By Nathan Matthews

By the mid-nineteenth century, Wales had acquired a strong reputation as a ‘land of song’. The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian in 1864 controversially remarked ‘in no part of the country does the love of music appear greater than in Wales, where, even in the villages, it is seldom that the ears are assailed with the barbarous discords so often heard marring the religious ceremonies conducted at many English village churches.’ Thousands of people across Wales actively participated in choirs or played musical instruments. Blaenavon was no exception.

Blaenavon Male Voice Choir cites its formation date as 1910 but its origins can be traced much earlier than this. This blog post looks at the development of choirs in Blaenavon during the nineteenth century and the role choral music played within the local community and coalfield society.

Sacred Origins

The history of Welsh male voice choirs dates back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when hymns, written by revivalists such as William Williams (writer of ‘Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer), were sung in Welsh nonconformist chapels to the tune of popular English tunes or old Welsh melodies and folk tunes. Music became an important part of the popular culture of the south Wales valleys. The use of the Tonic Sol-fa system to instruct congregations and choirs in reading music helped increase participation in this musical culture.

Park Street Methodist Chapel, one of many places of worship in Blaenavon.

Blaenavon, like many towns across Wales, had an abundance of churches and chapels with no fewer than eighteen places of worship by the end of the Victorian era. Most, if not all, of these religious institutions would have had their own choir. Choirs would regularly sing within the churches and chapels during ordinary services but they would also perform to wider audiences through Gymanfa Ganu, Eisteddfodau and choral festivals. At these highly competitive events, choirs from the across the region would march through the host town with silk banners emblazoned with the name of the church or chapel to which the choir belonged. Blaenavon choirs would regularly compete against those of other Monmouthshire towns in events held in Abergavenny, Newport and other places.

Music and choirs therefore went hand in hand with the nonconformist religious culture of south Wales society. But it went further than that. Choirs and music were also a way for people to escape the drudgery of their everyday working lives and an opportunity to entertain and express themselves in the company of friends and neighbours. Great camaraderie existed between the workers in the heavy industries of south Wales and this could also be manifested through the affection and loyalties that existed between local choristers and the communities in which they lived. Indeed, Blaenavon people used music to great effect in helping support their fellow townsfolk in times of need.

Music and Camaraderie in Times of Hardship

Choral music was not just the preserve of the chapels. By the mid-nineteenth century there was a growth in secular music. Tenors and bass singers within the chapel choirs increasingly formed male voice parties or glee clubs where they could sing secular songs outside the church or chapels. Workers would come together to form choirs for particular causes. These choirs tended to be short-lived and would quickly disband after the competition or fundraising event took place.

During the mid-nineteenth century a great number of friendly societies had been established in Blaenavon, providing a degree of social security and support for local workers and their families in times of hardship. These were funded principally through the subscriptions of their members but fundraising events also took place regularly. Music and choral singing were used to support these efforts. On Whit Sunday 1856, for example, a Blaenavon choir performed some of their favourite glees at the anniversary of the Loyal Victoria and Prince Albert Lodge of the Oddfellows at the King’s Arms Inn in King Street. A Blaenavon Choral Society was formed shortly afterwards and in 1859 performed at the infants’ schoolroom on Church Road to aid the funding of the Blaenavon Reading and Mutual Improvement Association, which aimed to provide education among the workers. The performances, consisting of solos, duets, trios, and choruses, were said to have been delivered with ‘great taste and accuracy’.

The Choral Society disbanded shortly afterwards but George Deakin, a well-known local chemist and distinguished soloist, reformed it in July 1860, when it met in the Oddfellows lodge room of the King’s Arms Inn. Two concerts of sacred music were made by the newly formed society at the King’s Arms during Christmas week 1860. Unfortunately the performance met with scathing criticism. Only a small audience attended the concert which was described in the Monmouthshire Merlin as being ‘not distinguished by any great amount of taste, undiscerning in its selection of music and lacking credibility’. The review in the Hereford Times was not any better and described the performance as ‘inferior’, ‘harsh’ and ‘grating’!

Undeterred by his critics, in the autumn of 1861, George Deakin again re-established the Blaenavon Choral Society. It consisted of vocalists and instrumentalists and its members would meet once a week in an old malt house to practice sacred music. The society aimed to provide fundraising support for the Loyal St. Vincent Lodge of the Oddfellows in forming a widow and orphan fund. In 1862, the choir performed a concert of sacred music at the opening of John Griffith Williams’ new town hall to an audience of 500. There were about thirty vocalists and eleven instrumentalists. The performance was well received, with some pieces encored. The Usk Observer noted that ‘great credit’ was due to George Deakin for his ‘indefatigability in teaching the members of the society’ the success of which was evidenced by the efficiency that the members had attained.

