WILLIAM HAYES (1708-1777)

CD I Six Cantatas (1748)

Cantata I: A winter scene at Ross in Herefordshire
for tenor, violoncello obbligato and basso continuo (Paul Bentley, tenor)
1 Aria: At Ross how alter’d is the scene
2 Recitative: But oh, when age, life’s winter comes
3 Aria. Vivace ma non presto: Virtue, the charmer sweet replies

Cantata II: Why, Lysidas, shou’d Man be vain
for soprano, 2 violins and basso continuo (Mirjam Berli, soprano)
4 Recitative: Why, Lysidas, shou’d Man be vain
5 Aria. Allegro moderato: Can splendid robes or beds of down
6 Recitative: Go search the tombs where monarchs rest
7 Aria. Andante: So glides the meteor

Cantata III: While I listen to thy voice, Chloris
for tenor, ‘Violoncello e Cembalo / Cembalo e Contra Basso’ (David Munderloh, tenor)
8 Aria: While I listen to thy voice, Chloris
9 Recitative: Peace, Chloris, peace
10 Aria. Larghetto: For all we know

Cantata IV: Chloe’s dream
for soprano, 2 violins and basso continuo (Evelyn Tubb, soprano)
11 Recitative: Love into Chloe’s chamber came
12 Aria. Amoroso: And now Amyntor young and gay
13 Recitative: The transport o’er
14 Aria. Allegro: But waking is it thus

Cantata V: To Venus a rant
for tenor and basso continuo (David Munderloh, tenor)
15 Recitative: O goddess most rever’d above
16 Aria. Allegro assai: Give me numbers strong and sweet
17 Recitative: Trophies to chastity
18 Aria. Andante: Tell not me the joys that wait

Cantata VI: An ode to Echo
for soprano, traverso, 2 violins, viola, violoncello obbligato, double bass and basso continuo
(Evelyn Tubb, soprano)
19 Aria. Larghetto: Daughter sweet of voice and air
20 Recitative: Listen Nymph divine and learn
21 Aria. Allegro assai: See each eye, each ravish’d ear
22 Recitative: Echo should they fail to move
23 Aria. Vivace: Learn her ease and elegance

CD II Orpheus & Euridice (1735)

An ode: When the fair consort in th’Elysian choir
for soprano, alto, tenor, choir, 2 oboes, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, bassoon, cembalo obbligato and basso continuo (Ulrike Hofbauer, soprano | Daniel Cabena, alto | Paul Bentley, tenor)
1 Overture
2 Aria (instr.). Tempo di minuetto
3 Recitative (alto): When the fair consort in th’Elysian choir
4 Aria (alto): Come, come my charmer
5 Recitative (tenor): The poet ceas’d
6 Aria (soprano): Thy vain pursuit fond youth
7 Duet (soprano, alto): With streaming eyes
8 Chorus: With streaming eyes

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About this CD

Beyond the dominating presence of Georg Friedrich Handel in English music from the 18th century there are to be found many enticing surprises, such as those contributed by William Hayes (1708-1777). His cycle of cantatas from 1748 provides original and humorous musical stories, graced by instrumentations unusual for the time and flecked with touching musical episodes. Hayes’s choice of keys and orchestration develop from one work to the next, whilst the subject matter and texts
employed in the works reflect, in a highly particular way, the individual milieu of Hayes in his teaching capacity at the University of Oxford.

One strikingly mature composition comes in the shape of Orpheus and Euridice: an Ode (1735). It is hard to imagine that this was composed for the occasion of Hayes receiving his BMus at Oxford. Entirely set within the scene of Euridice’s unsuccessful departure from Hades, Hayes lays out for our listening an exciting psychological study of the two lovers as their emotional states veer between desire and devastation...

Anthony Rooley and his carefully-chosen group of singers and instrumentalists linked to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis here give us, following on from their dazzling 2010 reading of The Passions, a fresh new incursion into the previously littleknown compositional world of William Hayes, in this way contributing to Hayes’s deserved placement once again as one of the leading contemporaries of Handel.