A History of Welsh Music

The first broad overview of Welsh music history, examining practices, repertoires, institutions, and the idea of the 'musical nation'.

Trevor Herbert (Edited by), Martin V. Clarke (Edited by), Helen Barlow (Edited by)

9781316511060, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 September 2022

478 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.88 kg

From early medieval bards to the bands of the 'Cool Cymru' era, this book looks at Welsh musical practices and traditions, the forces that have influenced and directed them, and the ways in which the idea of Wales as a 'musical nation' has been formed and embedded in popular consciousness in Wales and beyond. Beginning with early medieval descriptions of musical life in Wales, the book provides both an overarching study of Welsh music history and detailed consideration of the ideas, beliefs, practices and institutions that shaped it. Topics include the eisteddfod, the church and the chapel, the influence of the Welsh language and Welsh cultural traditions, the scholarship of the Celtic Revival and the folk song movement, the impacts of industrialization and digitization, and exposure to broader trends in popular culture, including commercial popular music and sport.

1. Music in Welsh history Trevor Herbert
2. Words for music: describing musical practices in medieval Welsh literature Helen Fulton
3. Music in worship before 1650 John Harper
4. Secular music before 1650 Sally Harper
5. The eisteddfod tradition Rhidian Griffiths
6. Women and Welsh folk song Wyn Thomas
7. Instrumental traditions after 1650 Rhidian Griffiths, Trevor Herbert and Stephen P. Rees
8. The Celtic revival Helen Barlow
9. Musical communications in the long nineteenth century Rhidian Griffiths
10. Nonconformists and their music Martin V. Clarke
11. Professionalisation in the twentieth century Lyn Davies
12. Composing Cymru: Art music since 1940 Nicholas Jones
13. Traditions and interventions: popular music 1840-1940 Trevor Herbert
14. New traditions: Welsh popular music into the twenty-first century Sarah Hill
15. Singing Welshness: Sport, music and the Crowd Helen Barlow and Martin V. Clarke
16. Postscript: Contemporary Wales, devolution and digitisation Trevor Herbert, Sally Harper and Sarah Hill.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]