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THE EARLY MAESTROS
GEORGE THOMAS
1883-1885
The young conductor was known locally as George Thomas “Bach” when he raised the baton at the original Treorky Male Choir. The eighteen-year-old musician was a member of the Treorchy United Choir, conducted by Rees Williams, and joined a small group of twenty fellow choristers who performed at a farewell party for one of the members who was emigrating to New Zealand in the summer of 1883. The celebrations took place at the Red Cow Hotel and during the evening an impromptu eisteddfod was held, which the fledgling male voice choir won under Thomas’s musical direction. The test piece was “Myfanwy” and the prize money, a rewarding £1.
Recognising their success, this fresh entity decided to continue as a male voice choir, rehearsing regularly in local public houses and open-air venues with the teenaged conductor. Eventually the Choir found a permanent home in the long room of the Treorchy Hotel thanks to the generosity of landlord Mr T. Jenkins. Rehearsing in a public house, and not in a local chapel, was of course bound to secure a plentiful membership. By the end of 1883 they won another eisteddfod, this time
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at the Corner House Hotel in Treherbert and during the next two years their reputation grew throughout the valley. By 1885 George Thomas decided to relinquish his position as the conductor owing to his irregular shift pattern of work at the Ocean Collieries and was succeeded by William Thomas. The founder conductor was later to become a chorusmaster at Soar Chapel in Cwmparc and the Unitarian Chapel, Treorchy. When he died in 1926 members of the Treorchy and Royal Welsh Male Choirs performed at his funeral.
JOHN BEBB
1896-1897
John Bebb was a member of the first bass section of the original Treorky Male Choir when it scaled the peaks of international musical distinction under the baton of William Thomas. In fact his family had been members of the Choir since it began at the Red Cow Hotel in 1883. John performed in the famous Royal Command Concert at Windsor Castle for Her Majesty Queen Victoria and was present at the Drill Hall, Pentre, on Thursday January 2nd 1896, when a banquet was held in honour of the Treorky Male Choir.
Shortly afterwards William Thomas made the difficult decision of reducing the choir so they could undertake a plethora of successful overseas tours to the British Colonies. Not content with allowing the remainder of the Choir to disband, John Bebb took up the baton at Treorchy but sadly failed to avoid the decline of the organisation. Known as the “grand old man of Cwmparc”, he was the chorusmaster at St George’s Church in Cwmparc and his son was bandmaster Haydn Bebb. |
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JOHN PUGH
1917-1922
The first recorded existence of a new Treorchy & District Male Voice Choir was in a performance at a local eisteddfod in Treorchy Pavilion on New Year’s Eve 1917 when the Choir of young men performed under the baton of John Pugh and lost the first prize to Wattstown Male Choir. His accompanist was Mr E.T. Thomas and during the next few years Pugh led the Choir to the Mountain Ash Welsh Musical Festival in 1921 when they performed before 8,000 people and came a creditable third. During the early 1920s they won several local competitions, before Pugh resigned as Conductor in June 1922.
GWILYM T. JONES
1922-1927
Gwilym T. Jones of Cwmparc was a prominent member of the Rhondda’s musical community as the Conductor of the Royal Welsh Male Choir, the same organisation that had stemmed, and eventually split from the original Treorky Male Choir. In 1920 he had also formed the 120-strong Treorchy Vocal Union at Noddfa and came to the “new” Treorchy & District Male Voice Choir with his accompanists Tom Knapgate, Fred Hughes and Jones’s own wife. The male choir grew to over 130 voices and rehearsals were moved to the Auction Hall or the Glyncoli Road School every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Under his leadership the Choir thrived and won many first prizes at local and semi-national eisteddfodau, leading them to victory against the formidable rivals, Williamstown Male Choir. In 1924 he also conducted the Choir at Ystradfechan Park for the Duke of York, later King George VI and during the same year won five eisteddfodau in a day as they travelled across West Wales in charabancs. Such an ongoing, impressive list of victories rapidly earned Treorchy the title of the “Premier Choir In South Wales” and they went on to conquer London with a series of concerts and competition wins at Westminster's Central |
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Hall. In 1926 Jones was appointed organist and chorusmaster at Bethlehem Chapel in Treorchy and he led them to further victory against the young Pendyrus Male Choir. Gwilym T. Jones resigned as Conductor in July 1927 to embark on a six month tour of South Africa with the Royal Welsh Male Choir. On his return he moved to Pontypridd and played a pivotal role in forming Cor Meibion Pontypridd.
JOHN ISAAC JONES
1927-1933
John Isaac Jones was the tenor soloist of the Royal Welsh Male Choir and succeeded Gwilym T. Jones as conductor of the Treorchy & District Male Voice Choir with Tom Knapgate as rehearsal accompanist and Idris Jones as competition and concert accompanist. The Choir’s first victory with their new conductor was in June 1927 at Penygraig Welfare Hall before they competed at the Pontypridd Semi National Eisteddfod in Taff Vale Park and came in third behind Williamstown and Pendyrus. In fourth place was Gwilym T. Jones’s Pontypridd Choir. It was under John Isaac Jones that the Treorchy Choir appeared for the first time in the Royal National Eisteddfod arena, the first at Liverpool in August 1929 followed by Llanelli in 1930 and Port Talbot in 1932, all of which they lost. One highlight did come in 1929 when they beat the Morriston United Choir under Ivor Sims at the competition in Pontarddulais where Sir Hugh Roberton of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir was the adjudicator. Early reports indicate however that the Treorchy & District was not a happy Choir during this period, largely because of the ill-feeling between the choristers and their conductor. Suffering with a nervous disposition, John Isaac Jones would easily lose concentration on stage, changing the beat and rhythm of a piece of music much to the annoyance of his singers. He resigned as Conductor on July 22nd 1933. |
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W.D. EVANS
1933-1938
William David Evans B.A. Mus., Bac. of Maerdy, was the former conductor of the formidable Williamstown Male Choir. “W.D.” Evans, as he was better known, studied music at Cardiff University and trained as a teacher in Goldsmiths College, London. A respected conductor of cymanfa ganu and a talented composer of Sunday School hymns, Mr Evans made a massive contribution to Treorchy’s success over the next five years. As a conductor, he led the Maerdy United mixed Choir to nine first prizes in thirteen eisteddfodau. His motto of “remember three things, punctuality, regularity and thoroughness”, rang in the ears of the Treorchy men as the long period of retraining and preparation for competition work began. As one reporter explained, “The moment he takes up the baton, his eyes aflame with real and infectious enthusiasm for his work, he grips his choristers in a manner which is peculiarly his own.”
On February 24th 1934 W.D. Evans made his debut to the Rhondda people as conductor of the Treorchy Male Voice Party. The concert, held in Bethania Chapel, Treorchy was a huge success. Although a win at the National Eisteddfod continued to elude them, the Treorchy men enjoyed an outstandingly successful string of first prizes at local and Semi National eisteddfodau. For spectators it was an exciting time as Treorchy usually came face to face with their keenest close rivals, Arthur |
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Duggan’s Pendyrus. This “cythraul y canu” caused plenty of interest in the Welsh newspapers. Pendyrus and Treorchy came head to head again on June 10th 1935 at the Llanelli Eisteddfod with the test piece “Iesu o Nazareth” by Dr Joseph Parry. Thousands of spectators gathered for the spellbinding performance of both choirs and the adjudicator Dr Frederick Stanton awarded the first prize of £50 to Treorchy. The Conductor and accompanist, Idris Grifiths, were carried shoulder high by their victorious choir. Sadly in the spring of 1938 W.D. Evans resigned as Conductor to move to his daughter’s home in Church Village due to a heart condition. It was indeed the end of a golden era for the Choir.
ARTHUR E. DAVIES, FRCO, ARCM
1938-1943
In 1938, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Arthur E. Davies, a well - known Swansea musician, much revered for his work as a conductor, choirmaster, organist, adjudicator, professor of music and critic and brother in law of the brilliant pianist and composer, Claudia Lloyd, was invited to take up the baton. Due to his numerous musical commitments, he was only able to accept the invitation on an advisory basis and so had the brilliant foresight to appoint John Haydn Davis as his deputy and willing apprentice, who would conduct the choir under his watchful eyes until the difficult yet realistic decision was made to disband during the war.
Born in Wales, Arthur E. Davies was just sixteen years of age when he was appointed organist and choirmaster of St James’ Church, Walter Road, Swansea and at nineteen, was the youngest in the country to be granted the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO). He subsequently became an Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) and studied under such notable musicians as Sir Granville Bantock and Sir Henry Walford Davies.
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Invited to appear at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church at the end of the First World War on Armistice night, Arthur E. Davies served as choirmaster and organist at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church for almost half a century, appearing with the choir at venues across the country including at the Royal Albert Hall and, as a regular broadcaster at the BBC studios on Alexandra Road, through which his work gained international recognition.
As an adjudicator, Arthur E. Davies was sought throughout England and Wales. He was particularly proud to adjudicate at the Swansea National Eisteddfod in 1926 and continued to adjudicate right up until his death, adjudicating the National Eisteddfod again in 1962. As a critic, he was invited to write reports for both local and national publications, including for the Western Mail and South Wales News.
During his illustrious career, Arthur E. Davies gained numerous diplomas and honours for his teaching and taught many leading musicians, including the favourite of Ivor Novello, the celebrated contralto Olive Gilbert, with whom he remained great friends.
Upon his death in 1966, Mr Ivor Owen, the Swansea municipal director of music and borough organist said “Mr Arthur E. Davies was a one man musical institution and his loss is a great one for Wales.”
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