Thomas Tallis

Known if only for his famous Spem in alium, Thomas Tallis was one of the greatest composers of English vocal music during the Renaissance. Born around 1505, probably in Kent, there is no record of his birth or musical education. He undoubtedly sang in the choir of the Chapelle Royale in London, before becoming its gentleman, but he was an altar boy and, around 1531, worked as organist and choirmaster at the Benedictine priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New York in Dover, where his name is listed in the archives as Thomas Tales, "the joculator organorum". The priory being dissolved in 1535, his name is mentioned at the London church of St. Mary-at-Hill, where he is recorded as organist and singer from 1536 to 1538, then at an Augustinian monastery, Waltham Abbey, Essex, until 1540. Engaged that same summer as cantor at Canterbury Cathedral, he remained there for two years, before taking up his duties as choirmaster, organist and composer at the Chapel Royal in 1543. For the next four decades, Thomas Tallis would serve the royal crown in liturgical music under the reigns of four sovereigns, the founder of the Anglican religion Henry VIII, Edward VI and queens Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. Faithful to the Catholic religion, as evidenced by his many works in Latin, he nevertheless adapted his compositions to Protestant liturgy, following the example of his disciple and musical partner, William Byrd. Although he had already composed several works in his youth, including a Magnificat for four voices and a Missa salve intemerata, it was under these successive reigns that he produced the bulk of his music and became the leading English composer of his time. In this sense, the six-part motet Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater in honor of the Virgin Mary for Henry VIII is a work of maturity and an example of his mastery of the polyphonic art, following in the tradition of votive anthiphons and demonstrating innovation. The short reign of Edward VI marked a return to Anglican liturgy, during which Tallis composed for the various services and anthems in English, such as the famous tune If ye love me. The reign of Mary I heralded a new Catholic era. In addition to the Flemish-inspired motet Suscipe quaeso Domine, celebrating the end of the Reformation, Tallis composed the Missa Puer natus est nobis in December 1554, also based on the cantus firmus, for the royal pregnancy. Around this time, eighteen pieces for keyboard are also recorded in The Mulliner Book. Married around 1552 to Joan, the widow of a former gentleman of the Chapel Royal, the couple lived in Greenwich and had no descendants. The Mass and the extensive music for the service commissioned by Queen Mary I enabled him to rent a manor house in Kent. Present at the royal funeral on December 13, 1558, he also took part in the coronation of Elizabeth I on January 14, 1559. Paradoxically, it was during the reign of Elizabeth I that he produced his most representative works. In 1567, his nine Psalms for four voices were published for the psalter of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. This included Psalm no. 2, whose melody in Phrygian mode Why fum'th in fight the Gentiles spite inspired Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasy on a theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), as well as the ninth, "Glory to thee, my God this night", from which the Tallis Canon for four voices is taken. In 1575, the Queen granted Tallis and Byrd exclusive rights to printed music and music paper for twenty-one years. This monopoly, which gave rise to the collection Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur, intended to establish them on the European scene, was to prove a failure, however, forcing them to seek financial assistance from the Queen, who granted them land and an annuity. Among these songs is Lumine's magnificent O nata lux, among the many more complex hymns and motets of the period, marked by two great compositions: The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet and Spem in alium. The former, conceived for Holy Thursday, not only testifies to tolerance of Catholic works in Latin, but is also one of the pinnacles of English polyphony in its refinement, depth and contemplative expression, which could very well have been set in another context. As for Spem in alium, a forty-part motet for eight five-voice choirs, it is considered the greatest English work of early music, and as such has become a staple of ensembles such as The Tallis Scholars and The King's College Choir of Cambridge. Starting out as a challenge to match the forty-voice motet Ecce beatam lucem by the Italian Alessandro Striggio, Tallis' contrpunctical masterpiece has eclipsed it in time and remains a source of inspiration for composers. Towards the end of his life, Tallis worked on two keyboard works, Felix namque I & II, which were later included in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book ; he also composed pieces for consorts and psalms such as Laudate Dominnum omnes gentes. It was as a court musician that he died in Greenwich on November 23, 1585.

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