Thomas, W. J. (1894). Penillion telyn, Rhan 1. Caernarfon: Gwymni y Cyhoeddwys Cymreig. Thomas, W. J. (1870).
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Williams' most enduringly popular work is Penillion, written for the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 1955. She revisited some of the same ideas in her Trumpet Concerto of 1963. Despite the tradition of choral music in Wales, Williams' portfolio of compositions were largely orchestral or instrumental pieces. Ballads for Orchestra of 1968, written for the National Eisteddfod, held that year in her home town, has all the colour and swagger of a mediaeval court.
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Born on 18 December 1910 in Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, Parry-Williams was the eldest child of Lewis Thomas and Mary Emiah. She attended Llanelli Girls' Grammar School before entering the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where she graduated in Welsh (1932). In 1942, she married her professor, T. H. Parry- Williams. From an early age, together with her brother Madoc and her sister Mary, she competed successfully in the Carmarthenshire eisteddfodau, singing penillion lyrics written by her father.
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In 1896 Williams was the second person to join Urdd y Delyn, an organisation established by Owen M. Edwards to promote Welsh arts and culture. Urdd y Delyn offered prizes for harp playing, speaking Welsh, reading Welsh books and penillion singing. Under the pen name of "Gwobrywyon Aberclydach", Williams later presented prizes for harp playing at the national eisteddfodau. Between 1911 and 1916 Williams was central to the foundation of Byddin Cymru, a radical nationalist group concerned with protecting the Welsh language.
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He has won the Tir na n-Og Award for several books, including the 2009 Award for A Nod from Nelson by Simon Weston. In 2000, he wrote and illustrated a book in both Welsh and English – Betsan a’r Bwlis / Alison and the Bully Monsters. His illustration work includes Welsh works of note such as Penillion y Plant, Trysorfa by T. Llew Jones and many of Mary Vaughan Jones' titles and famous characters including Jac y Jwc. Jones won the Mary Vaughan Jones Award in 2012.
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Only a handful of Williams' works have been recorded. Her Second Symphony, Penillion, Sea Sketches and Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes have been included in two Lyrita compilations, and several choral works, including Ave Maris Stella, were recorded for a Chandos Records collection. Ballads for Orchestra was recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Baldur Brönnimann and was included in volume 15 issue number 3 of BBC Music Magazine. An album of Williams' chamber music played by the violist Madeleine Mitchell and the London Chamber Ensemble was released 2019.
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The harp is considered to be the national instrument of Wales and is used to accompany penillion singing (or cerdd dant) where the harpist plays a melody and the singer sings in counterpoint to it.Brake, Julie & Jones, Christine (2000) Welsh: a complete course in understanding speaking and writing. London: Hodder & Stoughton; p. 265 The roots revival, applied to Celtic music, has brought much inter-Celtic cross-fertilisation, as, for instance, the revival by Welsh musicians of the use of the mediaeval Welsh bagpipe under the influence of the Breton binioù, Irish uillean pipes and famous Scottish pipes, or the Scots have revived the bodhran from Irish influence.
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Williams clearly felt affection for Fantasia: and: but feared that its success may limit the BBC's enthusiasm for new works (as had happened with Hen Walia earlier in her career). In 1957 Williams successfully lobbied for Penillion (1955) rather than the Fantasia ("that old work") to be scheduled for the 1958 Proms season. In 1968 the National Youth Orchestra of Wales ran a competition to attract young composers but failed to find any suitable compositions, so planned to return to the Fantasia. Williams suggested various composers but none had entered the competition so, to Williams' dismay, the Fantasia was scheduled again including a performance at the Eisteddfod that year.
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Though it originated in Italy, the triple harp (telyn deires, "three-row harp") is held up as the traditional harp of Wales: it has three rows of strings, with every semitone separately represented, while modern concert harps use a pedal system to change key by stopping the relevant strings. After losing ground to the pedal harp in the 19th century, it has been re-popularised through the efforts of Nansi Richards, Llio Rhydderch and Robin Huw Bowen. The penillion is a traditional form of Welsh singing poetry, accompanied by the harp, in which the singer and harpist follow different melodies so the stressed syllables of the poem coincide with accented beats of the harp melody.Davies (2008), pg 662.
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The Fantasia was given its first performance by the BBC Northern Orchestra conducted by Eric Fogg on 29 October 1941 in a broadcast by the BBC. Performances throughout Wales followed (with premieres by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera in 1946) and the good reception led to the first recording a few years later. Another performance of Fantasia by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW) in 1952 was followed by performances of works by Williams in 1953, 1954, and 1955 (Penillion – which was commissioned and premiered by NYOY). Tension between Williams and the orchestra's management resulted in Williams refusing permission to allow the NYOW to perform her works.
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It seems likely that the society was formed in part in reaction to the perceived social and intellectual elitism of the existing London Welsh societies, notably the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (although there was in practice considerable overlap between the membership and the officials of the various societies). The emphasis in the early years was on sociability, music (including harp-playing and penillion-singing), and pleasure.Jones 2001, p. 75. The society's principal meeting-place was the Bull's Head Tavern in Walbrook, and one member, David Samwell, wrote: > In Walbrook stands a famous Inn Near ancient Watling Street Well stored with > brandy, beer and gin, Where Cambrians nightly meet.Quoted in Jenkins and > Ramage 1951, p. 115. Under rules adopted in 1777, every member had to be Welsh-speaking, and had to avow a fondness for singing, or at least for hearing poetry sung to the harp.Jenkins and Ramage 1951, p. 112. However, the society rapidly adopted a more broadly cultural, and specifically a literary, role. When the Cymmrodorion Society was dissolved in 1787, its Presidential Chair was passed to the Gwyneddigion Society.Jenkins and Ramage 1951, p. 119.
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