Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
hyrwyddo a dathlu cerddoriaeth Cymru
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David de Lloyd
1883-1948
Ganed David de Lloyd yn Sgiwen ar 30 Ebrill 1883, ond fe’i maged ym Mhenparcau, Aberystwyth. Amlygodd ddawn gerddorol yn ifanc iawn, gan ddatblygu medrusrwydd arbennig yn nodiant y tonic sol-ffa. Aeth John Spencer Curwen, pennaeth y Coleg Tonic Sol-ffa, â’r bachgen ifanc ar daith ddarlithio er mwyn arddangos posibiliadau’r nodiant hwnnw. Enillodd de Lloyd ysgoloriaeth o ysgol Ardwyn i Goleg Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth, a graddio mewn hanes yn 1903. Yna yn 1905 ef oedd y myfyriwr cyntaf i ennill gradd BMus Prifysgol Cymru, a chasglwyd arian yn lleol iddo allu parhau â’i astudiaethau yn Leipzig yn 1906–07.
Cafodd gyfnodau yn athro ysgol yn Woolwich ac yn Llanelli. Yn ystod ei flynyddoedd yn Llanelli gweithredodd fel golygydd cerdd y casgliad o emynau thonau, Cân a Moliant (1916), a baratowyd gan H. Haydn Jones, Aelod Seneddol Meirionnydd. Mae’r casgliad yn cynnwys emyn-donau gan nifer o gyfansoddwyr Cymreig y cyfnod, gan gynnwys chwech gan Morfydd Llwyn Owen a 37 tôn wreiddiol gan de Lloyd ei hun. Dair blynedd yn ddiweddarach, yn 1919, fe’i penodwyd yn ddarlithydd mewn cerddoriaeth yn ei hen goleg yn Aberystwyth, yr un adeg ag y penodwyd Walford Davies yn Athro. Ysgwyddai de Lloyd lawer o faich dysgu a gweinyddiaeth yr Adran Gerdd, gan fod cymaint o alwadau ar amser Walford Davies, ac yn 1926 fe’i penodwyd yn Athro yn olynydd i Davies. Yr oedd de Lloyd yn athro trylwyr a enillodd barch genedlaethau o fyfyrwyr.
Er nad yw ei waith fel cyfansoddwr yn adnabyddus bellach, fe luniodd nifer o weithiau diddorol ac atyniadol. Cyflwynwyd ei anthem estynedig, Tu draw i’r llen (1924), gosodiad o eiriau’r bardd o’r ail ganrif ar bymtheg, Henry Vaughan, i goffadwriaeth Prifathro’r Coleg, T. F. Roberts, a fuasai farw yn 1919. Perfformiwyd ei opera, Gwenllian, i libreto gan T. Gwynn Jones a Thomas Williams (Eurwedd) sy’n adrodd stori Gymreig o gyfnod y Croesgadau, yn y Coliseum, Aberystwyth, yn Chwefror 1924. Mae ei opera ddiweddarach, Tir na n-Og (1930), eto i libreto gan T. Gwynn Jones, yn dangos dylanwad pendant Debussy. Perfformiwyd ei gantawd i leisiau plant, Dydd a Nos (1927), sy’n gosod geiriau o waith awmryw awduron, yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Aberystwyth yn 1952. Ymdrechai yn ei waith i ymdrin â themâu Cymreig a Cheltaidd, a threfnodd nifer o ganeuon traddodiadol, yn eu plith y casgliad Forty Welsh Traditional Tunes (1929). Golygodd hefyd gyfrolau o ganeuon Brahms a Schubert gyda geiriau Cymraeg gan T. H. Parry-Williams.
Bu David de Lloyd farw yn Aberystwyth ar 20 Awst 1948.
David de Lloyd was born in Skewen on 30 April 1883, but grew up in Penparcau, Aberystwyth. He showed musical promise at an early age, and acquired particular proficiency in tonic sol-fa. So adept was he at reading the letter notation that John Spencer Curwen, head of the Tonic Sol-fa College, took the young David with him on a lecture tour to show what could be achieved in sol-fa. De Lloyd gained a scholarship from Ardwyn school to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and graduated in history in 1903. Two years later, in 1905, he became the first student ever to gain the degree of BMus of the University of Wales, and a collection was got up in the area to enable him to study in Leipzig for the year 1906–07.
He spent some years as a schoolteacher in Woolwich and then in Llanelli. During his years in Llanelli he acted as musical editor of a collection of hymns and tunes, Cân a Moliant (1916), which was put together by H. Haydn Jones, the MP for Merioneth. The collection contains hymn-tunes by a number of Welsh composers of the time, including six by Morfydd Llwyn Owen and 37 original tunes by de Lloyd himself. Three years later, in 1919, he was appointed lecturer in music at his old college of Aberystwyth, at the same time that Walford Davies was appointed Professor. As there were so many calls on Davies’s time, de Lloyd had to shoulder much of the burden of teaching and administration in the department, and in 1926, on Davies’s departure, he succeeded to the Chair. De Lloyd was thorough as a teacher, and gained the respect of generations of his students.
Although his output as a composer is by now largely unknown, he composed a number of interesting and attractive works. His extended anthem, Tu draw i’r llen / Beyond the veil (1924), a setting of words by the seventeenth-century poet Henry Vaughan, was dedicated to the memory of the College Principal, T. F. Roberts, who had died in 1919. His opera, Gwenllian, to a libretto by T. Gwynn Jones and Thomas Williams (Eurwedd), which is set in Wales at the time of the Crusades, was performed at the Coliseum in Aberystwyth in February 1924. A later opera, Tir na n-Og (1930), again with a libretto by T. Gwynn Jones, shows a distinct influence of Debussy. His cantata for children’s voices, Dydd a Nos / Day and Night (1927), setting words by various authors, was performed at the National Eisteddfod in Aberystwyth in 1952. He attempted to reflect Welsh and Celtic themes in his work, and arranged a number of traditional songs, including the collection Forty Welsh Traditional Tunes (1929). He also edited volumes of the songs of Brahms and Schubert with Welsh words by T. H. Parry-Williams.
David de Lloyd died in Aberystwyth on 20 August 1948.