The Blaenavon schoolrooms hosted performances and rehearsals by Blaenavon choirs.

A concert of secular music was held at the new boys’ schoolroom by members of the church choir in 1861 under the leadership of ‘Owain Alaw’ (John Owen of Cheshire). The proceeds were added to the widow and orphans’ fund of the Victoria and Prince Albert Lodge of Oddfellows. The event was patronised by T.W. Plum Esq., manager of the works and consisted of a good selection of songs, glees and very effective part-singing. A particularly entertaining piece was by the ‘Tickling Trio’, which was said to have ‘tickled the audience wonderfully’.

Deakin’s Choral Society disbanded by the summer of 1862 but a similar organisation, entitled the Philharmonic Society, was established shortly afterwards. The society rehearsed at the boys’ schoolroom on Church Road and by August 1862 had upwards of a hundred vocalists and instrumentalists taking part. Conducted by Mr Thomas Hopkins, the society gave a charity concert of sacred and secular music at the town hall in order to aid the Lancashire distress in November 1862. Following the concert, the Reverend Daniel Morgan, Welsh Baptist Minister, Horeb Chapel, congratulated the choir on their performance and noted ‘the proficiency they had displayed’ and that he ‘rejoiced at the existence of such a society in Blaenavon’. He said ‘it was a pleasant sight to witness a troop of young people giving their leisure time to practice music for the edification of such a large assemblage of people’.

Local people also co-operated to relieve the economic hardships and distress caused by slumps in the iron and coal industries. In February 1879, following the temporary closure of the Blaenavon works and high levels of unemployment in the area, a Blaenavon choir, under the conductorship of Edmund Daniels, gave a performance of the cantata ‘Esther’ to help raise funds for the Blaenavon Relief Fund.

James Burchell (1865-1941), conductor of Lion Street Chapel Choir.

Choirs were also very supportive of individual members. Following the death of local conductor Edmund Daniels in 1888, an impressive funeral took place at the Ebenezer Chapel Cemetery on Llanover Road, with 1,000 people present. Some two hundred choristers, sang the Welsh hymn “Bydd myrss o ryfeddodau,” during the procession to the graveside. James Burchell, the conductor of the Lion Street Congregational Chapel Choir, on suffering a broken leg in an accident at the Garn Pits in 1901, was confined to the Blaenavon Workmen’s Hospital for many weeks. Unable to make it to his chapel’s anniversary celebration, the choir made a special trip to the hospital to sing to their conductor at his bedside.

Entertainment, Competition and Community Pride

Altruism, charity and religious expression were not the only reasons why choirs succeeded. Entertainment, competition and community pride also account for why choirs were so popular during the Victorian period. During the 1860s and 1870s a Blaenavon Glee Club made many performances. A group of Blaenavon singers put on a concert of secular music at the King’s Arms Inn in King Street in September 1861 and were well-received. A series of readings and musical entertainments were also held in conjunction with the Blaenavon Glee and Madrigal Society at the White Horse Assembly Rooms, where large and respectable audiences would attend.

A Blaenavon United Choir was formed during the early 1870s. In 1873, the choir performed ‘Yr Haf’ at the White Horse Assembly Rooms. The piece had been composed by a former resident of the town, William Aubrey Williams (1834-91), better known by his bardic name Gwillym Gwent. Gwillym Gwent was a well-known and somewhat prolific composer, producing part-songs including ‘Yr Haf’, ‘Y Gwanwyn’, ‘’Y Clychau’ and ‘Yr Afonig’, among others. Although born in Tredegar, Williams lived in Blaenavon for some years before emigrating from Wales to Plymouth, Pennsylvania, in 1872.

The allure of prize money and the prestigious accolade of beating the choirs of other towns must have formed an incentive to compete. In 1873 the Blaenavon United Choir, under the leadership of John Jones, enjoyed success at the Newport Eisteddfod. At the Abergavenny Easter Eisteddfod of 1879 two Blaenavon choirs competed for a prize of £15 in the rendering of ‘Blessed is the Man’ by a choir of not less than sixty voices. Both were unsuccessful. However, the biggest competition of the day was for the prize of £40 for the best rendition of ‘All we like sheep’ from the ‘Messiah’ by a choir of not less than 150 voices. The Blaenavon United Choir entered and came in second place.

