sity of Oxford, and Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. In the first volume of his Specimens of Various Styles of Music, referred to in his course of lectures, he writes as follows: "British and Welsh music may be considered as one, since the original British music was, with the inhabitants, driven into Wales. It must be owned, that the regular measure and diatonic scale of the Welsh music is more congenial to the English taste in general, and appears at first more natural to experienced musicians than those of the Irish and Scotch. Welsh music not only solicits an accompaniment; but, being chiefly composed for the harp, is usually found with one; and, indeed, in harp tunes, there are often solo passages for the bass as well as for the treble. It often resembles the scientific music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and there is, I believe, no probability that this degree of refinement was an introduction of later times." of Further on, he continues "The military music of the Welsh seems superior to that any other nation. In the German marches, the models of the English, most of the passages are noisy, interspersed with others that are trifling, and even vulgar. In those of France also there is much noise, together with chromatic and other scientific passages. The Scotch Highland marches, called Ports, are wild warbles, which might (and, indeed, upon many occasions did, in a remarkable degree) inspire courage, but which could not answer the purpose of regulating the steps. But in the Welsh marches, The March of the Men of Harlech', 'The March of the Men of Glamorgan', and also a tune called Come to Battle', there is not too much noise, nor is there vulgarity nor yet misplaced science. They have a sufficiency of rhythm without its injuring the dignified character of the whole, which, to use the words of the poet, is VOL. II. 6 C * Such as rais'd To height of noblest temper heroes of old Par. Lost, Book I, line 551. Dr. Crotch, in his eulogium on Welsh music, specially mentions military music only, whereas I think he would have been sure to have alluded to our plaintive music, had he been better acquainted with such melodies as "Davydd y Garreg Wen" (David of the White Rock), or "The Dying Bard to his Harp", " Morva Rhuddlan" (The Plain of Rhuddlan), "Torriad y Dydd" (The Dawn of Day), and many others of the kind. I consider their great fondness for the minor key to be a very marked characteristic of the Welsh people. Some writers have attributed this peculiarity to the influence of the circumstances under which their music was composed; but, inasmuch as the same tendency exists in the present day, after centuries of peace and prosperity, I am inclined to lay it to the strength of the emotional feelings of the Welsh as a people; for I have frequently witnessed their being so touched by the performance of one of their own plaintive melodies, as to shed a tear of delight,-even in the presence of others, of a different nationality, who did not appear to have been affected in the same degree. Nor are our pastoral melodies less worthy of admiration,-their varied characteristics being equally striking. The Eisteddvodau have afforded the greatest encouragement to the study of music and poetry; and the contests on those occasions have been the means of recognising real merit, and of suppressing mediocrity. The result being, that music occupies a much more elevated position in the Principality at the present time than it has ever done at any former period. In proof of this, it is only necessary to call attention to the wonderful progress made in choral singing alone, and to the great number of choral societies formed throughout the Principality. It would hardly be credited that, at an Eisteddvod held at Abergavenny on Easter Monday, 1874, as many as ten choirs, each numbering, on an average, between four and five hundred-making a total of between four and five thousand voices-competed for a prize of a hundred pounds; and, as one of the adjudicators upon the occasion, I have no hesitation in stating their singing was in no way inferior to that of the choir which came up to London in 1872, and successfully competed for the prize of a thousand pounds at the Crystal Palace. I believe I am correct in saying that the ten choirs belonged to almost the immediate neighbourhood of Abergavenny; in every case within a radius of twenty miles. What other country in Europe, of the extent of Wales, can boast of as much activity in the cause of music? The consequence is, that our choirs carry everything before them; our young vocalists carry off the scholarships at the principal institution of this country, and perhaps of Europe,-the Royal Academy of Music; our musicians are beginning to take their musical degrees at the great Universities of the Empire; we have established a University of our own in the Principality, and musical education has been included in its programme. We are thus, I trust, proving ourselves worthy descendants of the bards and minstrels from whom we have inherited THE NATIONAL MUSIC OF WALES. [The foregoing paper was read by Mr. Thomas before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion on the 13th of March, 1878, in the Music Hall of the Royal Academy.-Ed.] CAN GWRAIG Y PYSGOD WR. GAN Y PARCH. JOHN BLACKWELL, GORPHWYS Don! dylifa 'n llonydd, Paid a digio wrth y creigydd; Gorphwys For! Mae ar dy lasdon Paid a grwgnach, bydd yn ddiddig, Nid oes gwynt yn mrig y llwyni; Iawn i wraig yw teimlo pryder THE SONG OF THE FISHERMAN'S WIFE. TRANSLATED BY THE EDITOR. REST, O wave, within thy deeps, Rest, O Sea! On thy blue wave, Toils a spirit frank and brave,— In the forest, on the plain, Not a zephyr now is breathing; Thy wild waves' tumultuous seething; Startles oft the tender wife As she scans the smile of Ocean; In its darker hour of strife, Who can tell her heart's emotion? Sleep in peace, tempestuous Sea; |