View source for Thomas Tallis

'''Thomas Tallis''' (c.1505-1585), [[English]] [[composer]] and organist, has the rare distinction of having served four monarchs in an official capacity. As a young man he wrote [[polyphony|polyphonic]] works in the traditional [[catholic]] style for [[Henry VIII]], before changing to accommodate Archbishop Cranmer’s insistence on a clear syllabic style reflecting new “[[Anglican]]” emphases during the short reign of [[Edward VI]] (and seen in its literary guise in the [[Book of Common Prayer]].) The sudden (and brutal) reversion to catholic orthodoxy under [[Mary I]] saw Tallis write some of his grandest and most elaborate music, once more in a traditional style.

Whilst [[Elizabeth I]] was politically [[protestant]] her private sympathies for many things catholic allowed Tallis and his younger colleague [[William Byrd]] to write and even publish, in the catholic tradition. His most notable works: the two “''Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet''” and the 40-part motet “''Spem in alium''” are indicative of this.

Tallis' works are almost all sacred but he also wrote a small amount of [[consort]] and keyboard music. These days he is mainly known as the writer of a melody that was used by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] as the basis for the "''Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis''", first performed in 1910, which has become one of the most loved shorter pieces of music in the repertoire.


Reference:

“Oxford Companion to British History”

[[Category:Composers]]
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