Mansel Thomas Music Manuscripts,

The music manuscripts, 1927-1986, of Mansel Thomas, comprising music for male voice choirs, mixed choirs, youth and female voices, solo songs, and instrumental compositions. They consist mainly of Christmas music, hymn-tunes, liturgical music, arrangements of Welsh traditional melodies, secular music and solo songs, the majority of which have been published by the Mansel Thomas Trust and the Cwmni Cyhoeddi Gwynn Publishing Company. Some manuscripts are in the hand of copyists and may contain later notes and additions.

Mansel Thomas was a composer, conductor and, for many years, the BBC's principal music representative for Wales.
He was born in Pontygwaith, in the Rhondda Fach, in 1909. At the age of 15 he won the Rhondda Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition and piano. During his studentship he won a number of prestigious awards and prizes, and graduated in 1930.
Having worked as a free-lance musician in London for a number of years, he joined the BBC in Cardiff in 1936 as a music producer and assistant conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra. In 1939 he married the cellist Megan Lloyd and they had two daughters, Grace and Siân. Following the evacuation of the BBC departments during the war years, he worked in Bristol (with the BBC Singers and Chorus) and Bangor (with the BBC Variety Department) prior to war service, mainly in Belgium.
In 1946 he returned to the BBC as principal conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra and in 1950 succeeded Idris Lewis as Head of Music, BBC Wales. He always supported contemporary Welsh composers and during this period encouraged the performance of their music. Taking early retirement in 1965 in order to devote his time entirely to composition, he and his wife moved to Treadam in Gwent. During this period he also gave lectures to students of the Music Department at U.C.W., Aberystwyth, and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the University in 1972. He suffered a major stroke in 1979 and wrote little else of significance up to his death in 1986.
Mansel Thomas wrote or arranged a large and varied range of music - vocal, choral and instrumental, of both a sacred and secular nature. However, he is best remembered for his songs, part-songs and major choral works, both for mixed voices and male voices. Almost all his works have been published, the majority by the Mansel Thomas Trust. He was awarded the OBE and FRAM for his services to British music and the John Edwards Memorial Award for his outstanding service to music in Wales.

The majority of the manuscripts follow the arrangement imposed on the fonds by Mr Terence Gilmore-James on behalf of the Mansel Thomas Trust, prior to its transfer to the Library. Arranged into nine groups: Christmas music; Instrumental music; Music for male voice choirs; Music for choirs of mixed voices; Music for youth choirs and female voices; Works for solo voice; Orchestral and band music. The other groups: Works by other composers; Juvenilia, fragments and sketches, were arranged by the archivist.

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Mrs Megan Mansel Thomas; Monmouth; Donation; October 1994 and December 2003; A1994/138, 0200313103.
Grace and Terence Gilmore-James, Ponthir, donation July 2006; July 2014 (1 box); Ms Sian Cobb, Ponthir, donation, December 2014 (2 boxes); Grace and Terence Gilmore-James, Ponthir, donation June 2015 (5 boxes) 4309975; July 2015 (1 box) 430997; December 2015 (1 box); May 2018 (1 box) 4309975. The Reverend Peter Cobb, Monmouth, donation October 2019 (1 small box) 99207812102419.

Mansel Thomas was a composer, conductor and, for many years, the BBC's principal music representative for Wales.
He was born in Pontygwaith, in the Rhondda Fach, in 1909. At the age of 15 he won the Rhondda Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition and piano. During his studentship he won a number of prestigious awards and prizes, and graduated in 1930.
Having worked as a free-lance musician in London for a number of years, he joined the BBC in Cardiff in 1936 as a music producer and assistant conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra. In 1939 he married the cellist Megan Lloyd and they had two daughters, Grace and Siân. Following the evacuation of the BBC departments during the war years, he worked in Bristol (with the BBC Singers and Chorus) and Bangor (with the BBC Variety Department) prior to war service, mainly in Belgium.
In 1946 he returned to the BBC as principal conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra and in 1950 succeeded Idris Lewis as Head of Music, BBC Wales. He always supported contemporary Welsh composers and during this period encouraged the performance of their music. Taking early retirement in 1965 in order to devote his time entirely to composition, he and his wife moved to Treadam in Gwent. During this period he also gave lectures to students of the Music Department at U.C.W., Aberystwyth, and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the University in 1972. He suffered a major stroke in 1979 and wrote little else of significance up to his death in 1986.
Mansel Thomas wrote or arranged a large and varied range of music - vocal, choral and instrumental, of both a sacred and secular nature. However, he is best remembered for his songs, part-songs and major choral works, both for mixed voices and male voices. Almost all his works have been published, the majority by the Mansel Thomas Trust. He was awarded the OBE and FRAM for his services to British music and the John Edwards Memorial Award for his outstanding service to music in Wales.

Titles of fonds, sub-fonds and series levels are based on a working list prepared by Mr Terence Gilmore-James. Titles of files are the original titles of the manuscript scores.

Biographical details and information on published works can be found on the Mansel Thomas Trust website https://manselthomas.org.uk/ .

Description of the first deposits completed in May 2008. Later deposits added 2019.

Compiled by Barbara Davies and Robert Evans.

The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Terence Gilmore-James, Teyrnged i Mansel Thomas = A Tribute to Mansel Thomas (1989); the Mansel Thomas Trust website; Welsh Music, vol. 8, nos 2 and 10 (1986); and published versions of the compositions;

Usual copyright laws apply.

All of the manuscripts donated to NLW have been retained.

Accruals are expected.

Manuscript scores are also NLW MS 9457E; NLW, John Haydn Davies Papers, T/1; and in NLW, Papurau Owen Bryngwyn.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales