Джозеф Парри: Жизнь и творчество валлийского композитора

Welsh composer
the Welsh musician

Joseph Parry (21 May 1841 – 17 February 1903) was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of "Myfanwy" and the hymn tune "Aberystwyth". Parry was also the first Welshman to compose an opera; his composition, Blodwen, was the first opera in the Welsh language. Born into a large family, Parry left school to work in the local coal mines when he was nine years of age. He then went to work at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, where his father was also employed. In 1854 the family emigrated to the United States, settling at Danville, Pennsylvania, where Parry again found employment at an iron works. Though Parry had a great interest in music, he had no opportunity to study it until there was a temporary closure of the Rough and Ready Iron Works. Some of his co workers were also musicians, and they offered music lessons while the iron works was closed. Parry joined a music sight reading class taught by one of the men. He continued to study harmony with another co worker, and learned how to read and write while he was learning about harmony. Parry soon began submitting compositions to eisteddfodau in Wales and the United States and winning awards. During a return visit to Wales for the National Eisteddfod at Llandudno, Parry was offered two music scholarships, but was unable to accept due to family obligations. A fund was established for the support of Parry and his family while he studied music. Parry went on to receive a doctorate in music from the University of Cambridge; he was the first Welshman to receive bachelor's and doctor's degrees in music from the University. He returned to Wales in 1874 to become the first professor of music at Aberystwyth University, later accepting a position at Cardiff University.

Parry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1841, the seventh of eight children of Daniel (1800–1866) and Elizabeth Parry (née Richards, 1806–1886). The family was musically inclined, with all family members singing in the chapel choir. By age 12, Parry was working at the puddling furnaces of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, where his father also worked. Danville had a large Welsh community and he became involved in strengthening Welsh culture locally, attending the Congregational Chapel and the Sunday school. Parry also served as the organist for the Mahoning Presbyterian Church in Danville; the organ he played is still in service. Although he had sung in church choirs in Wales and the United States, Parry received no formal music lessons until he was 17 and living in Danville. efn|Parry was a member of Rosser Beynon's choir as a small boy and was a member of his church choir in Danville. During this time, Parry also learned to play the harmonium. During this visit, Parry and his friends who had accompanied him to Wales travelled the country giving concerts of Parry's own works. They were well received throughout the land. He received his doctorate from Cambridge in 1878. At the time a candidate was required to compose a short oratorio and to have the work publicly performed; the normal method was to have one of the college Chapel Choirs perform the oratorio. But Parry obtained the services of many Welsh singers; 100 made the trip to Cambridge to perform Parry's oratorio. When Parry resigned his position at Aberystwyth University in 1880, he opened his own academy of music in the town. In 1881, the Parry family left Aberystwyth for Swansea, where Parry became the organist at Ebenezer Chapel and was head of a musical college he founded. When he was offered a chair at Cardiff University in 1888, Parry and his family moved to the nearby town of Penarth. He lectured and taught at the university and was known as "Y Doctor Mawr" ("The Great Doctor"). Parry became a candidate for principal of the Guildhall School of Music in 1896; the vacancy was due to the death of Sir Joseph Barnby. Officials of the city of Cardiff, colleagues and students at Cardiff University, as well as Parry's former teachers wrote letters to the School of Music Committee in support of his election to the position. There were 38 applicants for the position; the field was reduced to two candidates through a series of ballots by the Court of Common Council. Parry was no longer under consideration after the first round of reductions. He remained at the university and continued his work as an eisteddfod adjudicator, a conductor at Cymanfaoedd Canu, and as a performer and lecturer throughout Wales and the United States until the time of his death. The couple had three sons and two daughters. The older children were born when the family was still living in Danville; only Parry's youngest child was born in Wales. Two of Parry's three sons died after the family moved to Penarth. Parry's youngest son, William, died in 1892; his oldest son, Joseph Haydn, died two years later. While all of Parry's children are said to have had musical talent, his eldest, Joseph Haydn, followed in his father's footsteps as a composer and teacher. Later in 1894, Parry and his wife hoped a trip to the US would help ease some of the sadness over the deaths of their two sons. Though the Parrys would be visiting family, he believed he should be available to the public during the visit since many people in the US had helped him financially when he was studying music in England. Parry's last journey to the United States in 1898 included a visit to Salt Lake City, where he adjudicated at the third Salt Lake eisteddfod which was held in the Mormon Tabernacle. His last major work, an opera entitled The Maid of Cefn Ydfa, premiered at the Grand Theatre in Cardiff in late December 1902. Since his compositions were based primarily on Welsh subjects, many of Parry's friends believed it would have been to his advantage to have settled in London, where there were more cosmopolitan experiences to draw inspiration from. David Jenkins, who was a student and assistant to Parry at Aberystwyth, described him as impulsive and unable to criticise his own works, too erratic to be a good conductor and too impatient for all but advanced students, but with a boyish enthusiasm, especially for music. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who also worked with Parry, also noted his great enthusiasm and described him as a man of great musical ability.

About two weeks before his death, Parry became suddenly ill. The medical condition was serious enough to warrant surgery. An operation was performed and a full recovery was expected. Some days after the surgery, it was necessary to perform a second operation due to complications. Parry developed a high fever from blood poisoning a few days after the second surgery. There was a slight rally, but Parry continued to have relapses and grew steadily weaker. Parry died at his Penarth home on 17 February 1903. His last composition was written during his final illness a tribute to his wife, Jane, entitled Dear Wife. At least 7,000 people from all parts of the country gathered in Penarth for the funeral of Joseph Parry. They lined the route from Parry's home to Christ Church, where the family worshipped and to the churchyard at St Augustine's. His family and friends were joined by officials from the city of Cardiff, faculty and students from Cardiff University, representatives from the National Eisteddfod and many members of various choirs throughout Wales. Ministers of various denominations were also part of those gathered to pay respects to Parry. He was buried on the north side of St Augustine's Churchyard, Penarth. Parry's monument is a marble column topped by a lyre with seven strings, with the strings representing the members of Parry's family. Two of the seven strings of the lyre are broken to represent the deaths of his two sons, who died before Parry. Shortly after his death, a national fund was established in Parry's name. This was meant to provide support for his widow, Jane, through an annual annuity; any funds remaining after Jane's death were to be used to provide a national music scholarship named for Parry.

Parry was a prolific composer; one of his early works, "My Childhood Dreams", was published while he was living in Danville. Despite his penchant for composing, most of his major works were not commercially successful. His oratorio, Saul of Tarsus, was commissioned for the National Eisteddfod at Rhyl in 1892, and was somewhat successful. Parry is believed to have composed 27 complete works, among them ten operas, five cantatas and two oratorios, as well as many songs and hymns. During Parry's lifetime, many of his works remained unpublished; the shelves of his study held stacks of manuscripts. A friend of Parry's talked with him about the possibility of losing all of his manuscripts if there was a fire and suggested Parry needed a safe to store his manuscripts in. When Parry said he could not afford to buy a safe, the friend gave him one as a gift. The church was successful in obtaining the copyright to Aberystwyth and more than 60 other hymns and anthems written by Parry. In 1916, Parry's widow, Jane, sold the rights to all works which Parry owned the copyrights of to Snell and Sons, music publishers, for £1150.

The music, written by Parry, was first published in 1879 by Stephen and Jones in Ail Lyfr Tonau ac Emynau (English tr. Second Book of Tunes and Hymns). It was paired with Charles Wesley's words, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul", and first sung at the English Congregational Church in Portland Street in Aberystwyth, where Parry worked as an organist. efn|Experts on Parry disagree about when the song was written: while Parry was the organist at the church or during his earlier years. At the time, very few people in Wales had seen an opera, and they had no idea what it was like. The opera programmes provided explanations, especially that the singers would wear costumes but would not be acting. Those who were members of Welsh nonconformist churches needed reassurance that this was not a theatrical performance, as acting and theatres were held in as much contempt as taverns. Despite this, there were some clergymen who were not pleased. Soon after the first performance of Blodwen, a local couple named their baby daughter after the opera's heroine. There were no recorded instances of any children being named Blodwen until after the premiere of Parry's opera. Records show the great popularity of the name for girls and also the popularity of Howell, the name of the hero, for boys. The opera was successful, with a further 500 performances worldwide by 1896. Parry's work was published in 1875, with Parry selling all rights to the song to a publisher for £12. It remains a standard in repertoires of Welsh male choirs today.

Parry was also involved in music related publishing. Beginning in 1861, he was a regular contributor of Tonic sol fa material to the Welsh music journal, Y cerddor Cymreig. Parry's work with making Tonic sol fa accessible allowed everyone with an interest in choral work to participate. He edited Cambrian Minstrelsie (A National Collection of Welsh Songs) in 1893. He also compiled Dr Parry's Book of Songs, which was a collection of his own works, and wrote Elfenau Cerddoriaeth ("Elements of Music"), a Welsh handbook on theory, in 1888. In 1895, Parry entered into an agreement with an American music publishing firm, the John Church Company. The company published some of Parry's songs along with English translations of poems by Heinrich Heine. The translations were done by poets of note, including James Thomson. Since it is doubtful that Parry was familiar with Heine's work, there is the possibility that Parry was commissioned by the company to write the songs during an extensive US trip he had made the year before. Additionally Parry wrote what might very well be the first original work for brass band by an established composer, his "Tydfil Overture" (c. 1874 80 – i. e. pace Percy Fletcher's tone poem Labour and Love of 1913). It has been recorded by the John Wallace Collection.

The cottage at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, where Parry was born, is now open to the public as a museum. The row of cottages was attached to the Bethesda Chapel, where the family attended services. There are two bedrooms upstairs with the kitchen and another bedroom downstairs. The Parry family lived here with two lodgers until emigrating to the United States in 1854. The chapel and its attached cottages were slated for demolition in 1977; efforts by the local council and students from Cyfarthfa High School saved the row of cottages, but not the Bethesda Chapel. In 1979, the Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Trust opened the cottage to the public. Exhibitions were installed upstairs in 1986 and restoration of the ground floor was completed in 1990. Parry's home was refurbished in 2016 through funds from a local company and was reopened to the public beginning on what would have been the composer's 175th birthday. The home is now part of the Cyfarthfa Heritage Area.

Parry is warmly remembered, particularly at the Mahoning Presbyterian Church in Danville, where he served as organist and choirmaster. Each time he visited the US, Parry returned to the church to play the organ. The Susquehanna Valley Welsh Society holds an annual Cymanfa Canu in his honour at the church on the Sunday nearest his May 21 birthday. A plaque has been placed at one of his homes in Danville; the community marked the centenary of his death at the local Danville Festival by a memorial concert of Parry's works.