Thomas Tallis
The career of Thomas Tallis, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, spanned a period of spectacular change in the English liturgical climate. Born early in the sixteenth century, his first musical appointment was as organist to a Benedictine (Catholic) Priory in Dover, two years before Henry VIII's definitive break with Rome in 1534. By 1537, Tallis was serving a London parish church as organist; in 1538 he was performing the same task for the Abbey of Holy Cross, Waltham, though this position evaporated when King Henry dissolved the monasteries in 1540. After a brief clerkship at Canterbury Cathedral, Tallis joined the Chapel Royal, where he played, sang, and composed for the remainder of his life, serving in turn Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I. Among the lavish rewards he eventually reaped was a famous bequest of 1575, giving him and his young pupil, William Byrd, a complete monopoly on the printing of music and ruled music paper in England.
The liturgical music in England during this time underwent great changes, not the least of which was the shift between Latin and vernacular texts. At the outset of Tallis' career, the prevailing English style of Latin music followed the soaring treble-dominated textures of the previous century, as exemplified in the Eton Choirbook; his early Latin motets reflect this. But by the late 1540s, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was working toward a standard liturgical practice, built around his Book of Common Prayer, that would finally replace the Sarum (English Latin) rite in 1559 with exclusively vernacular worship music. The reign of the Catholic "Bloody" Mary Tudor briefly interrupted this trajectory towards the vernacular with a militant resurgence of Catholic music in an older style; Tallis' Missa Puer natus and the motet Gaude gloriosa apparently date from this time. Stylistically, the church music of England over the second half of the century was yielding to the influence of the Continental imitative style, through the music of the transplanted Italian, Ferrabosco.
Through all these changes, Tallis appears to have retained a professional steadiness and respectability, making music and composing with grace and equanimity as his situation changed. His English-language settings range from simple treatments of the psalms to anthems (such as Hear the Voice and Prayer) to three complete settings of the Anglican Service; this music is commonly imbued with a somber and penitential mood. His Latin-texted pieces, whether following the stylish "modern" mode of pervasive imitation or not, demonstrate restraint and even tenderness. (One of the few exceptions, though, is his best-known work today, an over-the-top and still rather mysterious experiment in polychoral writing, the 40-voiced Spem in alium). Surprisingly little of Tallis' instrumental music survives, despite his over 50 years of professional organ playing.
© TiVo
Discography
13 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Stabat Mater: Tallis, Dowland, Byrd, von Bingen and Ruiz del Corral reworked for choir and chamber orchestra
Hildegard von Bingen, John Dowland, William Byrd, Manuel Ruiz Del Corral, Thomas Tallis, Varanus Ensemble
Classical - Released by Novus Promusica on Aug 6, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Virgin and Child: Music from the Baldwin Partbooks II
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Feb 3, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tallis: The Complete Works - Volume 7
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on May 10, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alistair Dixon
Classical - Released by Signum Records on May 10, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Thomas Tallis - Spem in alium
The Tallis Scholars, Thomas Tallis
Classical - Released by Gimell Records on Jan 1, 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renaissance Vol.2
Thomas Tallis, John Dowland, Josquin des Prés
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jun 20, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tallis, Gaude Gloriosa - Magnificat And Nunc Dimittis Motets From The Cantiones Sacrae
Edward Higginbottom, Choir of New College Oxford
Classical - Released by CRD Records on May 24, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Música Sacra
Classical - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on Nov 10, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spem in Alium (As Mentioned in Fifty Shades of Grey)
Classical - Released by ABC Classic on Jul 19, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All Is Well
World - Released by Flambeau Records on May 26, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Southern Nights
The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Soundset on Jan 1, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kosher (feat. Riggy Atmosphere & Shinomi)
Africa - Released by Flambeau Records on Dec 30, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -