About the Author

Aeres Twigg is a retired historian and lives in Carmarthen, west Wales.

Reviews

English review below Yn 1856 y cyfansoddwyd ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’, sydd bellach nid yn unig yn anthem genedlaethol Cymru ond hefyd yn anthem Llydaw er 1902, ac yn boblogaidd yng Nghernyw a Bryniau Casia yn ogystal. Adroddir hanes y gân yn fanwl o’r dechreuadau ym Mhontypridd, pan ddaeth Evan James i Bontypridd o Gaerffili i redeg melin wlân, hyd heddiw. Dywedir bod James James, ei fab, ac yntau yn ddim ond dwy ar hugain oed, yn cerdded glan afon Rhondda ar fore Sul yn Ionawr 1856 pan ddaeth yr alaw iddo. Yn fuan ar ôl gofyn i’w dad lunio geiriau i’w canu arni, fe gafwyd penillion gwladgarol addas. Adroddir sut y bu i boblogrwydd y gân ledu’n gyflym, sut y cafodd ei mabwysiadu gan yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, a'i chyhoeddi mewn casgliad o alawon Cymreig traddodiadol. Ceir disgrifiad o’r modd y bu i dref Pontypridd gofnodi’r cyfansoddiad enwog hwn drwy gerflun ac arysgrif, a sut yr enwyd ysgol gynradd Gymraeg y dref ar ôl cyfansoddwr y gerddoriaeth, Evan James. Dyma gyfrol ddiddorol a chryno ar hanes ein hanthem genedlaethol. * * * Pontypridd may well be the old home town of Tom Jones, but it is also the home of ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’, the Welsh national anthem. This booklet sets out to narrate the story of how the tune `Glan Rhondda’ was composed one Sunday morning in January 1856 by James James, a twenty-two year old, as he strolled along the banks of the river Rhondda in Pontypridd. He sang the tune to his father Evan James who was asked to compose patriotic verses to fit the tune. The original manuscript is now kept in the National Library of Wales. The song soon became popular at local concerts and eisteddfodau and was introduced into the canon of Welsh airs and published in Gems of Welsh Melody which appeared in 1860. Evan James has now been immortalised by the naming of Pontypridd’s Welsh-medium primary school after him, and the anthem is commemorated by plaques and statues within the town. A slightly distasteful element is included in the booklet with the inclusion of an English parody of the Welsh words accompanied by cartoons in a similar vein.
*Dafydd Ifans @ www.gwales.com*