Mervyn Roberts

Mervyn Roberts was born on 23 November 1906 in Abergele (Wales). He was the younger son of the first Lord Clwyd and grew up in an environment that valued education and culture. From a young age he showed a strong musical talent, particularly for the piano, studying with his first piano teacher, Elsie Owen. After his foundational lessons, he continued his education at Gresham’s School in Holt, where he received further musical training. He then attended Trinity College, Cambridge (1925–1928), where he studied English and History rather than music, yet remained deeply involved in musical activities. After Cambridge, Mervyn Roberts pursued formal musical study at the Royal College of Music in London. There he studied theory, composition and orchestration with R. O. Morris and Gordon Jacob, and piano with Arthur Alexander, earning several diplomas.
After completing his studies, Mervyn Roberts returned mostly to Wales, where he devoted himself to composing, teaching, and musical engagement. During World War II, he worked in the Civil Service (Preservation of Ancient Monuments) while continuing to compose. He also formed a music group in Abergele, through which he met his future wife, Eileen Easom, an accomplished pianist; the couple later performed many of his two-piano works together. In the 1950s and 1960s, Mervyn Roberts combined composition with teaching and other musical roles. He taught at Clarendon School in Abergele (1953–1956) and later taught piano privately and at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham (1963–1967). He also served as an adjudicator at National Eisteddfodau and was a member of the Welsh Advisory Council of the BBC, contributing to the promotion of music in Wales. He wrote occasional music reviews and articles for music journals as well.
Mervyn Roberts’s best-known works are for the piano. Among his notable achievements was the Edwin Evans Prize, awarded in 1950 to his Piano Sonata (originally composed in 1934 and revised in 1949). The sonata was first performed that year by Helen Perkin and was published by Novello in 1951, becoming one of the first piano sonatas by a living Welsh composer to be published.
Roberts is often grouped with his contemporaries ‘Y Pump Cymreig’ (The Welsh Five) - with David Wynne, Grace Williams, Daniel Jones, and Denis Ap Ivor - as significant contributors to 20th-century Welsh classical music. 
Mervyn Roberts died on 12 July 1990 in Abergele (Wales).

The work catalogue of Mervyn Roberts contains many piano works, for solo piano like his famous Piano sonata, but also many works for two pianos. This is added with only a few other chamber music compositions and some songs.

Ballad for piano

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the Ballad for piano by Mervyn Roberts. The work was composed in 1950, but my manuscript was done by Mervyn Roberts in 1983 and was a present to the amateur music writer Colin Scott-Sutherland (1930-2013). The work was recently published by the Wales music information centre "Ty Cerdd" and can be ordered there. A modern recording is also avaible: