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Religious affairs programme, tackling thorny issues in a thought-provoking manner

Religious affairs programme, tackling the thornier issues of the day in a thought-provoking manner

All Things Considered: William Williams and the Great Welsh Hymn

William Williams and the Great Welsh Hymn

30/04/2017

BBC Radio Wales - All Things Considered, William Williams and the Great Welsh Hymn

Roy explores Welsh hymns and their future in William Williams's 300th anniversary year.

Roy Jenkins explores the great Welsh hymn and its past, present and future in the 300th anniversary year of hymn writer William Williams Pantycelyn.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of Welsh hymn writers, William Williams Pantycelyn. His best known composition, Guide me O thou great Jehovah, has been dubbed the second national anthem. It's sung around the world, and is as likely to be heard in an international rugby stadium as in a church. 

Until relatively recent times, hymn singing was regarded as a key characteristic of Welsh life, and it was central to some of the great revivals which helped to shape the religious landscape. It's now very different. 

The cymanfa ganu singing festivals are just a memory for most communities. Far fewer people are in church and chapel. And most contemporary worship music has no place for traditional four-part congregational harmony. Today Roy Jenkins explores why hymns have been so significant in Wales, and what kind of future they might have.

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