Thomas Tallis

English composer

• Born: c. 1505
• Birthplace: Probably Kent County, England
• Died: November 20 or 23, 1585
• Place of death: Greenwich, England

Thomas Tallis is considered one of the greatest composers in English history. He is noted for his quality sacred music that incorporates continental polyphony with the English choral tradition. Although a Catholic during the Reformation, Tallis’s talent earned him royal respect and tolerance. He was a leading composer of the new Anglican Church music.

Early Life

Little is known of the early years of Thomas Tallis (TEH-lus). His family had longtime connections in Kent County, and, thus, this is probably where he was born. He is listed in 1530-1531 as an organist for the Dover priory, and in this modest Benedictine religious house he may have been the sole professional musician. In 1537-1538, he was employed in London at the church of St. Mary-at-Hill, where some of the finest musicians in England performed. In late 1538, he went to Essex to work in the likewise musical Waltham Abbey. This monastery was dissolved in 1540, at which time Tallis returned to Kent. By 1541, he had taken a post as a singer (although he no doubt was still active as an organist) at the Canterbury Cathedral, which was then secular. In 1543, Tallis probably became a member of the Chapel Royal, and thus he began to serve full-time at the court, beginning with the reign of Henry VIII.

Life’s Work

For most of his adult life, Tallis was a significant member of the Chapel Royal, a long-standing institution comprising thirty-two men and twelve boys who performed sacred pieces and offered divine service for the sovereign. The Chapel was not stationed at a single place but instead traveled with the royal household; consequently, its members had an opportunity to become more readily noticed by the king or queen. Tallis’s career with the Chapel was extraordinary, for he was so well liked that he continually served under four monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I for more than half of her reign. More remarkable was the fact that Tallis, a Catholic composer of sacred works, was able to thrive during the volatile and dynamic culture of the English Reformation. Except for Mary I, all of the sovereigns he served were Protestant.

Tallis worked as a singer and organist. He no doubt also led choral rehearsals and trained boys in composition and keyboard performance. One of Tallis’s students was probably William Byrd, a fellow Roman Catholic who would officially join the Chapel Royal in 1572 and become a leading composer of the next generation. Byrd and Tallis were both dearly admired by Elizabeth I, and in 1575, the queen granted them an exclusive license to print and sell music, bestowing on the musicians a unique monopoly. The pair published their Cantiones sacrae (sacred pieces), an anthology of Latin motets, later that year, each contributing seventeen pieces, perhaps in honor of Elizabeth’s seventeenth year on the throne. The publication was a commercial failure: It is believed that amateurs who may have purchased the book were dissuaded by its polyphony (individual lines of sound performed simultaneously), which was perceived to be difficult.

Throughout the many decades that Tallis was a musician, styles and tastes changed dramatically, as did religious liturgy, prescribed practices, and cultural attitudes. Tallis continually adapted himself as a composer and was able to produce a variety of successful works in almost every genre of the sixteenth century English church. Moreover, while staying alert to the circumstances in his own nation, Tallis also absorbed modern continental music threads (for instance, using imitation of musical lines more structurally), which kept his works current.

During the beginning years of the Anglican Church (c. 1547), Tallis was one of the first composers to write music for English words rather than Latin. His early anthems, such as “Hear the Voice and Prayer” and “Remember Not,” address a concern of the Reformers, who sought text in songs to be clear and understandable. Thus, these works are syllabic (having one note per syllable) and chordal (all voices moved in similar rhythm) and, consequently, textually clear. Of course, Latin Church music was not abandoned by either Catholics or Protestants, and Tallis continued composing for the traditional language. However, some of his Latin pieces were later fitted with English words.

During the reign of the Catholic queen Mary I, Tallis enthusiastically revived older forms, such as the large-scale Latin Mass and grand antiphons, known for their rich polyphonic style and at times indecipherable texts. Tallis’s massive six-voice votive antiphon Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater , which was most likely written for Queen Mary, was probably one of the last antiphons he composed. In 1554, during Philip II of Spain’s residence in London, Tallis probably penned the seven-voice Mass Puer natus est nobis , which was most likely to be performed by the combined English and Spanish royal chapels. This is Tallis’s longest polyphonic setting and one of the most elaborate Masses in English history.

One of Tallis’s most celebrated works is the monumental motet Spem in Alium , composed around 1570 during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was probably written as an English competitive response to the forty-voice motet Ecce beatam lucem , by the Italian composer Alessandro Striggio. Striggio’s work was performed in London in 1567, stirring much excitement. Spem in Alium, likewise for forty voices, was apparently to show that English composers were just as gifted as those of the Continent, if not more so. The work met the challenge, becoming one of the treasures of Elizabethan music.

The opening of is dramatic and moving. The forty individual parts are divided into eight choirs of five voices each. The main theme is first introduced by four of the choirs: Each of the twenty voices enters one by one, so the texture progressively thickens and the volume slowing increases. As these voices conclude their entrances, the remaining four choirs, the twenty other voices, respond, again imitatively, until all are sounded together in a climax in the fortieth measure. The work is noted for its evocative character combined with simple, heartfelt text from the Book of Judith: “I have never put my hope in any other than you God of Israel.”

Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah , composed in the 1560’s, is one of his most highly acclaimed works. The piece may have been used as part of the Protestant liturgy, or, it has been speculated, for private Catholic gatherings. Tallis incorporates a variety of compositional techniques to produce his dramatic lament. Indeed, the work is somewhat a microcosm of Tallis’s compositional skills: It includes lyric melodies, antiphony, chordal texture, expressive imitation and counterpoint, tasteful dissonances, and creative modulation. Yet, because of its serene essence, beyond technical mastery, Lamentations of Jeremiah is considered one of Tallis’s most soulful works.

Significance

Tallis is often called the father of English church music. As a Catholic, he was well versed in traditional Latin styles, and with the coming of the English Reformation, he used his knowledge to help create a new sound for the Anglican Church. He provided works in the old Latin manner, many of which were given English texts, and works in the new English anthem style, with singable melodies and chordal texture. Moreover, he presented grand compositions of great magnitude that represented the sacred spirit of England. Tallis did this during a time of immense religious turmoil, for more than fifty years and during the reign of four monarchs, yet he succeeded indeed flourished as a Catholic musician in a Protestant land.

Bibliography

Caldwell, John. Oxford History of English Music. Vol. 1. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1991. Survey of English music to about 1715. Includes a discussion of the development of sixteenth century choral music, featuring Tallis’s Spem in Alium.

Doe, Paul. Tallis. Oxford Studies of Composers 4. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. The only book devoted exclusively to Tallis’s music.

Harley, John. William Byrd: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1997. Contains informative sections on Tallis and discusses the relationship between Byrd and his teacher.

Le Huray, Peter. Music and the Reformation in England, 1549-1660. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1978. Discusses composers and historical events alongside music.

Morehen, John. English Choral Practice, c. 1400-c. 1650. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Essays written by specialists discuss techniques of performance, including methods of performing Tallis’s music.

Phillips, Peter. English Sacred Music, 1549-1649. Oxford, England: Gimell, 1991. Written by the director of The Tallis Scholars, a famous Renaissance music performing group. An encyclopedic account of the history of sacred music with English words.