Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Richards, Brinley
RICHARDS, Brinley, pianist and composer, son of Mr. H. Richards, organist of St. Peter's, Carmarthen, was born in 1819, and, being intended for the medical profession, was placed with a surgeon at Carmarthen, but abandoned it for one more congenial to his taste. With the assistance of the then Duke of Newcastle, he entered the Royal Academy of Music, where he gained the King's Scholarship in 1835 and 1837. Mr. Richards's name is identified with Welsh National Music, and with an ardent love of the Principality. This spirit has had a great influence on his musical career, has given an impulse to his genius, and contributed to his success. His effusions in honour of Wales have assumed a patriotic importance, and his "Cambrian War-Song," "The Cambrian Plume," and "The Harp of Wales," are destined to share in the popularity of his song "God Bless the Prince of Wales." Some of his orchestral works have been frequently played in London and Paris; and while visiting the latter place, he attracted the notice of Chopin, and formed an intimacy which lasted till the death of that illustrious composer. As a pianist, Mr. Richards holds a very prominent rank, not only as a brilliant solo player, but more especially for his performance of the works of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, &c. Among his principal compositions may be mentioned his sacred songs—"In the Hour of My Distress," "The Pilgrim's Path," "As o'er the Past," and "Through the Day;" part-songs—"Up, Quit Thy Bower," "What Bells are those?" "Sweet Day so Cool," and "Ye Little Birds" (madrigal);—for the pianoforte—"Overture in F minor," for full orchestra; a volume of "Octave Studies," "Caprice in F sharp," "Andante con Moto," "The Angel's Song," "The Vision," "In Memoriam," "Recollections of Wales," "The Carmarthen March," for military band (composed by request of the Earl of Cawdor, for the county of Carmarthen), and numerous pianoforte solos, most of which have been republished in Milan, Leipzig, and Paris. He was presented to the Prince of Wales on St. David's Day, 1867, as the composer of "God Bless the Prince of Wales."