Daniel Protheroe was, in his day, one of the most important and popular Welsh musicians working in America and in Wales.

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Born and raised in Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley, he became a recognised leader of Welsh music in the United States of America, as well as a major contributor to music-making in Wales. A prolific composer, over a thousand copyrights of mixed genre works were lodged for him at the Library of Congress, without counting the works published in Wales, such as for male voice choir, hymns and songs for children. The majority of his published works are in the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. with some of his personal papers and manuscripts in the collection of the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.

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At age nineteen, Daniel Protheroe emigrated from ‘Yr Ystrad’ and settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the then epicentre of Welsh-America. Unlike so many who went to Scranton, Daniel Protheroe did not become a miner, iron worker or labourer, but immediately established a successful career as an international musician – as a conductor, educator, adjudicator, singer, author, and most importantly, as a composer.

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Among Daniel Protheroe’s early teachers in Wales were Philip Thomas, J T Rees, Dr Joseph Parry, Dyfed Lewis, Rev. William Fairhurst and Rev. G. Emery, and in America, J. W. Parson Price, Dudley Buck and Hugo Kahn. In 1893 he gained his Mus. Bac. (Toronto), and in 1903 his Doctor of Music from New York University. He became a Naturalized American Citizen in 1893. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Coe College, Iowa, and the University of Wales.

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Daniel Protheroe’s life and works fall into four periods: Ystradgynlais (-1886), Scranton, Pennsylvania (1886-94), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1894-1908) and Chicago, Illinois (1908-1934).

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While in Scranton, he founded and conducted the Cymmrodorion Choral Society with over two hundred and fifty Welsh choristers. The choir won the second prize at the International Eisteddfod of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and Daniel Protheroe was the first person in Scranton to stage and conduct an oratorio (Alexander’s Feast by Handel) with an orchestra. It was in Scranton that he met and married his wife, Hannah Harris.

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An experienced ‘eisteddfodwr’, Daniel Protheroe won the alto solo at age seven (Swansea) and at 18 conducted the Ystradgynlais Choir at the National in Llandeilo. In the years between 1900 and 1933, he crossed the Atlantic nine times to adjudicate at National Eisteddfodau and conducted the Festival choir at the one in Harlech in 1933. In the USA, he adjudicated at all five American National Eisteddfodau, the Pittsburgh International Eisteddfod and many regionals across the country.

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Protheroe was much in demand across the Continent as a Cymanfa Ganu conductor and many of these frequently would involve congregations numbering in the thousands – in Scranton in 1926 there were more than 6000 singers at the city’s Armoury. And also, for the National American Eisteddfod Cymanfaoedd Canu.

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Educator: He was a faculty member of the vocal department of the Sherwood Music School, and Director of the music department of the Chicago Training School, a Methodist institution for the training of missionaries and church workers.

Pedagogy: He authored the Harmony Course, and a Choral Conducting course to address the needs of the growing number of choirs in the United States.

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Although he lived outside of Wales for most of his life, Daniel Protheroe passionately maintained his first language, often praised for his ability both to write and deliver adjudications from the ‘llwyfan’ of the National Eisteddfod in impeccable Welsh.

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Today, he is probably best remembered for his hymns. As a regular traveller, many of his most popular hymns are named for places, such as Milwaukee, Wilkesbarre, Cwmgiedd, and others like Price, Hiraeth and Hannah. ‘Cân a Mawl’ is a bilingual Welsh-English hymnal that he edited for the Calvinistic Methodist Church of America.

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Daniel Protheroe died in Chicago in 1934, and both he and his wife, Hannah are buried in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At the time of his death, special remembrance services and concerts were held across the Welsh communities of America. At the National Eisteddfod Cymanfa Ganu in Neath that year, his hymn-tune, Price, was sung in his memory.