Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/84

 impetus to musical studies in Wales. He proceeded Mus.Doc. at Cambridge in 1878, his exercise, a cantata, 'Jerusalem,' being performed by a Welsh choir from Aberdare. When the Aberystwyth professorship was discontinued in 1879 (, University of Wales, pp. 121, 133), Parry kept a private school of music, first at Aberystwyth and then (1881-8) at Swansea. In 1888 he was appointed lecturer, and subsequently professor of music, at the University College, Cardiff, which he held (together with the directorship of a private musical institute in the town) till his death at his residence, Cartref, Penarth, on 17 Feb. 1903. He was buried at St. Augustine's, Penarth. Joseph Parry was a most prolific composer. One of his first published pieces was a song, 'My Childhood's Dreams,' issued from Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1865 (Cerddor Cymreig, Sept. 1865, p. 69). His opera ' Blodwen,' with Welsh words by Richard Davies (Mynyddog), performed from MS. at Aberystwyth and Aberdare in 1878, and later at the Alexandra Palace, London, but not published tiU 1888 (Swansea), has been performed hundreds of times in Wales, most often, however, as a cantata. It was the first opera performed in the Welsh language. His other operas include 'Virginia,' written in 1882 but still in MS., based on incidents in the American civil war; 'Sylvia' (1889), the words by his son, David Mendelssohn; 'Ceridwen,' a one-act dramatic cantata, first performed at the Liverpool eisteddfod, 1900; and 'The Maid of Cefn Ydfa' (words by Joseph Bennett), first produced by the Moody Manners Co. at the Grand Theatre, Cardiff, on 14 Dec. 1902. Parry was also the author of two oratorios, 'Emmanuel,' performed at St. James's Hall, London, in 1880, but not published till 1882 (Swansea), and 'Saul of Tarsus,' first performed at the Rhyl eisteddfod on 8 Sept. 1892 (pubUshed London, 1893); also the following cantatas, 'The Birds' (Wrexham, 1873); 'Nebuchadnezzar' (London, 1884); 'Cambria' (first performed at the Llandudno eisteddfod, 1896); 'Joseph' (Swansea, 1881). His contributions to sacred music include some 400 hymn tunes, the best known being 'Aberystwyth,' composed on 3 July 1877 for the second volume (1879) of the Welsh Congregationalists' Hymnal of Edward Stephen (Tanymarian) [q. v.] This and sixty-six other tunes and a number of short anthems were published by Parry in 1892 as a Welsh national tune-book. The copyright in these and in a Sunday-school tune-book ('Telyn yr Ysgol Sul,' first published in 1877) was acquired after Dr. Parry's death by the Welsh Congregational Union, to which connexion Parry belonged. The appearance of his anthems resulted in a great advance in Welsh sacred music, and his setting of 'The Lord is my Shepherd' is said to rival Schubert's. He edited and harmonised the music of a 'National Collection of Welsh Songs,' entitled 'Cambrian Minstrelsie' (Edinburgh, 6 vols. 1893). He also brought out a collection of his own songs, 'Dr. Parry's Book of Songs' (in five parts with portrait of the author), and issued a Welsh handbook on theory, being part i. of an intended series on music ('ELfenau Cerddoriaeth,' Cardiff, 1888). Parry married (at Danville) Jane daughter of Gomer Thomas, who survived him with one son, David Mendelssohn, and two daughters. Of two sons who predeceased him, William Stemdale (1872-1892) and (1864-1894), the latter, who showed much musical promise, was appointed professor at the Guildhall school of music in 1890, and composed, among other works, 'Cigarette,' a comic opera (the libretto by his brother, David Mendelssohn Parry), produced on 15 Aug. 1892 at the Theatre Royal, Cardiff, and in September at the Lyric Theatre, London, and 'Miami,' a more ambitious work, set to an adaptation of ' The Green Bushes,' and produced 16 Oct. 1893 at the Princess's Theatre, London ( Dict. of Music and Musicians, 1907, v. 499; Western Mail, 30 March 1894; Annual Register, 1894, p. 157 ;, Notable Welshmen, 432). [For his life to 1868 see contemporary references in the Welsh musical monthly, Y Cerddor Cymreig, between 1865 and 1871 (see especially that for 1871, pp. 65-7); articles by his pupil. Prof. David Jenkins, Mus.Bac. Aberystwyth, in Y Cerddor for March 1903 (p. 27), Feb. 1904 (p. 16), and April 1911, and by Mr. D. Emlyn Evans in the same magazine for December 1903, p. 130; the Welsh American weekly, Y Drych (Utica), for 26 Feb., 19 and 26 March 1903, and subsequent issues (not always trustworthy); The Times, and Western Mail (Cardiff), 18 Feb. 1903; T. R. Roberts's Eminent Welshmen, 1907, p. 403 (with photo.); Grove's Dict. of Music and Musicians (1907); Baker's Biog. Dict. of Music, 1900 (with portrait); and Y Geninen for 1903, p. 73, and for 1906, p. 237; Cymru, xxxii. 168.]