Joseph Parry (1841-1903) was born in Merthyr Tydfil into a musical family but had to leave school when he was 9 to work in the local coal mines. At age 17 he started to study music with other employees of the iron works where he now worked, in Danville, Pennsylvania where the family had emigrated, and he became involved in local Welsh culture, singing and playing the organ.
He submitted compositions to eisteddfodau in Wales and the United States and won awards, gaining scholarships for further study, and returned to Wales to gain his doctorate of music at Cambridge and later to hold professorships at Aberystwyth and Cardiff universities.
Parry composed many songs and hymns as well as operas, cantatas and oratorios. His operas included Blodwen, the first Welsh language opera. Due to the strong disapproval of theatre by non-conformists, audiences had to be reassured that although the characters were in costume they were not acting but merely singing songs. He also wrote the hymn tune Aberystwyth and the music to Myfanwy (words by Richard Davies who wrote the libretto to Blodwen). Performances of his own work were well received both in Britain and America including by Queen Victoria.
He is buried in Penarth (on the coast between Cardiff and Barry) and over 7000 people lined the routes for his funeral.