WILLIAMS
,
EVAN
(
1706
-
?
),
harpist
;
b. at
Llangybi, Caerns.
(The following entry is in the baptisms register of
Llangybi church
— ‘
September about 29
was baptized
Evan
, son of
Humphrey
Robert
(
Singer
) and
Jane
Griffith
his wife
.’ Nothing is known of his youth. He was an excellent
harpist
. Like many
Welsh
musicians
he went to
London
(
c.
1740
). He assisted
John
Parry
(q.v.)
,
Ruabon
, to collect material for and bring out his
Antient British Music
,
1742
. He settled in
London
as
teacher of the harp
and obtained a post as
harpist in a church
; from references made to him by
William
Morris
(q.v.)
it would appear that he
played the organ
also. In the (
Welsh
)
Book of Common Prayer
, edited by
Richard
Morris
(
1770
), are twenty-four psalm-tunes, the first printed tunes made available for use by
Welsh
people.
Evan
Williams
performed a valuable service by arranging sixteen of these tunes in the common measure (8.6.8.6.), so that the metrical psalms of
archdeacon
Edmund
Prys
(q.v.)
, which were 8.7.8.7., could be sung to them. He also composed eight tunes in
Prys
's ‘New Measure’,
8.7.8.7. These were the first tunes composed by a
Welshman
to be published. With the tunes is also given, for the first time, instructions on how to sing. The
Morris
brothers of
Anglesey
refer to
Evan
William
in their letters. It is not known when he died. His name appears in the
Cymmrodorion
list of members for
1762
, but is not in that for
1777-8
.
Bibliography:
-
J. Lloyd Williams
,
Y tri thelynor arloeswyr cerddorol Cymru yn
y ddeunawfed ganrif
, 1945
;
-
R. D. Griffith
,
Hanes canu cynulleidfaol Cymru
,
Cardiff, 1948
;
-
Caernarvonshire Historical Society
Transactions
,
1948
.
Author:
Robert David Griffith, M.A., (1877-1958), Old Colwyn
