Maria Jane Williams (c.1795 – 10 November 1873) was a 19th-century
Welsh musician and
folklorist born at
Aberpergwm House
Aberpergwm House ( cy, Aberpergwm) is an abandoned and ruinous country house located in Glynneath, Wales. Within the grounds of the house sits the church of St. Cadoc, which is possibly of late medieval origin. Newman, J., ‘The Buildings of W ...
,
Glynneath
Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley of the River Neath"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in th ...
in
Glamorgan, South
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. She rescued many Welsh songs from obscurity, including ''
Y Deryn Pur (The Gentle Bird)'' and ''Y Ferch o'r Sger.''
Life
Maria Jane Williams was born in either 1794 or 1795,
at
Aberpergwm House
Aberpergwm House ( cy, Aberpergwm) is an abandoned and ruinous country house located in Glynneath, Wales. Within the grounds of the house sits the church of St. Cadoc, which is possibly of late medieval origin. Newman, J., ‘The Buildings of W ...
, Glynneath. She was the second daughter of Rees Williams (d. 1812) of Aberpergwm in the Vale of Neath, Glamorganshire, by his wife Ann Jenkins of Fforest Ystradfellte. She lived in
Blaen Baglan but in her later years, at a house called Ynys-las, near Aberpergwm House. She died in 1873 and is buried at St
Cadoc
Saint Cadoc or Cadog ( lat-med, Cadocus; also Modern Welsh: Cattwg; born or before) was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the British church as a centre of learni ...
’s Church in the grounds of
Aberpergwm House
Aberpergwm House ( cy, Aberpergwm) is an abandoned and ruinous country house located in Glynneath, Wales. Within the grounds of the house sits the church of St. Cadoc, which is possibly of late medieval origin. Newman, J., ‘The Buildings of W ...
.
Education and scholarly studies
Maria Jane Williams was well educated, a supporter of the
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...
and traditions and had an extensive knowledge of music.
She was especially acclaimed for her singing
[Davies, J., Jenkins, N., Baines, M., Lynch, P. I., ‘The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales’, University of Wales Press Cardiff, 2008, (hardback), (paperback)] and was an accomplished player of the
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
, and the
harp, having been taught by the famous harpist Parish-Alvars.
Henry Fothergill Chorley said that she was "the most exquisite amateur singer he had ever heard"
She acquired the name ‘Llinos’ (the Welsh word for
linnet
The common linnet (''Linaria cannabina'') is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, ''Linaria'', from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English n ...
), and was associated with the Welsh cultural society known as
Cymreigyddion y Fenni and made her home a focus for ‘
Celtic Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
’ enthusiasts.
Book of Fairy Tales
In 1826–7 she made a collection of the fairy tales of the Vale of Neath, which was published in the supplemental volume of
Crofton Croker
Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) was an Irish antiquary, best known for his ''Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland'' (1825–1828), and who also showed considerable interest in Irish song and music. ...
's ‘Irish Fairy Legends’ and subsequently reprinted in an abridged form in the ‘Fairy Mythology’ of
Thomas Keightley
Thomas Keightley (17 October 1789 – 4 November 1872) was an Irish writer known for his works on mythology and folklore, particularly ''Fairy Mythology'' (1828), later reprinted as ''The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little ...
who had suggested that she should make the collection.
Book of Welsh folk songs
The fourth
eisteddfod
In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music.
The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, ac ...
at
Abergavenny in October 1837 was under the patronage of
Lady Llanover
Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover (21 March 1802 – 17 January 1896), born Augusta Waddington, was a Welsh heiress, best known as a patron of the Welsh arts.
Early life
She was born on 21 March 1802, near Abergavenny, the youngest daughter of ...
, who later became her friend.
At this event she was awarded the prize for the best collection of unpublished Welsh music. It was published in 1844 under the title of ‘The Ancient National Airs of
Gwent and
Morgannwg
Morgannwg was a medieval Welsh kingdom formed via the merger of the kingdoms of the Kingdom of Glywysing and the Kingdom of Gwent.
Formation of Morgannwg
First under King Morgan the Generous (fl. ) until the end of the reign of his descendant ...
’. Despite later criticisms this book remains an important contribution to the knowledge of traditional Welsh music.
The book contains 43 songs with Welsh words and accompaniments for the harp or piano.
[http://www.tradsong.org/MJWILL99.PDF Retrieved 22 February 2010] and also provides notes on the songs and a list of persons for whom copies of the work had been printed, which evidenced how well patronised Welsh
folk song was during this period.
The book has since been re-issued by the
Welsh Folk Song Society
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 ...
with a contemporary introduction and notes by
Daniel Huws.
Through this collection she rescued many songs, the best known being ''Y Deryn Pur (The Gentle Dove)'' and ''Y Ferch o'r Sger (The Maid of Sker)''.
In October 1838, at the ensuing Eisteddfod, she won a prize for the best arrangement of any Welsh air for four voices
Lucy Broadwood
Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (9 August 1858 – 22 August 1929) was an English folksong collector and researcher, and great-granddaughter of John Broadwood, founder of the piano manufacturers Broadwood and Sons. As one of the founder members of the Fo ...
, an ex-president and mentor of the
Folk Song Society
The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...
, and one of the earliest collectors of Celtic folk songs, in a scathing attack on the folklorists of the day, claimed that during the period 1800 to 1850, in Wales, as in the rest of
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, ‘a mass of "traditional" and so-called "
Druidical" songs was published which does not bear critical investigation.’ She claimed, however, that Maria Jane Williams was one of only two people in Britain at this time who were the exception to this rule.
Maria Jane Williams claimed that: ‘The songs were given as...obtained,...in their wild and original state; no embellishments of the
melody have been attempted, and the accompanying words are those sung to the airs.’
[Williams, M., J., Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg (A Facsimile of the 1844 Edition with Introduction and Notes on the songs by Daniel Huws), The Welsh Folk Song Society, 1988, reprinted 1994, ]
Maria Jane Williams also assisted
John Parry to produce the ‘
Welsh Harper’ and
John Thomas consulted her before publishing his two volumes of Welsh airs.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Maria Jane
1790s births
1873 deaths
British performers of early music
Women performers of early music
Welsh folk musicians
19th-century Welsh women singers
Welsh philanthropists
People from Glamorgan
19th-century British philanthropists