William Hayes: Professor of Music

Born in Gloucester in 1708, the son of a rope maker, William Hayes epitomises the principle that hard work, diligence and natural talent can achieve great things. From relatively humble origins, and through the patronage of a local patroness, Hayes became successively a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral, articled to its organist William Hine and then via posts in Shrewsbury and Worcester, Informator Choristarum - in effect, Director of Music - at Magdalen College Oxford. Although he had no formal University education, he gained the B. Mus., followed by the coveted Doctorate in 1749. He was unanimously elected to the Professorship in 1742, thereafter becoming firmly established as one of the country’s leading provincial composers.

Much of his music is overtly Handelian, but often contains glimpses of more galant idioms. A large portion of his music has remained unperformed until now, and we are grateful to the scholar Dr Simon Heighes for his help in getting our Hayes project underway.