Morfydd Owen 1891-1918

[giles.enders]

Morfydd Owen  Born Trefforest, Wales  1.10.1891  Died Oystermouth  7.9.1918

Morfydd was the youngest of four children of William and Sarah Owen.  She initially had private lessons in piano and composition from David Evans.  She then went on to study at University College, Cardiff, where her compositional talents were already evident.  In 1912 she moved to London to study at The Royal Academy principally under Frederick Corder.  She had hoped to further her studies in St. Petersburg but war prevented this.  She was also a professional singer.  In 1917 she married Ernest Jones which proved to be an unhappy experience.  She died through a bungled operation.

Orchestral

Romance  for string orchestra  1911
Nocturne  1913
Morfa Rhuddlan  tone poem  1914
Death Music: The Passing of Branwen  orchestral suite  1916
Funeral march to Branwen  1916

Chamber

Piano Trio  1915
Romance for violin and piano  1911
Beti Bwt, minuet and trio.  reworking of solo piece.

Piano

Sonata  1910
Impromptu  1910
Etude  1910
Fantaisie  1911
Melodie  1911
Chromatic Fugue  1911
Rhapsodir  1911
Causerie gracieuse de riens  1911
Story Fantaisie  1911
Fantaisie Appassionata  1912
Berceuse  1912
Prelude  1913
Preluse and Fugue in the Ancient Style  1914
Beti Bwt  prelude  1915
Citi Cariadus  prelude  1915
Glantaf, Little Eric  prelude  1915
Nant-y-Ffrith  prelude  1915
Waiting for Eirlys  1915

Song

Fierce Raged the Tempest  words by S Thring  1911
The Refugee  words by Schiller  1911
Sea Drift  words by Walt Whitman  1911  for mezzo and orchestra
Sweet and Low  words by Tennyson  1911
Cycle of Sea Songs voice and orchestra  with words by C Rossetti, W Watson, C Mackay & T Campbell
Love's Music for soloist and orchestra  words by P Bourke Marston  1912
Mad Song  words by William Blake  1912
My luve is like a red, red rose  words by R Burns  1912
My Sorrow  for soloist and orchestra  words by E Crawshaw-Williams  1912
Y Fwyalchen  folk song  1912
Toward the Unknown Region  for mezzo and Orchestra  words by Walt Whitman  1913
Choric Song  for soprano and strings  words by Tennyson 1914
Eos Gwalia, two songs for soprano and orchestra  1916
For Jeanie's Sake  words by E Newman  1917  pub. by Chappell
Impenitent  words by E Newman  1918  pub. by Boosey & Co.
Patrick's your boy  words by E Newman  pub. by Boosey & Co.
Shepherd's Love Song  words by A D Edwards  pub. by Boosey & Co.
[/i][/size]Two songs for little children for soprano and orchestra  1917
Two Madonna songs;  To our Lady of Sorrows  words by W Hinton., Slumber song to the Madonna  words by A Noys  pub. by Cary & Co.
Lady  folk song

Cantata

Pro Patria  for soprano, baritone and orchestra  1915

There are over 80 songs, many folk songs and 22 hymns.

[britishcomposer]

I have just uploaded her tone poem Morfa Rhuddlan from a 2014 BBC broadcast.
This is a short info from the website:
The Welsh tune Morfa Rhuddlan commemmorates a savage battle between the Welsh and the Saxons in the eighth century.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047bv1q

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Mathias, that's very good of you.

[Mark Thomas]

It's not a bad piece at all, although it would have benefited from some sympathetic editing, I suspect.  If you want to find out more about Morfydd Owen, you can read a pdf of a lecture about her life (if not much about her music) by going here and then clicking on the pdf symbol at the top of the page, next to "Jump to page".

[Gareth Vaughan]

She is IMHO quite a distinguished composer. Most of her compositions are in the National Library of Wales (I think).

[Music33]

Thank you very much for the recording of "Morfa Rhuddlan"...
By the way, did someone happen to record her "Nocturne for Orchestra in D-flat major" which has been broadcast on 7 March 2016 on BBC-Radio 3 ? The one-minute snippet sounds very promising in my view :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/records/n3j65z

[britishcomposer]

Sorry, I missed it. Would love to hear it, too!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Here is the link to the Archive Collection of her works held by The National Library of Wales: http://archivesearch.cf.ac.uk/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=430%2f1

[Music33]

I now have a recording of her "Nocturne for Orchestra in D-flat major" if someone is interested...

[Mark Thomas]

I'd certainly appreciate it if you could upload a copy of the Nocturne recording to our Downloads board, Music33. Thanks very much.

[Music33]

I just uploaded it. Enjoy ! IMHO it's a very fine piece...

[Mark Thomas]

That's very kind of you, thanks.

[Mark Thomas]

IMHO it's a very fine piece...

It's cetainly an accomplished and effective work, very much of its time.

[Gerhard Griesel]

The download: what is an m4a file? Can I save and play it as an mp3? Can I write it to a CD?

[Music33]

An m4a file is supposed to have a better audio quality than an mp3, without having the very heavy weight of a wav. You can convert it as an mp3 by Switch Converter for example. But if you want, I can re-post the "Nocturne" in mp3 format.