three bards who lived in the sixth century. The principal were
Taleisin pen Beirrd, Aneurin Gwawrydd, Gildas ab Caw, Gildas Badonius.
Taleisin was bard of Prince Elphin, then of King Maelgwin, and in the
last place of Prince Urien Reged. He lived about 550; a number of his
poems remain, but no fragment of his melody. Aneurin was author of
"Gododn," one of the best Welsh poems that has come down to us.

In the British Museum there is a manuscript supposed to have been
begun in the eleventh century, containing much music for the harp.
Among it are exercises in the curious notation of the Welsh, in which
chords are freely used, and in positions suggesting the immediate
occasion of their introduction--that, namely of supplementing the
small power of the instrument by sounding several tones together,
which, as octaves were impossible outside the middle range or pitch,
were necessarily chords. Among the songs given are several which
betray the transition period of tonality, when chords had come into
legitimate use, but the true feeling for a tonic had not yet been
acquired. The preceding, for instance, proceeds regularly in the key
of G in all respects but the very ending of each strain, which takes
place in the key of C. Or to speak tonically, the melody and
accompaniment after being written nearly all the way in the key of Do,
suddenly diverge to the key of Fa, and there close.

[Music illustration: DADLE DAU--THE TWO LOVERS.

Mae nhw'nd'wedyd na chai fa-wr, gid-a gwawr o gow aeth;
Bod-lon yd-w-i, os-cai'r. Fun, fod heb yr un gein-iog-w rth
Hwi daeew hi! Hwi daeew hi! a hwi daeew hi'rlan E-neth.
Hwi daeew hi! Hwi daeew hi! a hwi daeew hi'rlan brydferth.]

This old song was a great favorite with Henry V, while he
was yet Prince of Wales, and with his jolly companions he
used to shout it vigorously at the Bear's Head tavern, about
1410. (Edward Jones' "Relics of the Welsh Bards," p. 176)

Another (p. 94) is quite modern in spirit and treatment. It is a
vigorous love song, and there is a boisterous chorus of bards which
comes in with the refrain. A curious feature of this melody is the
full-measure rest, immediately following the strong chorus of the
bards. During the rests we seem to hear the chorus repeated.

[Music illustration: OLD WELSH SONG, IN PRAISE OF LOVE.

SOLO.

Car-u'm hell a char-u'n ag-os,

CHORUS of Bards.

Hob y de-ri dan-do:

SOLO.