Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
James James
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Browse piano sheets by James James on Zen Virtual Piano. In January 1856 two Pontypridd men, father and son, made what became the Welsh national anthem: Evan James wrote the words, and James James composed the melody. Weaving and wool-trading were Evan James's trades; he ran the Ancient Druid Inn at Argoed, where his son was born, and the family left for Pontypridd soon afterwards, where he owned a woollen factory on Mill Street. A song born between a father and son suggests that its roots lay in family and local life rather than in a grand occasion. James James was a musician who earned his living playing the harp in the inns of Pontypridd, competed in many eisteddfodau around the Pontypridd area and held the bardic name Iago ap Ieuan. The earliest copy of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau appears in a manuscript of instrumental and choral music he collected himself between 1849 and 1863, which also contains a four-part version of God Save the Queen, with one verse in Welsh, adapted by him. A collection that mixes instrumental and choral music with an adapted royal anthem hints at the tastes of the Pontypridd area in his day. By legend, he worked the tune out in his head on a walk along the river in his home town, in late 1855 or early 1856. A singer called Elizabeth John from Pontypridd gave the first performance in the vestry of Capel Tabor in Maesteg in January or February 1856, and the song soon became popular in the locality. He also entered the air, titled Glanrhondda, in a collection of unpublished airs submitted under the pseudonym Orpheus to the 1858 national eisteddfod at Llangollen. A tune that, by legend, began as a walk by the river and ended up as a national song may show how a local piece can travel. The tune was originally meant to be played at a much faster pace to allow dancing, and was slowed down when choirs sang or performed it. Large sales of a volume that retitled Glan Rhondda as Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau secured the anthem's popularity throughout Wales. He ran pubs at Walnut Tree Bridge and in Mountain Ash; his death came on January 11, 1902, at 6 Hawthorne Terrace, Aberdare, and he lies in Aberdare cemetery. A memorial to father and son, by Sir William Goscombe John, was unveiled in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, on July 23, 1930. A dance tune slowed down for choirs may suggest that the anthem's character changed once choirs took it up. A memorial unveiled in 1930, after James James's death in 1902, may suggest that the song and its makers stayed remembered.
Browse piano sheets by James James on Zen Virtual Piano.
In January 1856 two Pontypridd men, father and son, made what became the Welsh national anthem: Evan James wrote the words, and James James composed the melody. Weaving and wool-trading were Evan James's trades; he ran the Ancient Druid Inn at Argoed, where his son was born, and the family left for Pontypridd soon afterwards, where he owned a woollen factory on Mill Street. A song born between a father and son suggests that its roots lay in family and local life rather than in a grand occasion.
James James was a musician who earned his living playing the harp in the inns of Pontypridd, competed in many eisteddfodau around the Pontypridd area and held the bardic name Iago ap Ieuan. The earliest copy of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau appears in a manuscript of instrumental and choral music he collected himself between 1849 and 1863, which also contains a four-part version of God Save the Queen, with one verse in Welsh, adapted by him. A collection that mixes instrumental and choral music with an adapted royal anthem hints at the tastes of the Pontypridd area in his day.
By legend, he worked the tune out in his head on a walk along the river in his home town, in late 1855 or early 1856. A singer called Elizabeth John from Pontypridd gave the first performance in the vestry of Capel Tabor in Maesteg in January or February 1856, and the song soon became popular in the locality. He also entered the air, titled Glanrhondda, in a collection of unpublished airs submitted under the pseudonym Orpheus to the 1858 national eisteddfod at Llangollen. A tune that, by legend, began as a walk by the river and ended up as a national song may show how a local piece can travel.
The tune was originally meant to be played at a much faster pace to allow dancing, and was slowed down when choirs sang or performed it. Large sales of a volume that retitled Glan Rhondda as Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau secured the anthem's popularity throughout Wales. He ran pubs at Walnut Tree Bridge and in Mountain Ash; his death came on January 11, 1902, at 6 Hawthorne Terrace, Aberdare, and he lies in Aberdare cemetery. A memorial to father and son, by Sir William Goscombe John, was unveiled in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, on July 23, 1930. A dance tune slowed down for choirs may suggest that the anthem's character changed once choirs took it up. A memorial unveiled in 1930, after James James's death in 1902, may suggest that the song and its makers stayed remembered.
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Common questions
James James, also known as Iago ap Ieuan, was a nineteenth-century Welsh harpist from Pontypridd who composed the melody of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau.
His father, Evan James, wrote the words in January 1856.
It was first performed by Elizabeth John in the vestry of Capel Tabor in Maesteg in January or February 1856.
A memorial to father and son by Sir William Goscombe John was unveiled in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, in 1930.