William Rhys-Herbert (1868-1921) was a Welsh composer, conductor, organist and pianist. He composed numerous operettas for performance in schools, and also published songs, partsongs, and cantatas.
William Rhys-Herbert (1868-1921) was a Welsh composer, conductor, organist and pianist. He composed numerous operettas for performance in schools, and also published songs, partsongs, and cantatas.
William Rhys Herbert was born in 1868 in Ffwrnas, near Resolven in South Wales. At an early age, like most boys at that time, he went down the local pit, Blaencwm Colliery, but it was obvious that he had great talent musically. He was able to save enough to buy himself a harmonium – the first to come to the village. The Resolven History Society records that "it arrived by train and was carted in style through the streets followed by hordes of children". He became the first organist at Jerusalem Chapel, where a concert was later held to raise funds so that he could study professionally, and he was accepted as a pupil by T. J. Davies Mus. Bac. of Swansea.
At the age of 19 he published his first composition. He then studied with Dr Frederick Karn at the London College of Music, (now part of Thames Valley University), gaining the degree of Mus. Bac. At the age of 22 he left for Canada, and studied at Trinity University, Toronto, (now part of the University of Toronto), where his former teacher, Frederick Karn, was appointed external examiner in 1894. He was awarded a Mus.Doc. by Trinity in 1900. [1]
After moving to the United States in 1899, he was appointed organist at Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis. In 1911 he became organist and choir director at the Church of the Redeemer, a downtown Minneapolis structure destroyed by fire in 1953 (the congregation is now called the First Universalist Church). [2] Rhys-Herbert also directed the Elks Glee Club and served as principal accompanist to the Apollo Club (now the Apollo Male Chorus from 1905 until his death in 1921. [3]
Many of his more than one thousand compositions are part songs for male voices. Many others are for children. He was well known as an adjudicator at eisteddfodau and as conductor at cymanfaoedd canu across America. He became an American citizen in 1913.
At the heart of his work is a cycle of sacred cantatas – Bethlehem, The Nazarene, Bethany, Calvary and Olivet. By far the most successful was Bethany; first published in 1909, it quickly became his most celebrated piece. It was performed widely in the USA during the 1920s and 30s. After that its popularity seems to have dwindled fairly quickly; however, a performance was given in Houston in 1955. The words of this cantata were written by William ApMadoc, a noted singer, adjudicator, publisher, temperance campaigner and conductor from Chicago, who provided Dr Rhys-Herbert with texts for many other settings in both Welsh and English. ApMadoc also was a native of Glamorgan, he arrived in America in 1878, settling first in Utica, subsequently in Chicago, where he was appointed musical director of the Chicago high schools, holding the title of Professor. In 1893 the World Fair was held in Chicago, an international eisteddfod was included, and an official American branch of the Welsh Gorsedd (subsequently abolished) was established in the city under the aegis of the Cymmrodorion Society of Chicago; ApMadoc was appointed 'Cofiadur' (Bardic Scribe). ApMadoc was also the music critic for The Cambrian, a magazine for Welsh Americans. [4] He died in Chicago in 1916 at the age of 78.
In America, Rhys-Herbert's music has now all but disappeared, and little remains anywhere in print. If he is remembered for anything today, it is most likely to be for his operetta Sylvia, which still has some reputation. Other operettas include Bo'sn's Bride, Bulbul, Captain Van der Hum, A Nautical Knot, The Rivals, The Wild Rose, and Will Tell, which was published posthumously. However, in his hometown of Resolven, he is honoured as one of 'Y Tri Doctoriaid': three Doctors of Music who were born there (the others being Dr David Evans and Dr Tom Hopkin Evans). A concert featuring choral music by all three composers was given in Resolven in November 2008. A vocal duet, 'Ffarwel i'r Gwynt a'r Eira', (with text by ApMadoc) was included in the syllabus for the 2008 Urdd Eisteddfod in Llandudno.
William Rhys-Herbert also wrote choral music and piano sheet music under the pseudonym "W. H. Rees."
He died in Chicago on his fifty-third birthday, October 3, 1921, having reportedly been unwell for one or two weeks previously.
