              Copyright
Helen Forder
2004
|
The
National Music of Wales ... continued xxxxxxxxxxxxxpage10
John
Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia). From Y
Cymmrodor, 1878 |
| The circumstance of
Irish names being attached to the twenty-four
musical measures in the ancient manuscript, has
led many historians to the erroneous conclusion
that Wales derived the whole of her music from
Ireland, at the time of Gruffydd ab Cynan; when,
as is alleged, the measures were constructed. |
 |
| Even Welsh
chroniclers, such as Giraldus Cambrensis,
Caradoc, Powel, and others, have made this
statement in their works upon the strength of the
circumstance alluded to; therefore, it is not
surprising that modern writers, such as Gunn,
Walker, Bunting, Sir John Hawkins, and others,
should have been deceived by relying upon such
apparently good authority. But, independently of
the extreme dissimilarity of the Welsh and Irish
music that has been handed down to us, it so
happens that other parts of the same document
bear ample testimony to the contrary. The Welsh
had their twenty-four metres in poetry as well as
their twenty-four athletic games; and the
following circumstance will show that they also
possessed their twenty-four musical measures
centuries prior to the Congress held by Gryffudd
ab Cynan. |
| Among the
ancient pieces included in the manuscript, is one
bearing the following title, Gosteg yr Halen ("Prelude
to the Salt"), and at the end is the
following account concerning it: |
"Tervyn Gosteg
yr Halen, yr hon a vyddid yn ei chanu o vlaen
Marchogion Arthur pan roid y Sallter a'r
halen ar y bwrdd."
"Here ends the Prelude to the Salt,
which used to be performed before the knights
of King Arthur, when the Salter was placed
upon the table."
|
As one part
of the manuscript must be considered as authentic
as another, the above composition takes us as far
back as the middle of the sixth century - the
time when King Arthur flourished; and the
composition is written in one of the twenty-four
measures - Mac Mwn byr - as may be seen
by the copy which I have deciphered and published
in the second edition of Myvyrian
Archæology. It is also asserted that even
the keys used in Welsh music were brought over
from Ireland at the same time as the twenty-four
measures - that is, in the reign of Gruffydd ab
Cynan.
There are five keys mentioned in Welsh music: |
1. Is-gywair -
the low key, or key of C.
2. Cras-gywair - the sharp
key, or key of G.
3. Lleddf-gywair - the flat
key, or key of F.
4. Go-gywair - the key with a flat,
or minor third; the remainder of the scale,
in every other respect, being major.
5. Bragod-gywair - called the minor
or mixed key.
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