Catholic Thomas Tallis Writes the First Anglican Hymns

In the Vicinity of Thomas Tallis

Engraving by Niccolò Haym sometime 18th century

Copy of at least one copy of unknown original

Source: Wikipedia

16th Century Trumpet

Contemporaneous with Tallis and Elizabeth I

Source: Tales of E.D. Baker

There is no portrait of Thomas Tallis (Tallys) that isn't a copy of a copy of perhaps yet another copy or so by one or more anonymous artists, the original unidentified. The latest-known copies were made sometime in the 18th century perhaps at least a century and a half beyond Tallis' death, the last by Niccolò Haym (above) from a copy by Gerard Vandergucht which no longer exists. Tallis had died a good 110 years before Vandergucht was born, so his resemblance to Haym's even later copy is approximate.

Thomas Tallis was an organist and composer born in England about 1505. He was a child when Michelangelo finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512. The next year the first Medici pope, Leo X, assumed the office of the Holy See ("Holy Seat"). The House of Medici in Florence was among the wealthiest commercial (not royal) dynasties in Europe. Having made its money in banking throughout the prior century since 1397, the Medici family was a considerable patron of the arts. It was also during Tallis' lifetime that Franciscan friar, Matteo da Bascio, founded the Capuchins in 1528. Capuchin friars differed from monks in that they existed to the purpose of engaging society rather than leaving it. As for Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1540. The Church sent its first missionary to Japan in 1549, the Spanish Jesuit, Francis Xavier. In other places on the globe Eastern Orthodoxy in Constantinople had fallen to Muslim Ottomans half a century before Tallis' birth. By Tallis' time it had come to border Venice, then a major maritime power solidly allied with the Papacy. Tallis may have been about twelve when the Ottoman Empire added Egypt to its possessions per the Mamluk War of 1516-17.

Unceasing battles between nobles and sovereigns had long made Christian Europe a lively as deadly place to exist. Tallis arrived just in time to compose for both sides of the newly arrived schism which was now Catholicism versus Protestantism, and it was during his lifetime that the various pieces of the European puzzle of Catholic versus Protestant were largely determined. Tallis was about twelve years old when Martin Luther ignited the Reformation by sending his 'Ninety-Five Theses' to the Archbishop of Mainz, probably on 31 October of 1517, raising issue with the papal practice of indulgences (rewards in purgatory for more timely contributions to the Church here and now). The Lutheran Church was wrought in 1521 via the Catholic Edit of Worms banning all things Lutheran from the Holy Roman Empire. In the meantime Luther had protection in Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, a small puzzle piece of the Holy Roman Empire, for Electors joined Popes in the election of Holy Roman Emperors. The Holy Roman Empire had been conceived in 800 AD upon Leo III naming Charlemagne Roman Emperor in Carolingian France, envisioning a resurrection of the earlier Roman Empire. The Empire's center moved to Germany in the 10th century under Otto I. The alliance between German kings and Popes helped solidify continental Europe but for unceasing sass from France. Albeit the mutually dependent alliance between Roman Popes and the Holy Roman Empire remained fast through several tests, the real power in Europe shifted from the Papacy to the House of Habsburg during the Renaissance. Upon the rise of the Habsburgs, Roman Emperors became the major, and Roman Popes the minor, of a powerful pair. Jews in the midst of it all meanwhile continued in persecution in general as ever.

The early 16th century of the high Renaissance also saw the last of Papal power supreme throughout continental Europe (excepting cantankerous France) in terms of breakaway of sections going Protestant. The European Wars of Religion had begun with the Knight's Revolt of 1522 in Germany and largely ended with the Thirty Years War from 1618-1648 per the Peace of Westphalia. The Eighty Years War had long since begun in 1568 to end in 1648 per the Peace of Munster with the Dutch Republic winning independence from Habsburg Spain. France which was Catholic, though decidedly not Roman Catholic, found itself an ally of Protestant interests during these transitional events, for it had no truck with either Roman Popes or their allied Habsburgs (Holy Roman Empire).

