Aneurin Edwards Treorchy Male Choir

Aneurin Edwards
Todd Jones
Sam Griffiths
Idris Higgon
Agnes J Griffiths
Harry Price
Herbert Jones
Elvira Henry
Josephine Jones
Wyn Davies
Mair Roberts
Dean Powell
Ros Evans
Helen May
Justine Platts
Ray Daniels
Kate Woolveridge
Susan Coates
Iona Jones

ANEURIN EDWARDS

BARITONE c 1885-1895

A native of Treorchy, Aneurin Edwards was one of Wales’s foremost baritone soloists of his generation. The son of an undertaker, he spent most of his adult life in Railway Terrace, Cwmparc.

He began his career as the soloist with the original Treorky Male Choir and performed with them at the Royal Command Concert before Her Majesty Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle in 1895. Aneurin was chosen by the Conductor, William Thomas, to become one of the founder members of the Royal Welsh Male Choir in 1896 and remained a faithful member for the next thirty years.

Aneurin Edwards toured America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as a soloist with the Choir and was best remembered for his heart-wrenching performance of “Thou Art Passing Hence”. It was that item which moved 3,000 people to tears in Adelaide when he performed it in memory of the late Prime Minister of Australia.

He was a popular singer throughout the country, his most famous item being “Make New Friends But Keep the Old”. He had the distinction of possessing one of the largest amount of Eisteddfod trophies and won the most substantial prize money of any baritone in Wales.

Conductor Harry Evans, a well-known adjudicator during this period, spoke of him as the most careful and perfect soloists he had ever heard. His solo performances with tenor William Todd Jones produced some of the most memorable concerts in the history of Rhondda music-making.

Aneurin was a stalwart member of the Royal Order of Buffalos. He continued singing until August 1924 when his health began to fail him. He died in March 1925, aged 52 and his funeral procession of choristers from both the Treorchy & District and Royal Welsh Male Choirs performed on foot from his home to the graveside.