Welsh Journals

The Origin and Survival ofTunesfor the Hymns of William Williams, 'Pantycelyn' DAVID GOSDEN There is general consensus that the great reawakening associated with Llangeitho in Cardiganshire in 1762, led by the Methodist preacher Daniel Rowland (1713-90), owed its energy and its spread to the simultaneous publication of Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y Môr o Wydr ('Songs for those upon the Sea of Glass'), the fourth collection of Welsh hymns made by the great hymn-writer William Williams, 'Pantycelyn' (1717-91).1 So it is here that I shall focus this brief study of tunes and texts. Of course, I rely heavily on scholarly authorities such as Gomer Morgan Roberts, R. D. Griffith, and J. Lloyd Jones.2 Roberts, in his critical study Y Pêr Ganiedydd ('The Sweet Singer'), attracted my attention by his constant use of tentative expressions in relation to Pantycelyn's collection it is possible that'; 'it appears that'; 'perhaps'; 'doubtless'.3 This must be because documentary evidence for Pantycelyn is scarce: there are no voluminous diaries such as those left by that other founder of Welsh Methodism, Howel Harris (1714-73),4 few letters,5 and no contemporary Welsh hymn-tune collections.6 The deductions of Roberts, and before him of R. D. Griffith,7 lean on a single source: the yoking of tune names to hymn texts in the 1811 edition of Pantycelyn's poetical works, Gweithiau Prydyddawl William Williams Pantycelyn, produced by his son John.8 It is suggested that Williams Roberts (formerly of Carmarthen) chose the tunes for John Williams or served in some other musical-editing capacity.9 An example of such a pairing is the hymn 'Cymmer Iesu fi fel ydwyf ('Take me Jesus as I am') matched with the tune Helmsley (see Example 9, p. 79). 10 There are doubts about the deductions of Roberts and Griffith that may not be explored fully here, but it is clear that in several areas there is room for speculation. When I first inspected the metres that Pantycelyn introduced in Môr o Wydr, I thought them a mixed bag. I want to ask here one