Ar Hyd y Nos

"Ar Hyd y Nos" ("All through the Night") is a Welsh folksong sung to a tune which was first recorded in Edward Jones' "Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards" (1784). The Welsh lyrics were written by John Ceiriog Hughes. It has been translated into several languages, including English. The song is included in Fantasia on British Sea Songs at the Last Night of the Proms, representing Wales.

The melody was used by John Gay in "The Beggar's Opera".cite book| last=Hywel| first=John| title=Famous Songs of Wales/Caneuon Enwog Cymru| location=Penygroes, Caernarfon| publisher=Gwynn| year=1987| id=ISBN 0-900426-60-8]

The song is highly popular with traditional Welsh male voice choirs, and is sung by them at festivals in Wales and around the world.

Welsh version

Holl amrantau'r sêr ddywedant
Ar hyd y nos
'Dyma'r ffordd i fro gogoniant
Ar hyd y nos.
Golau arall yw tywyllwch
I arddangos gwir brydferthwch
Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch
Ar hyd y nos.

O mor siriol gwen a seren
Ar hyd y nos
I oleuo'i chwaer ddae ar en
Ar hyd y nos.
Nos yw henaint pan ddaw cystudd
Ond i harddu dyn a'i hwyr dydd
Rhown ein goleu gwan i'n gilydd
Ar hyd y nos.

English version

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
Hill and vale in slumber steeping,
I my loving vigil keeping
All through the night.

While the moon her watch is keeping
All through the night
While the weary world is sleeping
All through the night
O'er they spirit gently stealing
Visions of delight revealing
Breathes a pure and holy feeling
All through the night.

In an alternate version, the second verse is substituted with:

Angels watching ever round thee
All through the night
In thy slumbers close surround thee
All through the night
They will of all fears disarm thee,
No forebodings should alarm thee,
They will let no peril harm thee
All through the night.
[All Through the Night Translation, http://www.mcglaun.com/thru_night.htm]

Cultural references

*In the episode "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" of the popular television show "The Sopranos", Meadow Soprano and her choir sing the English version of the song.
*In season 3 of the series "Angel (TV series)" the character Daniel Holtz is frequently heard singing the English version of this song.
*An a cappella version of the song occurs very briefly at the end of the Vulcan/Volcano scene in Terry Gilliam's film "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen", (1988) as Vulcan kisses Venus. It is assumed that the cyclopses/miners are the singers.
*In the episode "Thursday's Child" in season 5 of "Road to Avonlea", Alec King (played by Cedric Smith) sings the English version of this song to his son Daniel. However, the lullaby applies to everyone else awake in the household, given the recent bout of TB in the youngest daughter, Cecily, which has thrown the family into crisis.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.mcglaun.com/thru_night.htm Verse and prose translations]