Music Notes 11-17-24

Mark Hayes is a composer/arranger/pianist based in Kansas City whose music is renowned

around the world. He got his degree in piano performance at Baylor University, moved to

Kansas City to work as a music editor for Tempo Publishing, and now spends his time writing

music for the church and traveling around the world as a clinician and guest conductor. When I

met Mark in the late 80’s, I was struck by his pianistic skills – more specifically, the way he

manhandled the piano into submission to produce the most wondrous sounds. Mark’s writing is

superbly crafted, with influences of black gospel and jazz. He’s one of my favorite

contemporary writers. If you play piano and want some music that will both challenge you and

satisfy your appetite for delicious piano music, pick up a book of Mark Hayes piano

improvisations. You’ll love it. The anthem this week is titled And The Father Will Dance Over

You In Joy. It is a beautifully crafted and inspired piece with an uplifting message, and was part

of a cantata he completed in 1985 called Jubilate published by Tempo Music. It was an unusual

concept at the time – a mixture of musical styles – traditional anthems, pop solos, big orchestra –

and was designed for an adult choir, soloists, a youth choir, a junior choir, a handbell choir, a

liturgical dance team, an orchestra, a narrator, and places for the congregation to join in the

singing. There are a number of particularly groovy pieces that we will get to here as time goes

on, including a wonderful communion medley, an old hymn medley and several marvelous

anthems that the choir will enjoy sinking their teeth into. It was about a year after this came out

that I met Mark and got familiar with his music.

Tomas Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance period. Born

around 1523, most likely in the town of Avila (his family’s primary residence at the time), he

came under the tutelage of his uncle, Padre Juan Luis de Vitoria and became a choirboy at the

Avila Cathedral. In 1565, he received a grant from Phillip II, King of Spain, and moved to

Rome, where he became cantor at the German College, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. In 1574,

he was ordained a priest and continued his double life as priest and musician for the rest of his

life. He returned to Spain in 1587 and was appointed chaplain to the Empress Maria, daughter of

Charles V (the Holy Roman Emperor) and remained in that position for 17 years. He died in

1611 and was buried in the convent, although the location of his tomb has not, to this day, been

identified. He, along with Palestrina and di Lasso, are considered to be the most influential

composers of the late Renaissance. His 4 part setting of the Ave Maria (Hail Mary, Full of

Grace), is part of the top 10 list of classic a cappella works for voices. My fondest memory of

that piece is from the day we were working on the soundtrack for the movie First Knight (with

Sean Connery and Richard Gere). The score was written by Jerry Goldsmith, one of the great

legends of movie music, and our chorusmaster, Paul Salamunovitch, had gone to UCLA with

Jerry. At the end of the session, Paul called out, “Hey Jerry, listen to this….”, then turned to us

and said “Victoria, Ave Maria”. We sang it right then, from memory, and Jerry was so impressed

that he hired us for the next movie he added a chorus to, Sum Of All Fears.

I Love You Lord was written in 1974 by Laurie Klein. She was a young mother and homemaker

in Oregon and was “feeling the poverty of my life keenly at that point, both emotionally and

physically.” She sang the first part of the song spontaneously, and felt so intrigued and moved

by the words that she thought “maybe I should write this down.” She stopped long enough to get

a pen and then the rest of the song came just as easily. Her husband Bill recognized the simple

beauty of the song and encouraged her to play it for a local pastor and some visiting musicians.

Eventually the song surfaced at Jack Hayford's Church on the Way in Van Nuys. There Buck and

Annie Herring learned the song and included it on Annie's Kids of the Kingdom. But its greatest

exposure was on Maranatha! Music's Praise 4 in 1980. Since then, it has been estimated to have

been recorded over 75 times. A notable, rather earthy cover of the song was released by the rock

band Petra in 1997 on their album Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus.