William Rhys-Herbert

Who was William Rhys-Herbert?

William Rhys-Herbert was an American composer, conductor, organist and pianist of Welsh origin. He composed numerous operettas for performance in schools, and also published songs, partsongs, and cantatas.

William Rhys Herbert was born in 1868 in Ffwrnas, near Resolven in South Wales. At an early age, like most boys at that time, he went down the local pit, Blaencwm Colliery, but it was obvious that he had great talent musically. He was able to save enough to buy himself a harmonium – the first to come to the village. The Resolven History Society records that “it arrived by train and was carted in style through the streets followed by hordes of children”. He became the first organist at Jerusalem Chapel, where a concert was later held to raise funds so that he could study professionally, and he was accepted as a pupil by T. J. Davies Mus. Bac. of Swansea. At the age of 19 he published his first composition. He then studied with Dr Frederick Karn at the London College of Music, gaining the degree of Mus. Bac. At the age of 22 he left for Canada, and studied at Trinity University, Toronto, where his former teacher, Frederick Karn, was appointed external examiner in 1894.