In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.
Joseph Parry was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of "Myfanwy" and the hymn tune "Aberystwyth", on which the African song "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" is said to be based. Parry was also the first Welshman to compose an opera; his composition, Blodwen, was the first opera in the Welsh language.
Thomas Stephens was a Welsh historian, literary critic, and social reformer. His works include The Literature of the Kymry (1849,1876), Madoc: An Essay on the Discovery of America by Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd in the Twelfth Century (1858,1893), and Orgraff yr Iaith Gymraeg (1859), as well as a number of prize-winning essays presented at eisteddfodau between 1840 and 1858. He was the first Welsh historian and literary critic to employ rigorous scientific methods, and is considered to have done more to raise the standards of the National Eisteddfod than any other Welshman of his time. Stephens also figured prominently in efforts to implement social, educational and sanitary reforms both locally in Merthyr Tydfil and more broadly throughout Wales.
David Evans was a Welsh musician, academic and composer.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1921 to Wales and its people.
Hugh Blair was an English musician, composer and organist.
Harry Evans was a Welsh musician, conductor and composer.
John Owen, also known by his bardic name Owain Alaw Pencerdd, was a Welsh-language poet and also a musician.
Aled Wyn Davies is a classical tenor from Llanbrynmair, in Powys, Mid Wales. He is a member of the Three Welsh Tenors with Rhys Meirion and Aled Hall.
Stanley R. Avery was an American composer, choirmaster and organist at St. Mark's Church for 40 years. He wrote many pedagogical pieces for piano, and some of his songs and works for organ were published during his life. Among his works in larger forms is an opera, The Operatician, on a libretto by William Skinner Cooper. His compositions were performed by the Minneapolis, Duluth and Chicago symphony orchestras.
Daniel Protheroe, was a Welsh composer and conductor, born at Cwmgiedd, Brecknockshire. After success at the National Eisteddfod at a young age, he immigrated to the US, where he was educated. He is best known for composing Calvinist Methodist hymns.
Sir John Prise (1501/2–1555) was a Welsh public notary, who acted as a royal agent and visitor of the monasteries. He was also a scholar, associated with the first Welsh printed publication Yn y lhyvyr hwnn. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Breconshire in 1547; Hereford October 1553; Ludlow April 1554; and Ludgershall November 1554.
George Vern Barnett was an Australian organist, choir master and accompanist. He was an important figure in the musical and cultural life of Sydney for many years in the early twentieth century.
Dr. Carlton Jones Lake (1923-1998) was an internationally known choral conductor and music educator.
Emil Oberhoffer was a German-born American conductor and minor composer. He founded the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and was its conductor for the first 19 years of its existence.
Charles Swinnerton Heap was an English organist, pianist, composer and conductor.
Frederic Woodman Root was an American composer, choir conductor, organist, adjudicator and music teacher.
Evan Thomas Davies was a Welsh musician. His parents were George Davies, and Gwenllian, of Dowlais. His mother's family were descendants of songwriter Richard Samuel Hughes. He received private musical tuition from organist and composer Harry Evans, and in 1900 toured the USA as a pianist and organist. From 1900 to 1903 he was organist and choirmaster at Christchurch Cyfarthfa, Merthyr Tydfil, and from 1903 to 1917 organist at Pontmorlais Chapel. He also worked as a singing teacher in Merthyr Tydfil secondary school (1904–20). He was in considerable demand as a solo organist and is said to have given over 100 recitals across Wales to mark the opening of new organs.
The Apollo Club of Minneapolis is a choral organization founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The organization has been in operation since 1895, making it one of the oldest continually performing ensembles in the United States.
David Vaughan Thomas or David Vaughan-Thomas, born David Thomas, and known also by his bardic name Pencerdd Vaughan, was a composer, organist, pianist and music administrator. His compositions are deeply influenced by the musical and literary traditions of his native Wales. Though his music is now little performed he has been described as "the leading native Welsh musician of [his] time" and as "one of the most important composers in the transitional period of Welsh music from the Victorian era to our own times". The broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas was his son.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
