David Evans (6 February

1874 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...

– 17 May

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

) was a Welsh musician, academic and composer. Evans was born at Resolven, Glamorgan. He worked in the coal industry as a teenager, but music was always his primary interest. He won a music scholarship and became a pupil of Joseph Parry, which led to his qualifying at

University of Wales, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

, in 1895. He went on to become organist and choirmaster of Jewin Calvinistic Methodist Church in London. He succeeded Joseph Parry, his former teacher, in the Music department at Cardiff, where he was appointed a professor in 1908. Among his students there were

Morfydd Owen Morfydd Llwyn Owen (1 October 1891 – 7 September 1918) was a Welsh composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano. A prolific composer, as well as a member of influential intellectual circles, she died shortly before her 27th birthday. Early life a ...

, Grace Williams and David Wynne. Most of his compositions were of a religious nature, including many hymns. Evans edited the revised edition of the Church of Scotland's

Church Hymnary Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General As ...

in 1927. Notably, it is in this publication that he combined an old

Irish folk song Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

with a versified English translation of an 8th-century Irish poem to produce the now widely known

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

hymn, " Be Thou My Vision". One of his original hymn tunes, ''Lucerna Laudoniae'', was used to set the words For The Beauty of the Earth. It was initially written under the pseudonym Edward Arthur. Aside from hymns, Evans wrote anthems and service music as well as many orchestral and choral works. The oratorio ''Llawenhewch yn yr Iôr'' was first performed at the Caernarfon Festival in 1906 and a dramatic cantata ''The Coming of Arthur'', was premiered at the Cardiff Triennial Festival the following year. His orchestral ''Concerto for String Orchestra'' op 7, was published as part of the

Carnegie Collection of British Music __NOTOC__ The Carnegie Collection of British Music was founded in 1917 by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, Carnegie Trust to encourage the publication of large scale British musical works. Composers were asked to submit their manuscripts to an a ...

in 1928. Some compositions attributed to him were in fact written by his eldest son, Arthur, who died in the influenza pandemic of 1918. Evans participated actively in the Eisteddfod movement. He died at

Rhosllannerchrugog RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the histor ...

. His papers are held by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

''David Evans (Musician) Papers'' at the National Library of Wales archive
/ref> and some by his grandson, also named David Evans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, David 1874 births 1948 deaths Welsh composers Welsh male composers Alumni of Cardiff University