Thomas Tallis 2013

June 10, 2013.  Thomas Tallis.  Even though the ever-popular Edvard Grieg, who wrote many wonderful tunes and became the first national composer of the newly independent Norway, was born this week on June 15, 1843, we’ll write about him some other time.  Today we’ll remember a composer whose date of birth, together with much of the details of his life, were lost in centuries past: Thomas Tallis.  What we do know is that he was born early in the 16^th century (1505 is the commonly assumed year).  We also know that he worked as on organist in the Dover priory around 1530, and later at the Canterbury Cathedral.  Around 1543 he became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, a group of clerics and musicians who traveled with the British monarchs in order to serve their spiritual needs.   In this capacity he played and composed for four kings and queens from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I.  In 1575 Tallis, who was then 70, and the composer William Byrd, half his age at the time, were given a monopoly to publish music and music paper.  Their first publication, Cantiones Sacrae, was a set of 34 motets, 16 by Tallis and 18 by Byrd, and it was the only music published during Tallis’s lifetime. 

 Tallis lived till the age of 80, and during his life England was transformed  from a Catholic country with a Latin liturgy to an Anglican one, with a liturgy in English.  He wrote both, and his output is divided between Latin and English pieces. Among his Latin works, the setting of The lamentations of Jeremiah were widely praised then and still remain one of his most celebrated compositions.  You can listen to it here, in the performance of the ensemble Magnificat directed by Philip Cave.  Another hauntingly beautiful example is his setting of Miserere Nostri.  It’s performed (here) by the eponymous ensemble, The Tallis Scholars.  And here is an example of his "English" music, a set of nine simple but beautiful psalms called "Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter," performed by the British ensemble Stile Antico.   The Tunes were written in 1567 for Matthew Parker, the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury.   The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams used the third Tune, Why Fum'th In Fight (it’s the first one to be performed in this recording), for his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.  The Tunes are still included in many Anglican hymnals.

Two notes: the portrait above was made by Gerard Vandergucht, a British engraver of Flemish descent, about 150 year after Tallis’s death, so there’s no certainty that he actually looked anything like it.  There were no portraits of Tallis made during his life, so we have to contend with this one.  Another note: apparently, Tallis’s music, a motet called Spem in Alium (here) is mentioned in the enormously popular soft-core novel Fifty Shades of Grey.  As a result, since the publication of the novel the sales of Tallis’s album with this motet exploded, reaching number one on the UK classical music charts.  Whatever it is that brings the listeners to his music, Tallis would’ve been pleased.

Read more... « first ‹ previous … 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 … next › last »