A Blaenavon United Choir continued to exist in the 1880s. In 1882, a concert was held at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Broad Street to raise funds for the juvenile portion of the Blaenavon United Choir to attend the Abergavenny Eisteddfod. On Boxing Day 1885, John Davies (Llew Mynwy or the ‘Monmouthshire Lion’) led the Blaenavon United Choir (numbering 76 voices) to gain a half of the chief choral prize (£15 and a silver mounted baton) for the best rendering of Brinley Richards’s chorus ‘Sound ye trumpet in Zion’ at the Eisteddfod held at Victoria Hall, Newport. The adjudicator Eos Morlais remarked that they had ‘kept capital time from first to last, the intonation had also been good throughout, and the musical characters of expression had been carefully observed, but in the quartet they had unfortunately got a little out of tune’. Further success was enjoyed during the following Christmas when the United Choir, again under Llew Mynwy, competed at the Tredegar Grand Chair Eisteddfod and came first in the chief choral competition of the day – the best rendition of ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ (Handel) by a choir of not less than eighty voices – winning £20.

At the Aberdare Eisteddfod 1894, it was recorded that the Male Voice competition was the most popular of the day. Some fourteen male voice parties from across the region sang a rendition of ‘Martyrs of the Arena’ in a bid to win the top prizes of £20 and £10. Additionally, a special prize of two guineas was awarded for the best quartet. Blaenavon Male Voice Society – as the choir was then known – entered under the conductorship of Llew Mynwy, as did the Blaenavon Glee Society, under the conductorship of Mr J. Lumley. The Blaenavon entrants were unsuccessful on this occasion, with the prizes being awarded to the Nantymoel Party and the Mountain Ash Harmonic Society.

Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall has hosted countless performances over the last 120 years.

In January 1895, the people of Blaenavon celebrated the opening of their new, grand Workmen’s Hall. This marked a new era in the history of Blaenavon and gave local choirs and bands the opportunity to hold eisteddfods and performances locally in a purpose-built venue, where people from across the region could come and enjoy the musical entertainment. The choirs of Blaenavon would have a long association with the Workmen’s Hall – a relationship which still continues today. Shortly after the hall was opened, Llew Mynwy and the Blaenavon Male Voice Party held their inaugural concert at the hall. It was the first of many. An eisteddfod was held there in October 1895 and the Blaenavon Male Voice Party was awarded first prize. Just months later, on Boxing Day 1895, the Workmen’s Hall hosted another eisteddfod and concert. The event was very well attended and prizes of £10 and £4 were offered by local businessmen for the best Male Voice Parties of not less than forty voices on a rendition of Gwillym Gwent’s ‘We are the Young Musicians’. Two Blaenavon choirs competed, namely the Blaenavon Harmonic Choir and the Blaenavon Male Voice Party. Despite being on home territory, the Blaenavon choirs did not succeed and the prizes went to Blaina and Garnvach.

It seems, however, that the Blaenavon choir may have temporarily disbanded by the end of century but a new Blaenavon United Choir was formed in about 1900/01 and held a performance at the Workmen’s Hall. Dr David J. Jones, physician, remarked that the choir had been in existence only nine months but had successfully performed in three competitions. He entertained hopes that the choir would perform and win the top prize at the National Eisteddfod. Other performances that year included the celebrations following the election of Reginald McKenna as Liberal MP for North Monmouthshire. Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall played host to a musical celebration organised by the Blaenavon Liberal and Labour Association and the Blaenavon Male Voice Party, along with the Blaenavon Silver Band, provided a selection of renditions and various solos. The Blaenavon United Choir was still active until at least 1907 under the conductorship of Benjamin Evans and Arthur E. Sims before disbanding once again.

In September 1909, a meeting was held at the Broad Street Chapel Sunday Schoolroom to arrange for the choir to be reformed. Chaired by Mr T.C. Browning and conducted by Mr. W.H. Barry, the choir returned to practice that autumn. It was seemingly short lived and in April 1913, it was reported that a new male voice party had been formed by young men in Blaenavon, under the conductorship of Evan Williams, a tailor employed by the Blaenavon Co-operative. It was decided that it would be known as the Blaenavon Male Voice Party and would give its first concert at the Workmen’s Hall. It is from the Evan Williams choir that the modern day Blaenavon Male Voice Choir claims direct descent. The subsequent history of the choir can be found on the Blaenavon Male Voice Choir website.

For over a hundred years the Blaenavon Male Voice Choir has served the Blaenavon community and represented the town proudly on a local and global stage. Its origins can be found in the nineteenth century when sacred and secular choirs provided a form of religious expression, community cohesion and entertainment, as well as being a source of community pride. Today, it forms part of a living heritage and is a reminder of the working class culture that was so strong in the south Wales valleys during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.