During his long and productive lifetime, the English composer Thomas Tallis served four monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I. Though born a Catholic, he managed to survive an extremely dangerous age of religious upheaval and persecution, mainly by adapting his musical style to suit the circumstances, and by keeping a low personal profile.

 

Royal monopoly

Probably a native of Kent, Tallis's first recorded post was as organist of the Benedictine Priory in Dover. He then joined the choir of Waltham Abbey, near London, around 1538. The Abbey was dissolved in 1540, during Henry VIII's reign, andTallis became a lay clerk at Canterbury Cathedral. From around 1572 until his death he shared the position of organist and composer to the Chapel Royal with his pupil, William Byrd.

 

In 1575 Talls and Byrd received a patent from Elizabeth I granting them a 21-year monopoly on printing music and music paper in England. Their first publication was a joint collection of 34 Cantiones sacrae (sacred songs) in five and six parts.

 

Textual clarity

Tallis is chiefly remembered for his church music, setting text in both Latin and English, depending on the prevailing religious climate. One notable feature of his style was a move away from florid, elaborate counterpoint towards simpler, syllabic declamation in which the text could be clearly heard: in this respect he was pointing the way forward to the Baroque era.

 

Hs mastery of contrapuntal techniques is amply demonstrated in his breathtaking 40-part motet Spem in alium, which opens in 20-part imitation. The hymn tune known as "Tallis's Canon" (later set as a hymn tune to the words "Glory to thee, my God, this night") was written for Archbishop Parker's Metrical Psalter of 1567, and another tune was used by Vaughan Williams on the basis for his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (1910).