DAVIES, ROBERT (Cyndeyrn; 1814 - 1867), musician

Born 16 June 1814 at Segar farm, Henllan, near Denbigh. He lost his mother when he was 4 years of age and was brought up at Bron-haul, Henllan, by an uncle. He was apprenticed to a painter at S. Asaph. In 1834 he moved to Bangor, where he came into prominence as a musician and was elected precentor of the Wesleyan chapel. In 1837 he married Margaret, daughter of Owen Williams of Tros-y-canol, near Bangor; she was known as 'Meinwen Elwy' and was descended from the family of the poet Goronwy Owen. In 1840 the family moved to S. Asaph, where he was appointed principal alto in the cathedral choir, a position he held for twenty-seven years. There, he established the ' Glee Society ' and the ' Philharmonic Society ' and was selected to conduct the massed church choirs of the see of St Asaph. He was an excellent composer of anthems. In the Bethesda eisteddfod, 1852, he won the prize and medal for his anthem ' Mawl a'th erys Di yn Seion,' to which he had attached the pseudonym Cyndeyrn, by which he was known for the rest of his life. He was a prize-winner at Bethesda in 1853 and again in the eisteddfod held at Denbigh in 1860. The anthems were published in Y Cerddor Cymraeg and Greal y Corau and some of his hymn-tunes are to be found in Llyfr Tonau ac Emynau (Stephen and Jones), Casgliad St. Asaph (W. J. Hughes), and Caniadau y Cysegr a'r Teulu (Gee, Denbigh). His services were frequently called for as an adjudicator. He died October 1867 and was buried in S. Asaph churchyard.

Author

• Robert David Griffith, (1877 - 1958)

Sources

• M. O. Jones, Bywgraffiaeth Cerddorion Cymreig (1890)
• Edward Jones, Rhestr gyda nodiadau byrion, o Enwogion Cymreig o 1700 i 1900 (1908)
• Y Cerddor, December 1891

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20734320

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/