Rhosymedre

The hymn tune Rhosymedre is the work of the nineteenth-century Anglican priest John David Edwards, who named it after the village of Rhosymedre in North Wales, where he served as the vicar for 43 years until his death in 1885. Vaughan Williams’s organ prelude has been arranged for many different instrumental groups, including orchestra, string quartet and brass quintet, but not until now for brass band. This arrangement was prepared in 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death and was first performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band at the 2008 RNCM Festival of Brass, conducted by Christopher Houlding.