The results of a vote to find Wales’ favourite William Williams, Pantycelyn hymn will be revealed on 9 March in a special edition of S4C’s spiritual music series, Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol, broadcast from the Afan Lido Centre, Port Talbot.
A shortlist of ten hymns has been chosen by a panel of experts, and viewers have been voting for their favourites. The phone lines are now closed, and the votes have been counted.
William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717-1791), Wales' most prolific hymn writer, was a key figure in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival, alongside Howell Harris. He is also considered one of Wales's greatest writers of poetry and prose.
The Pantycelyn programme, presented by Hywel Gwynfryn, will see an audience of six hundred, conducted by Tim Rhys Evans and accompanied by the Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol orchestra, perform the top ten hymns in reverse order.
The voting has been coordinated by Teledu Avanti, the series producers, who organised the Hymn for Wales 2007 vote. Series executive producer, Emyr Afan, is looking forward to the culmination of the Pantycelyn vote in Port Talbot.
Emyr Afan explains, “After last year’s amazing response to the Hymn for Wales 2007 vote, we decided we would do the same this year. The response, yet again, has been fantastic, and it proves, centuries after they were first written, that these hymns are still relevant today.”
The ten shortlisted hymns are: Iesu, Difyrrwch f'enaid drud; Nefol Addfwyn Oen; Ennynaist ynof dân; O Tyred Iôr; Iesu, Iesu rwyt ti’n ddigon; O Llefara addfwyn Iesu; Mi dafla maich; Yn Eden cofiaf hynny byth; Pererin Wyf; Dal fi fy Nuw; Cudd fy meiau; Tyred Iesu i’r anialwch.
The shortlist was chosen by conductor Trystan Lewis, Delyth Morgans, the editor of Welsh hymn book, Caneuon Ffydd, Dr Kathryn Jenkins, President of the Hymn Society of Wales, Rob Nicholls, S4C Content Editor, Culture and Professor Derec Llwyd Morgan, who chaired the team of adjudicators.
