"Ar Hyd y Nos" () is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

sung to a tune that was first recorded in Edward Jones' ''Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards'' (1784). The most commonly sung

lyrics were written by

John Ceiriog Hughes John Ceiriog Hughes (25 September 1832 – 23 April 1887) was a Welsh poet and collector of Welsh folk tunes, sometimes termed a Robert Burns of Wales. He was born at Penybryn Farm, overlooking the village of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in the Ce ...

(1832-1887), and have been translated into several languages, including English (most famously by Harold Boulton (1859–1935)) and

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

. One of the earliest English versions, to different Welsh lyrics by one John Jones, was by

Thomas Oliphant Thomas Oliphant is an American journalist who was the Washington correspondent and a columnist for ''The Boston Globe''. Life and career Oliphant was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from La Jolla High School in California and in 196 ...

in 1862. The melody is also used in the hymns "Go My Children With My Blessing” (1983), “God That Madest Earth and Heaven” (1827) and "Father in your Love Enfold Us". The song is highly popular with traditional Welsh

male voice choir A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...

s, and is sung by them at festivals in Wales and around the world. The song is also sometimes considered a

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

, and as such has been performed by many artists on Christmas albums, including

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

and Michael McDonald, who sang it as a duet on Newton-John's 2007 album '' Christmas Wish''.

Cerys Matthews Cerys Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the " Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s. Matthews programmes an ...

sang it solo on her 2010 album ''Tir''.

Lyrics

Singable English lyrics to the same tune were written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884:

Variations

There is evidence that the song has undergone the

folk process In the study of folklore, the folk process is the way folk material, especially stories, music, and other art, is transformed and re-adapted in the process of its transmission from person to person and from generation to generation. The folk proc ...

to some degree, yielding several similar but modified versions. In one alternative version, the second verse is substituted with: Another alternative version features a more neutral, night song text: Yet another alternative version of the second verse is as follows: A. G. Prys-Jones wrote a more literal but still singable and rhyming version: The tune is also used in the hymn "For the Fruit of All Creation" by

Fred Pratt Green The Reverend Fred Pratt Green MBE (2 September 1903 – 22 October 2000) was a British Methodist minister and hymnodist. Born in Roby, Lancashire, England, he began his ministry in the Filey circuit. He was ordained as a Methodist minister ...

. The first verse of Green's lyrics (used widely in the harvest season and at Thanksgiving) ends with these words: "For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping, / Future needs in earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God."

In popular culture

In music

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

wrote a collection of Welsh folk songs for George Thomson (1757-1831) one of which is based on Ar hyd y nos (The Live Long Night) *

Ferdinand Ries Ferdinand Ries (baptised 28 November 1784 – 13 January 1838) was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphonies, a violin concerto, nine piano concertos (the first concerto ...

used the tune and variations upon it in ''Ouverture bardique'' (WoO 24, 1815). *English composer

Cyril Scott Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...

used the tune for the first of his three ''British Melodies'' for piano (1912). *The doo-wop group

The Mystics The Mystics are an American rock and roll group that began in Brooklyn, New York, United States, in the late 1950s. The group was known as The Overons, a quintet that, when signed to Laurie Records, consisted of Phil Cracolici (born 1937, lead) ...

, in the line-up that included

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

(then recording as Jerry Landis) had a hit with a sped-up version. *

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...

sing a version on their children's album ''

Peter, Paul and Mommy ''Peter, Paul and Mommy'', released on Warner Bros. in 1969, is the trio Peter, Paul and Mary's first children's album. It contains hits like "Puff the Magic Dragon", among others. The album reached No. 12 on ''Billboard''s Top LPs chart. The si ...

''. * The chorus of

Max Boyce Maxwell Boyce, (born 27 September 1943) is a Welsh comedian, singer and entertainer. He rose to fame in the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in a South Wales mining community. B ...

's song " Hymns and Arias", frequently sung by fans of the

Wales rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played thei ...

, mentions "Ar Hyd y Nos": ''"And we were singing hymns and arias; 'Land of my Fathers', 'Ar hyd y nos'"''. * Alan Stivell sings the song in Breton, Welsh and English on his 23rd album ''

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

''. *

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

sing a version on their holiday album ''

The Last Month of the Year ''The Last Month of the Year'' is an album of Christmas music by the Kingston Trio, released in 1960 (see 1960 in music). It became the first Kingston Trio album release to fall below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation ...

''.

In film

*The film '' Knowing'', starring

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...

, features his character's wife singing the English version of the song to their child. *An

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

version of the song occurs very briefly at the end of the Vulcan/Volcano scene in

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...

's film, ''

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is a 1988 adventure fantasy film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, and starring John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Robin Williams and Uma Thurman. An interna ...

