"My God Accept My Heart This Day"
  • SMire
    Posts: 13
    Does anyone have a choral arrangement of "My God Accept My Heart This Day," tune written by Henry B. Hayes? I rather like this simple melody and it does well enough on its own as just one line, but I cannot find an SATB arrangement of it; I can write my own, but am running short on time these days.
  • liampmcdonough
    Posts: 297
    Only know this to Gibbons' Song 67, which is an effective SATB pairing
    My God Accept My Heart This Day.pdf
    139K
    Thanked by 3ServiamScores M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,889
    There are a number of other options here as well:
    https://hymnary.org/text/my_god_accept_my_heart_this_day
  • oldhymnsoldhymns
    Posts: 229
    I'm not familiar with the Hayes melody. A popular version is the one by Montani from the St. Gregory Hymnal. It also appears in the recently published A Catholic Book of Hymns (Noel Jones). Another melody can be found in the Westminster Hymnal.

    This is an excellent hymn for Confirmation.
    Thanked by 2ServiamScores Don9of11
  • CGM
    Posts: 699
    There's more about Henry B. Hays OSB here, though as a fairly recent composer, his music is probably still under copyright. Perhaps you can find a copy of his 1981 Swayed Pines Song Book on the internet somewhere.
  • Felicia
    Posts: 116
    Not an SATB arrangement, but the organ accompaniment to the Collegeville Hymnal (Liturgical Press, 1990) has at least a harmonization of Fr. Hays's tune (#470).
    Thanked by 1SMire
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    The name of the Hays' tune is SEVEN PINES (8.6.8.6.)
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Felicia SMire
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Another lovely melody is St James, as found at no 341 in The English Hymnal. - not, though, quite as lovely as Liam's suggestion of the Gibbons tune.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • SMire
    Posts: 13
    Felicia, thank you for that tidbit! Though my parish only has the 1st volume organ edition for some reason and "My God Accept my Heart This Day" is in the 2nd!
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,889
    I was very grateful for this thread last week; this text was previously unknown to me but I quite like it. We sang it at communion yesterday to St. Columba. Here's the score if anyone wants it.
    St. Columba • My God Accept My Heart This Day SATB [Dorico direct].pdf
    48K
    Thanked by 2liampmcdonough SMire
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    There's more about Henry B. Hays OSB ...
    Henry Bryan Beaumont Hays (1920-2017) was mainly known for his many compositions under the name Bryan Beaumont Hays, also sometimes as Bryan Dority (his stepfather's name). There is an extensive Bryan Hays, OSB Collection at the College of Saint Benedict-Saint John's University Archives and Special Collections. From the Collection Overview:
    Father Bryan Hays (1920-2017) was a monk of Saint John’s Abbey, in Collegeville, Minnesota. A self-taught pianist, he won the 1949 George Gershwin Award for his composition Pastorale and Allegro. Following a period of study, including time as a student of Aaron Copland, Hays was called to Catholicism and monastic life, professing vows at Saint John’s in 1958. In addition to his ongoing work as a composer, he taught French and First-Year Colloquium courses at Saint John’s University. His notable compositions include five operas, instrumental pieces, and more than two hundred hymns.
    Some interesting titles:
    Manuscripts:
    * Little match girl: opera in one act, 2005
    * Eleven addresses to the Lord, for bass-baritone and piano
    * Five scenes from "An Inland Voyage" of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1981
    * Joyful noise: a collection of Advent, Christmas and Easter carols
    * Requiem for a bride: 6 poems by D. H. Lawrence, 1976
    * Seven songs to poems of Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918), 2013
    * Six poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1997
    * Songs to poems of D. H. Lawrence, 1976
    * Stations of the Cross: An Oratorio, 1993
    * Variations on a plain chant melody for brass quintet, 1982
    Published scores:
    * Christ, thou giver of the light, 2013
    * Ballad of trees and the Master, 1989 (SATB. a cappella), 2015 (SSA or TTB, piano)
    * Come, my way, my truth, my life, 2005
    * Drop, drop, slow tears, 2010
    * Nine songs to poems of Isaac Rosenberg, 2015
    * Songs to poems of Thomas Merton: Sets I - VII, 2016
    * Four Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
    * Hail, Gladdening Light
    * How long will You forget me, Lord?
    * I lift mine eyes unto the hills, 2005
    * Jesu, the Virgins' crown, 2013
    * Let all the World in every Corner sing, 2013
    * Music to poems of Robert Frost-Set 1 - 2, 2015
    * Music to poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson-Set 1 - 2, 2015
    * Nunc Dimittis, 2015
    * O Gates, lift your heads, 2013
    * Olive tree, 2005
    * Round the Lord in glory seated, 2013
    * Thy kingdom come! On bended knee, 2012

    Thanked by 2oldhymns SMire
  • Felicia
    Posts: 116
    @SMire:

    You're welcome!
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