Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir was a performing group of women singers based in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, active from the 1880s until

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Early years

The Welsh Ladies' Choir was formed about 1883.

Clara Novello Davies Clara Novello Davies (7 April 1861 – 7 February 1943) was a Welsh singer, teacher, composer, and conductor. She used the pen name Pencerddes Morgannwg. Early life Clara Novello Davies was born on 7 April 1861. She was named after Clara Nove ...

was its first leader, "a spirited conductress," and its members (up to 70 singers) were drawn from her own students. The choir first toured America in 1887. In 1893, they won first prize for a ladies' choir at the

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, a ...

held in connection with the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. In 1894 they became officially "Royal" with a command performance for

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. A smaller group (about 24) toured the United States again in 1895. In 1900, they won a prize at the Paris Exposition.

Mrs. Hughes-Thomas

Madame Hughes-Thomas, the second director of the Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir, was the daughter of Rev. Richard Hughes of

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. She attended the

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in London. Hughes-Thomas was the second wife of Edward Thomas, the mayor of Cardiff.

Touring

The Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir performed for the

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, and for the King and Queen on the Royal Yacht, at Queen Alexandra Dock in Cardiff in July 1907. The next year (1908) they embarked on a series of extensive tours of North America, including San Francisco, Winnipeg, Atlanta, and several appearances in the coal towns of the

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. In 1915, three choir members left in a salary dispute, while the choir was in Detroit. They sued Hughes-Thomas and went off to tour with Canadian entertainer Ada Cosgrove instead. By 1919, Madame Hughes-Thomas was touring the United States with a group of just eight singers as the choir. In 1920, Dame

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...

praised the choir: "The Royal Welsh Lady Singers are magnificent; they are perfectly splendid, and you may say I said so."

Later years

Gertrude Gronow was conducted the choir of twelve to sixteen voices, performing tours in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Pittston Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city lies in the Wyoming Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna River and on the south side of the Lackawanna River. It is approximately midway between Wilkes-Barre, Pen ...

, Canonsburg, and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

. In 1928, Clara Novello Davies returned to the helm in 1928 for a royal performance at Windsor Castle before the choir of sixty women departed for an Australian tour. Muriel Jones conducted the choir in 1939.Welsh Ladies' Choir
a film clip by British Pathé, 1939.

References

External links

A publicity brochure for the Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir
in advance of their North American tour in 1908-1911.
A diary of the Choir's tour in 1911-1912
written by Elizabeth Anne Clement, is in the collection of the Glamorgan Archives. {{Authority control Welsh women singers Welsh choirs 1883 establishments in Wales