Welsh Journals

MUSIC IN WALES. IT must be conceded to some of the more recent critics of Music in Wales that. in spite of the national gifts of emotion. imagination and genuine musical temperament, the Welsh people have not yet produced a musical com* poser of world-wide reputation. But we cannot agree with the opinion of those critics that the reten- tion by the Welsh people of their native language and institutions is the cause of this failure. On the contrary we hold that the use of the vernacular, and the influence of the Eisteddfod and even of the Cymanfa Ganu, have been an inestimable boon to Welsh life generally, and have contributed largely to the advancement of musical culture in the princi- pality. It is well-known that where the language and institutions are not fostered, musical culture also is at its lowest. The true causes are not far to seek. Our critics too frequently forget the smallness and poverty of our nation, and are probably not conversant with the peculiar political and economic conditions which for centuries have militated against the develop- ment of music among us. In the earlier period of Welsh history, when the princes and nobles took an active interest in Welsh culture, our national music could be favourably compared with that of the continental nations. In the time of Bede musicians were held in high honour; proficiency upon the harp was one of the marks of a gentleman, and the instrument was so generally played that it was customary to hand it from one to another at enter- tainments, while its practice was forbidden to slaves. Dr. John David Rhys, writing in the 16th century, gives an account of an Eisteddfod held in the middle of the 7th century at which King Cadwaladr presided. What is related of this Eisteddfod shows that they were already in possession of a scale which consisted of notes forming perfect concords. In the laws of Hywel Dda reference is made to the harp; the professor of the instrument (Pen- cerdd) enjoyed many privileges, his lands being free and his person sacred. Gruffydd ap Cynan, King of North Wales, held a congress in the 1 1th century for the purpose of reforming the order of Welsh Bards, at which congress several of the fraternity from Ireland were present. The most important reforms were the separation of bard and minstrel, and the revision of the rules of composition and performance of music. In Brut y Tywysogion we find that an Eisteddfod was held at Cardigan in 1176, at which the Lord Rhys presided. "He appointed two sorts of contention, one between the bards and poets, and the other between the harpers, fiddlers, pipers, and various performers of instru- mental music." We need do no more than refer to the locus classicus in Giraldus Cambrensis. If further argument were necessary, it would be found in the wealth of Welsh folk songs, the majority of which are supposed to have been produced between the 5th and 13th centuries, though some fine speci- mens are of much later date and for the quality of which, in spite of Dr. Ernest Walker, we may quote Dr. Crotch "It must be owned that the regular measure and diatonic scale of 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 or Scotch." It often resembles the scientific music of the 17th and 18th centuries, and there is, I believe ,no probability that this degree of refinement was an introduction of later times. The military music of the Welsh seems superior to that of any other nation." At the very time when the serious development of music began in England and the Continent, progress was arrested in Wales by changed social conditions. During the 15th century there was a gradual separ- ation between the interests of the Welsh chieftains and those of the people at large. This process was hastened after the accession of the Tudors. The Welsh landed gentry became English in their manners and sympathies, and finally ceased to be as of old the patrons of native culture in Wales. This change is partly responsible for the close of the Golden Age of Welsh Literature, and it must have profoundly influenced the development of the art of music. From this time interest in the development of music seems to have steadily declined, and references to the subject become very rare. The closing scenes are the Caerwys Eisteddfod 1524, and the death of Tudur Aled. Henceforth very few Welsh gentry maintained domestic bards and harpists, and these old time- honoured professional men were obliged to turn for their support and encouragement to the peasants. Consequently the development of Welsh thought was obscured, and the traditions of native Welsh culture passed into the keeping of the common people. Thus from the 15th century to the 18th, while in England and on the Continent the Church was fostering musical composition and performances with a liberal hand. while emperors, kings, and the wealthy nobility kept their musical establishments, and patronised music in every form, the tonal art was starved and practically dead in Wales.