Philip Hayes (composer)

Philip Hayes (baptised 17 April 1738 – 19 March 1797) was an English composer, organist, singer and conductor.

[1] His professorial ‘lectures’ took the form of specially composed odes and oratorios which were performed in the Oxford Music School.

In 1780 he was appointed conductor of the annual Festival of the Sons of the Clergy held at St Paul's Cathedral, and in 1791 he presided over Haydn’s visit to Oxford.

Hayes's musical language combined a respect for late Baroque idioms as practiced by composers such as Handel, together with a clear grasp of early classical styles.

His works show an imaginative approach to instrumentation: from 1763 he made frequent use of clarinets, and his six keyboard concertos (1769) were the first published in England to offer the option of performance on the early piano.