'', (1988) as Vulcan kisses Venus. It is assumed that the

Cyclopes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

/miners are the singers. *

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jonz ...

's soundtrack to the film, '' The General's Daughter'', features a version of the tune played on a

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

. *In the 1945 film version of

Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flintsh ...

' ''

The Corn Is Green ''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...

'', the children in the school are taught the English version. *In the 1949 British Ealing comedy film, ''

A Run for Your Money ''A Run for Your Money'' is a 1949 Ealing Studios comedy film starring Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards as two Welshmen visiting London for the first time. The supporting cast includes Alec Guinness, Moira Lister and Hugh Griffith. Plot Tw ...

'', starring

Donald Houston Donald Daniel Houston (6 November 1923 – 13 October 1991) was a Welsh actor whose first two films—'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) with Jean Simmons, and ''A Run for Your Money'' (1949) with Alec Guinness—were highly successful. Later in ...

, the song is sung at the Amateur Night performance and also heard as a theme on the train journey home. *The song is used in the 1940 film ''

The Proud Valley ''The Proud Valley'' is a 1940 Ealing Studios film starring Paul Robeson. Filmed in the South Wales coalfield, the principal Welsh coal mining area, the film is about a seaman who joins a mining community. It includes their passion for singing a ...

'', starring

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

In television

*The TV movie ''

A Child's Christmas in Wales ''A Child's Christmas in Wales'' is a piece of prose by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas recorded by Thomas in 1952. Emerging from an earlier piece he wrote for BBC Radio, the work is an anecdotal reminiscence of a Christmas from the viewpoint of a ...

'' features the family singing the song towards the end of the film, but in English. *In season 3 of the series ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

'', the character

Daniel Holtz Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

is frequently heard singing the English version of this song. *In the episode "Thursday's Child" in season 5 of ''

Road to Avonlea ''Road to Avonlea'' is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the ''CBC Family Hour'' anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created b ...

'', Alec King (played by Cedric Smith) sings the English version of this song to his son Daniel. However, the

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

applies to everyone else awake in the household, given the recent bout of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in the youngest daughter, Cecily, which has thrown the family into crisis. *In Season 1, Episode 3 "

Denial, Anger, Acceptance "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" is the third episode of the HBO original series ''The Sopranos''. It was written by Mark Saraceni, directed by Nick Gomez, and originally aired on January 24, 1999. Starring * James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano * Lorra ...

" of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's popular television show ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'',

Meadow Soprano Meadow Mariangela Soprano, played by Jamie-Lynn Sigler, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. She was born in 1982. In the early seasons, Meadow is introduced as a smart but spoiled party-goer, whose over-dramatic perso ...

and her choir sing the English version of the song, intercut with the mock execution of

Christopher Moltisanti Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. He is Tony Soprano's protégé and a member of the DiMeo crime family, rising from associate to captain over the course of th ...

, and the real execution of

Brendan Filone The Soprano family (originally the DiMeo family) is a fictional Italian-American crime family featured in the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' and the prequel film ''The Many Saints of Newark''. Based in New Jersey, the family consists of an administr ...

. * In Series Two, Episode 26 of ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'', the first two lines of the Welsh version are heard as an opening to a sketch about Welsh coal miners. * In Season Three, Episode 14 of ''

Shining Time Station ''Shining Time Station'' is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the Ame ...

'', ''Stacy Forgets Her Name'', Grace and Rex in the Jukebox Band sing the first section of their lullaby medley to help Stacy Jones who has lost her memory. *In season 2, episode 4 of the American television series ''

The Alienist ''The Alienist'' is a crime novel by Caleb Carr first published in 1994 and is the first book in the Kreizler series. It takes place in New York City in 1896, and includes appearances by many famous figures of New York society in that era, inc ...

,'' nurse Libby Hatch is humming the melody as she is seen lying next to the Matron she just killed.

In video games

*Chapter IV of the 2015 video game '' The Order: 1886'' features the Sir Harold Boulton lyrics of the folk song on a collectible wax cylinder in the psychiatric ward of the

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...

Sheet music gallery

Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) 01.jpg, Page 1 ''Ar Hyd y Nos'' in ''Welsh Melodies for the Harp'' by John Thomas Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) 02.jpg, Pages 2–3 ''Ar Hyd y Nos'' in ''Welsh Melodies for the Harp'' by John Thomas Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) 03.jpg, Pages 4–5 ''Ar Hyd y Nos'' in ''Welsh Melodies for the Harp'' by John Thomas Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) 04.jpg, Pages 6–7 ''Ar Hyd y Nos'' in ''Welsh Melodies for the Harp'' by John Thomas

References

External links

*
Verse and prose translations
{{authority control Welsh folk songs Christmas carols Glen Campbell songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs Lullabies