Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1902-1906 / (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
10 ff. ; 333 x 209 mm. and less.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joseph Parry (1841-1903), musician and composer, was born in Merthyr Tydfil within a musical and choral environment. In 1854 the family moved to Pennsylvania, where Parry worked in iron rolling-mills while studying music in his spare time. His successes in composition competitions at the National Eisteddfod of Wales during 1863-1864 led to the establishment of a fund which enabled Parry to study at the Royal Academy of Music from 1868 to 1871. Having gained his degree, Parry returned to the United States, where he established a private music school before, in 1874, being appointed professor and head of the new department of music at University College, Aberystwyth, a post he held for the following six years. In 1878 he gained a Mus. Doc. (Cantab.) degree. From 1881 to 1888 Parry served as organist of Ebenezer Chapel, Swansea, and as head of a musical college which he founded, and from 1888 until his death in 1903 he was lecturer in music at University College, Cardiff. Parry was a prolific composer of songs, choruses, anthems, hymns, and some instrumental works. He wrote several operas, of which 'Blodwen' (1880) enjoyed some five hundred performances by 1896. Among Parry's other major works are the oratorios 'Emmanuel' (1880) and 'Saul' (1892), and the cantata 'Nebuchadnezzar' (1884). His hymn-tune 'Aberystwyth' has become a classic.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Mr H. Cyril David; Llandaff; Donation; November 1949
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Two letters, dated 31 December 1902 and 10 January 1903, from Joseph Parry to T. W. David, his impresario, relating to the first performance of Parry's opera, 'The Maid of Cefn Ydfa', at the Grand Theatre, Westgate Street, Cardiff, on 15 December 1902 (ff. 1-4).
Also included is a typescript letter, dated 29 June 1906, from W. W. Jones of Evan Jones & Co., steamship owners and brokers, Cardiff to T. W. David (f. 5), enclosing a statement of accounts (ff. 6-10) relating to the 'private affairs' of the late Joseph Parry, and to his opera, 'The Maid of Cefn Ydfa'.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically at NLW.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
For references to the first performance of 'The Maid of Cefn Ydfa' and to Parry's first letter to T. W. David, see Dulais Rhys: Joseph Parry: Bachgen Bach o Ferthyr (Cardiff, 1998), pp. 91, 116. For Parry's own observations on the completion and forthcoming performance of 'The Maid of Cefn Ydfa', see Joseph Parry: The Little Hero: The Autobiography of Joseph Parry/Yr Arwr Bach: Hunangofiant Joseph Parry (Aberystwyth, 2004), pp. 61, 63.
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 17412D.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Evan Jones & Co., Porthmadog and Cardiff (Subject)
- Grand Theatre (Cardiff, Wales) (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
May 2007.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description compiled by Bethan Ifans;