EDWARDS, PETER (Pedr Alaw ; 1854-1934), musician;
b. at Castle Cottage, Rhuddlan, Flints., son of John and Elizabeth Edwards. Educated at the Rhuddlan national school, he showed when quite young a fondness for music and learnt the tonic sol-fa system when he was a member of the choir of his chapel. After leaving school he worked in the office of a timber merchant at Rhyl, proceeding thence to similar work in Liverpool; there, at Bootle, he conducted a children's choir. An anthem which he composed for a Liverpool eisteddfod was awarded the prize by Owain Alaw (John Owen, 1821-1883, q.v.). After five years in Liverpool he worked at Barrow-in-Furness, removing in 1877 to London as a shorthand writer to a firm of timber merchants. He attended music classes at Birkbeck College and at Trinity College of Music under Turpin and Karn. He conducted choirs and children's musical festivals, and wrote notes on music to the London Kelt. He composed cantatas: ‘Gareth ac Eiluned,’ ‘Cantawd y Blodau’; published Anthemydd y Cysegr; and wrote several hymn-tunes and chants (see his Llyfr o 300 o Salm-donau). In 1912 he emigrated to the U.S.A.; he subsequently graduated Mus. Bac. (Toronto). Entering the Anglican ministry, he was appointed assistant priest at the cathedral church of Lisbon, North Dakota. In 1932 he became assistant priest in the church of S. Luke, Chicago. He d. 23 July 1934 and was buried in Graceland cemetery, Chicago.
Bibliography:
- Cerddor y Cymry, Sept. 1891;
- Y Cerddor, Oct. 1921;
- Y Drych, 1934.
Author:
Robert David Griffith, M.A., (1877-1958), Old Colwyn
