Today marks the 93rd anniversary of the death of one of Merthyr’s greatest musical talents – Maggie Davies. Nowadays, however, she is almost totally forgotten.
Maggie Davies was born in Broad Street, Dowlais in November 1865. Her father, Evan, was a puddler at the Dowlais Works, and both he and his wife, Mary, were staunch members of Bethania Chapel, where Evan was a deacon. It was at Bethania Chapel that the young Maggie got her first rudimentary musical training, and was soon considered to be a prodigy, and her musical talents were often called upon around Dowlais.
After performing for two years with Brogden’s Swiss Choir, a famous touring group, Maggie returned to Merthyr for formal musical training with Edward Lawrence, the organist at St David’s Church. Under Lawrence’s tutelage, Maggie won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. Before, her departure, the people of Dowlais organised a grand concert held at the Oddfellows Hall in her honour to raise money to help with her expenses.
At the Royal College of Music, she studied with Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Walter Parratt, and she also spent a season in Paris, studying with the world-renowned soprano Pauline Viardot. Such was Maggie’s talent and promise that the scholarship, which had been for a period of three years, was extended for a further three years, an unprecedented occurrence in that period.
Although she appeared for a season with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, it was as a concert singer that she made her name. She appeared regularly all over Britain, and sang annually at the National Eisteddfod, and it was here that she was christened ‘Eos Fach’ – Little Nightingale.
In 1896, the prominent composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford asked Maggie to sing the lead role in the premiere of his new opera ‘Shamus O’Brien’, a role he had written specifically for her. At first she was reluctant to accept the offer, as she did not want to return to the operatic stage, much preferring her career as a concert and oratorio singer. She was finally persuaded to perform the role by the composer, and she received excellent reviews in most of the newspapers and periodicals of the time.
Although she occasionally performed in opera productions, notably in Joseph Parry’s operas ‘Blodwen’ and ‘Arianwen’ in Cardiff, she continued to confine her career mostly to the concert platform, and took part in concert tours to America and South Africa.
In 1903, she married George W Hutcheson, a Scottish solicitor residing in London, and retired from the concert stage.
By the 1920’s, ill-health had begun to take its toll on Maggie, and in 1925 she embarked on a voyage to the West Indies with a view to improving her health. Upon her return, however, her condition had worsened and she was admitted to a nursing home, where she died on 1 July 1925. In her funeral, the Rev H Elvet Lewis, in his prayer, referred to “the use the Creator had made of the gifts of her great art, which had brought joy to so many during her time”.