Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 - 23rd Nov 1585) is considered to be one of England's greatest composers. Little is known about his early life, although there is a suggestion that he was a child of the Chapel Royal, which he joined as an adult. Born at the end of Henry VII's reign his life spanned a period of enormous change in music and worship in England. What makes Tallis so unique is the way he avoided the religious controversies that raged around him throughout his service to successive monarchs. Like William Byrd he remained an "unreformed Roman Catholic" but was capable of switching the style of his compositions to suit the different monarchs' vastly different demands. Tallis was one of the first church musicians to compose anthems in English after the Anglican liturgy was reformed under Edward VI, switching back to Latin to compose major works such as Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater under Mary when she overturned the reforms of the preceding decades. He found favour with both Queen Mary I and her protestant sister Elizabeth I, and composed in Latin, English, French and Italian.
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| Posthumous portrait by Gerard Vandergucht |
In 1575, Queen Elizabeth granted Tallis and William Byrd a 21-year monopoly for polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish music, which was one of the first arrangements of that type in the country. Tallis had exclusive rights to print any music in any language, and he and Byrd were the only ones allowed to use the paper that was used in printing music. Tallis' original polyphony ( two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody) was groundbreaking at the time, and not initially popular. As Calvinism gained favour in England polyphony was discouraged unless the words were clear - and in the vernacular. Homophonic music (where one main part is supported by one or more additional strands of complimentary parts) became the norm after the Reformation, Tallis' motet "If ye love me" is an excellent example of this. This period also saw the rise of the verse anthem for this reason, as the Word of God took priority in church music.
Salvator Mundi
Tallis persisted in writing polyphony addition to his more widely accepted homophonic compositions, and Salvator Mundi was first published in 1575. You can download a PDF here on Choral Wiki, although the music is reproduced on the YouTube recording below. I highly recommend subscribing to Morphthing1's YouTube channel, I have found most of our repertoire on there and used it for practise for years! Scroll down to find the links for isolated parts for rehearsal!
Alto 1 part is available here
Alto 2 part is available here
The Tenor part is available here
and the Bass part here
Update :- here is our choir's recording for Good Friday:-
