Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayden, George

by Louisa M. Middleton

HAYDEN, GEORGE (fl. 1723), composer, was organist at the church of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey. On 6 Jan. 1746 he was elected a member of the Madrigal Society. Hayden's music is distinguished by much dramatic feeling. His best known compositions are:

1. ‘As I saw Fair Clora,’ a two-part song, the words by Waller [1710?].
2. ‘Mad Tom,’ sung in character by Platt at Sadler's Wells.
3. Three cantatas: ‘A Cypress Grove,’ ‘Thyrsis,’ and ‘Neptune and Amymome,’ London, 1723.
4. ‘Welcome, Damon,’ with a symphony of two oboes and two violins [1720?].

[Dict. of Musicians, 1827; Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 700; Hawkins's Hist. of Music, iii. 825; Burney's Hist. of Music, iv. 650; Hayden's compositions.]

L. M. M.