Biography
Born in 1909 within the Welsh village of Rhosllanerchrugog, Arwel Hughes grew up as the youngest of ten children. He completed his secondary education at Ruabon Grammar School in North-East Wales, where his older brother John—an established composer of hymns—nurtured his musical interests and secured organ lessons for him at Chester Cathedral. A scholarship later enabled Hughes to enroll at the Royal College of Music in London, where his composition teachers included Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Herbert Kitson. Upon completing his studies he became a fellow of the Royal College of Organists and held organist posts at St. Margaret’s Church in Westminster and at St. Phillips and St. James Church in Oxford.
In 1935 Hughes joined the BBC Wales Music Department, taking charge of the BBC Welsh Orchestra and preparing scores for live radio transmissions. Throughout his tenure he vigorously promoted the music of fellow Welsh composers, among them Alun Hoddinott and Grace Williams, and gave first performances of numerous new scores. During these years he produced his Fantasia for string orchestra and the choral work Tydi a Roddaist, although administrative duties at the BBC curtailed his creative output. He retained these responsibilities into the 1940s.
For the 1950 Festival of Britain he composed the oratorio Dewi Sant. The following year he completed the opera Menna to a libretto by Wyn Griffith; the Welsh National Opera presented its premiere in 1953. His second opera, Serch yw’r doctor, received its first performance from the same company in 1960 and marked the earliest opera to employ a Welsh-language text. Promoted to Head of Music at BBC Wales in 1965, Hughes was appointed OBE four years later. After retiring from the corporation in 1971 he continued composing, producing a Symphony, several large-scale choral-orchestral works, and two string quartets.
Hughes died in Cardiff in 1988. His music appears on the Maggini Quartet’s 2021 recording Arwel Hughes: String Quartets 1, 2 & 3 and on the 2023 release Arwel Hughes: Dewi Sant (Saint David), conducted by his son Owain Arwel Hughes.
In 1935 Hughes joined the BBC Wales Music Department, taking charge of the BBC Welsh Orchestra and preparing scores for live radio transmissions. Throughout his tenure he vigorously promoted the music of fellow Welsh composers, among them Alun Hoddinott and Grace Williams, and gave first performances of numerous new scores. During these years he produced his Fantasia for string orchestra and the choral work Tydi a Roddaist, although administrative duties at the BBC curtailed his creative output. He retained these responsibilities into the 1940s.
For the 1950 Festival of Britain he composed the oratorio Dewi Sant. The following year he completed the opera Menna to a libretto by Wyn Griffith; the Welsh National Opera presented its premiere in 1953. His second opera, Serch yw’r doctor, received its first performance from the same company in 1960 and marked the earliest opera to employ a Welsh-language text. Promoted to Head of Music at BBC Wales in 1965, Hughes was appointed OBE four years later. After retiring from the corporation in 1971 he continued composing, producing a Symphony, several large-scale choral-orchestral works, and two string quartets.
Hughes died in Cardiff in 1988. His music appears on the Maggini Quartet’s 2021 recording Arwel Hughes: String Quartets 1, 2 & 3 and on the 2023 release Arwel Hughes: Dewi Sant (Saint David), conducted by his son Owain Arwel Hughes.
Albums
