WILLIAMS, ROBERT HERBERT (Corfanydd; (1805 - 1876), musician
Pseudonym: Corfanydd
Date of birth: 1805
Date of death: 1876
Gender: Male
Occupation: musician
Area of activity: Music
Author: Robert David Griffith
Born in the parish of Bangor, Caernarfonshire. The parents moved to Liverpool when the son was quite young. Brought up as a clothier, he established a business in Basnett Street, Williamson Square. When he was only 17 he composed a hymn-tune ' Deisyfiad,' known later as ' Dymuniad.' This appeared first in Y Drysorfa, January 1835; it was published later in Casgliad o Donau (J. Ambrose Lloyd), 1843. Some doubts were expressed as to who had composed this tune but John Roberts (Ieuan Gwyllt), J. Ambrose Lloyd, William Ambrose (Emrys), and William Evans (under whose conductorship it had been sung first, at Tabernacle chapel, Liverpool) testified that it was the work of Corfanydd. He wrote other hymn-tunes and published a small collection in 1848 under the title of Alawydd Trefriw. For some years he lived at Drogheda, Ireland. He returned to Liverpool for a while and then, owing to ill-health, went to live in a house called Corfandy, Menai Bridge, where he died 20 November 1876; he was buried in Llantysilio churchyard.
Author
- Robert David Griffith, (1877 - 1958)
- Y Cerddor Cymreig (1861-1873), 1866 and 1868
- Y Cerddor, May 1893
- M. O. Jones, Bywgraffiaeth Cerddorion Cymreig (1890)
Sources
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/
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