John Thomas (1 March 1826 – 19 March 1913) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist. The

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

Pencerdd Gwalia (Chief of the Welsh minstrels) was conferred on him at the 1861

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; ) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and River Cynon, Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydf ...

Eisteddfod.''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed., 1954

Life

He was born in Bridgend on

Saint David's Day Saint David's Day ( or ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. Traditional festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, ...

, son of a tailor, also named John Thomas, a clarinetist in the amateur town band. He was the eldest of seven children, four of whom also played the harp, most notably his brother Thomas Thomas. John Thomas started off by playing the

triple harp The triple harp is a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. One common version is the Welsh triple harp ( Welsh: ''telyn deires''), used today mainly among players of traditional ...

, which had three sets of strings and was very difficult to play. At the age of 14, through the influence of

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), also known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-pur ...

, (

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

's daughter), he was admitted to the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His teachers there included

Cipriani Potter Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (3 October 1792 – 26 September 1871) was an English musician. He was a composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. After an early career as a performer and composer, he was a teacher in the Royal Academy of Musi ...

for composition and John Balsir Chatterton for harp. He taught at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, where he eventually became professor, and at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

. One of his pupils at the Royal College was Gwendolen Mason. He wrote many pieces for the harp that are popular today and are used in the exam syllabus. He also wrote an opera, a symphony, two harp concertos, overtures, chamber music, and two cantatas – ''Llewellyn'' (1863) and ''The Bride of Neath Valley'' (1866). He played one of his own harp concertos at a Philharmonic concert in 1852. In 1861, he was briefly engaged to the Belgian soprano

Désirée Artôt Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...

. He eventually married twice, both times to former students. His first wife, Alice Ann Keate, died in 1880, two years after their marriage; he married Joan Francis Denny in 1885. In 1872, he was appointed harpist to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

Publications

*1862 ''Welsh Melodies, with Welsh and English Poetry'', vols. 1 & 2, by

John Jones (Talhaiarn) John Jones (19 January 1810 – October 1869), known by his bardic name of Talhaiarn, was a Welsh poet and architect. Life and reputation Jones was born at the ''Harp Inn'' (now known as ''Hafod y Gân'') in Llanfair Talhaearn, Denbighsh ...

& Thomas Oliphant. Author: John Thomas. *1870 ''Welsh Melodies, with Welsh and English Poetry'', vol. 3, by

& Thomas Oliphant. Author: John Thomas. *1874 ''Welsh Melodies, with Welsh and English Poetry'', vol. 4, by

& Thomas Oliphant. Author: John Thomas.

Selected recordings

* ''John Thomas. Harp Music'': ''Scenes of Childhood''; '' Grand Duet''; ''Cambria''. Lipman Harp Duo (Naxos, 2007). * ''John Thomas. Welsh Music for Voice and Harps'': ''Hela'r sgyfarnog''; ''Gogerddan''; ''La primola''; ''Cambria''; ''Ymadawiad y brenin''; ''Serch hudol''; ''Hob a derry dando''; ''Souvenir du nord''; ''Dadl dau''; ''Bedd Gelert''; ''Thou art the star''; ''L'Adieu''. Rachel Ann Morgan, Edward Witsenburg (Globe Classics, 2012). * ''John Thomas. Complete Duos for Harp and Piano'', vol. 1: ''Souvenir du nord''; ''Dyddiau Mebyd (Scenes of Childhood)''; ''Cambria''; ''Dewch i'r Frwydyr (Come to Battle)''; ''Grand Duet in E flat minor''; arrangements of ''Adelaide'', Op. 46 (Beethoven); ''Themes from Carmen'' (Bizet); ''Gigue'' from ''Water Music'' (Suite No. 3 in G major by Handel). Duo Praxedis: Praxedis Hug-Rütti (harp); Praxedis Geneviève Hug (piano) (Toccata Classics, 2020).

References

External links

Scores by John Thomas
on archive.org from the

International Harp Archives The International Harp Archives (IHA) is a collection of archives from the World Harp Congress, American Harp Society, and individual harpists. It is located at the Harold B. Lee Library in Brigham Young University (BYU). The archives began as a ...

1826 births 1913 deaths 19th-century British classical composers 19th-century Welsh male musicians 20th-century Welsh male musicians Academics of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music British Romantic composers Composers for harp People from Bridgend Welsh classical composers Welsh classical harpists Welsh male classical composers {{Wales-bio-stub

Life

Publications

Selected recordings

References

Further reading

External links