Cwm Rhondda

Tune John Hughes, lyrics Ann Griffiths, arrangement William O. Jones.

Cwm Rhondda is the Rhondda Valley, actually made up of two valleys, Rhondda Mawr and Rhondda Fach. The biggest town in the Rhondda is Treorchy of male voice choir fame. In the mid to late 19th century the Rhondda became a mining area.

John Hughes (1873-1932) was born in Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, and brought up in Llanilltud Faerdref south of Pontypridd. Most of his working life was as a clerk at the Great Western Colliery Pontypridd. He served as a deacon and leader of the congregational singing in Salem Baptist Chapel in Llanilltud Faerdref. Cwm Rhondda was written for the inauguration of the organ at Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown in the Rhondda valley, in 1907, and is his most popular work.

Ann Griffiths (née Thomas, 1776–1805) was a poet and hymn writer. She was born in April 1776 near the village of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa which is still pretty remote, a few miles east of Lake Vyrnwy in central Powys. In 1796 she joined the Calvinistic Methodist movement. She is the most prominent Welsh female hymnist and a show was made about her life by S4C for the 2003 Meifod Eisteddfod. Her poetry is highly regarded to this day.

William O. Jones (to do when I can find some information)

When Cwm Rhondda was composed, the words originally sung to it were William Williams Pantycelyn’s “Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch”, but Ann Griffiths’ words “Wele’n sefyll rhwng y myrtwydd” are more commonly sung to Cwm Rhondda and Pantycelyn’s to the tune Capel y Ddôl.

William Williams Pantycelyn (1717-1791) is Wales’s premier hymn writer and also wrote poetry and prose. He became a travelling preacher in the Calvinistic Methodist church.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cwm_Rhondda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hughes_(1873–1932)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Griffiths
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Williams_Pantycelyn

Translation source: http://www.angelfire.com/in/gillionhome/Worship/Emynau/WeleNSefyll.html

Myrtles

A Myrtle is an evergreen shrub which has glossy aromatic foliage and white flowers followed by purple-black oval berries. The reference is to Zechariah chapter 8: A Man among the Myrtle Trees.

(7) Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, (8) I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. (9) Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. (10) And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. (11) And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

Rose of Sharon

According to bible.org Sharon is the Mediterranean coastal plain between Joppa and Caesarea. Which exact plant is referred to (if any) is not certain.