridd', and subsequently in 1990 on a CD. [11]
During the celebration of the 600th anniversary of Glyndŵr's uprising, Myrddin ap Dafydd wrote a fourth version adding five verses to the original, entitled 'Mawl yr Ehedydd' (The Lark's Eulogy). [12]
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