Essential Tallis
Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585) was a chameleon composer in a time of unprecedented social, political and religious change. Spanning the reigns of no fewer than four monarchs, his long and successful career is a monument to the endless adaptability, invention and reinvention of an English composer who found so many different musical languages to express his singular gift.
Read more…Tallis spent over 40 years as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal – responsible both for performing and composing for royal worship. But this was the only continuity in a career characterised by constant change. The traditional Catholic polyphony of Henry VIII soon gave way to the sternly vernacular Protestant worship of Edward VI. Mary I's reign saw a brief return to intricate Catholic counterpoint, but it was Elizabeth I's reign – a paradox of public Protestantism and private Catholicism – that finally gave the mature Tallis his musical freedom.
It's easy to follow the development of Tallis's style, from the sinuous, melismatic "Sancte Deus" and "Salve Intermerata" from Henry VIII's reign – through the translucent simplicity of Protestant anthems such as "If Ye Love Me", to the gilded splendour of later Catholic anthems like "Gaude gloriosa", and finally the more restrained invention of the two sets of deeply emotive Lamentations. Standing apart from all of these styles, a sui generis work of uncompromising genius, is the 40-part motet 'Spem in alium' – possibly Tallis's finest, and certainly his grandest, creation.
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