Great to see that two of our talented alumni students, Gwenno Morgan and Patrick Rimes will be taking part in this special event…
Four World Premiers by Beethoven, ap Sion, Puw and Rimes
Tregaron National Eisteddfod 2022
At the turn of the nineteenth century, George Thomson, a Scottish publisher sent a number of Welsh, Irish and Scottish folk song to the German composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. He sent others to Franz Joseph Haydn. Thomson was also a musician and friendly with the poet Robert Burns. Around 1809, Beethoven began setting these folk songs for Thomson who subsequently published them. They were scored for voice and piano trio in the typical style of the Classical period. The astonishing fact was that Beethoven composed 179 of these arrangements from the three above countries, more than any other genre of his oeuvre.
It was hoped that these would have come to light in 2020, celebrating 250 years since Beethoven’s birth year, but covid intervened. The project was then postponed until 2022 and slightly revamped. Other Welsh contemporary composers were invited to contribute. “O Dresden i Dregaron” (From Dresden to Tregaron); from Germany to Wales, will now include four world premiers by Beethoven, Pwyll ap Sion, Guto Puw
and Patrick Rimes. Two arrangements by Haydn will also be performed and one by Sioned Webb, first performed by the soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. Dafydd Idris, the folk singer from Pontypridd will sing the folk song in their familiar unaccompanied versions. The tenor is the local and internationally acclaimed operatic singer Robyn Lyn Evans and the trio will consist of Gwenno Morgan (piano), Patrick Rimes (violin), Jordan Williams (cello) and Sioned Webb (piano). The performance will take place in the Babell Lên on the 1Eisteddfod field at Tregaron on Monday evening, August 1st at 7.30pm.
The evening’s producer and co-ordinator is the musician and radio presenter Sioned Webb.