Luther's first German translation of the Bible appeared in 1526. William Tyndale would be working on his own English translation when he was strangled at the stake in the Duchy of Brabant in modern Netherlands in 1536, then burned, for opposing Tudor, Henry VIII's, divorce of Catherine of Aragon to wed Anne Boleyn. Henry had been made head of the Anglican Church (Episcopalian in the United States) through the 'Act of Supremacy' by the English Parliament in 1534, officially severing the English Church from Rome seventeen years after the 'Ninety-Five Theses', thirteen after the founding of the Lutheran Church in Frederick's Warburg.

Symbolic of the Counter-Reformation beginning at the Councils of Trent from 1545 to 1563 was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, of which Pope Julius II had begun reconstruction in 1506. Its revamping would occur throughout Tallis' lifetime, not finished until 1606. Emperor Constantine had begun construction of the old Basilica above the said tomb of St. Peter about 325 AD, requiring only four or so decades to build. Nicholas V (1447-55) had begun repair of the old church 12 centuries later before his successor, Julius II, simply ordered it demolished in 1505 toward the building of an entirely new Basilica with his own tomb added. St. Peter's was financed by indulgences which pronounced that gifts to the Church could improve one's fate beyond this life, which notion disturbed Luther enough to kindle the Reformation in Germany with his 'Ninety-Five Theses' in 1517. The sale of indulgences wasn't Luther's only problem with the Church. Among others was his division on matters concerning faith versus works. Be as may, the great cost to build St. Peter's and the method of paying for it contributed to the rise of Protestantism. The design of St. Peter's would require 20 popes to eventually finish, the dome completed along the way in 1590 by architects, Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. It would finally get crowned with a cross under Clement VIII in 1598.

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City

Symbolic Center of the Counter-Reformation

Egyptian obelisk added in 1585

Source: Here I Am Lord

Closer to home across the English Channel, Tallis is thought to have been first employed as an organist at the Benedictine Dover Priory in Kent as of 1532. Likely in 1538 Tallis began working at the Augustinian monastery in Essex, Waltham Abbey. Upon the dissolution of that church in 1540 (a casualty of the anti-Catholic Suppression of the Monasteries by Henry VIII from 1536 to 1541) Tallis headed for Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. In 1543 Tallis was made Gentleman of the Chapel by Tudor King of England and Ireland, Henry VIII, the latter himself a musician (publishing the 'Henry VIII Songbook' circa 1518). Tallis composed for a succession of royalty: upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547 Tallis served Protestant Edward VI from age nine to age fifteen when Edward fell ill, Catholic Mary I then to claim the throne. Tallis received his own manor in Kent from Mary, whose death in 1558 brought Protestant Elizabeth I who reined beyond Tallis' death to until 1603.

The most fundamental affect on music which the rise of Protestantism brought was upon hymns, now sung in German or English rather than Latin. Such as Marian motets might retain their melodies while texts were altered via contrafacta (substituting lyrics with others). Even as Tallis was privately Catholic, his library contains among the first Protestant compositions, including several Lutheran chorales. Albeit Elizabeth granted Tallis and younger companion by about 35 years, William Byrd, exclusive patent on polyphony, Tallis, at least, honored Elizabeth's puritan tastes with simpler compositions.

All of Tallis' votive antiphons were early works, 'Ave Dei Patris Filia', perhaps his earliest written sometime in the 1530s prior to his employment at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. This title appears in neither Canterbury partbooks nor any other manuscripts until posthumously in circa 1590-91 [DIAMM]. It seems reasonable to suppose that Tallis himself considered this an immature work better kept to himself. Votive antiphons were brief popular nonliturgical pieces added to offices or composed for special occasions.

'Ave Dei Patris Filia'   Votive antiphon by Thomas Tallis

Comp sometime 1530s   MSS: posthumously c 1590-91

Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips

Album: 'The Tallis Christmas Mass' Gimell Records 289 454 934-2 / 1998

Another immature work perhaps dating from the thirties is a Magnificat for four voices published in the Gyffard Partbooks MS 17802-5 circa 1572-78. Tallis wrote another for five voices very likely sometime in the forties while in the service of Henry. That was part of a "First" or "Short" liturgical service written in Dorian mode. Modes in music may refer to melodic characteristics in general or notes of pitch on the C major (diatonic) scale of which the Dorian is the second of seven [refs below]. Tallis's Dorian Service was pared down to only the essential elements, being canticles for Matins (Venite / Te Deum / Benedictus), the Communion (Kyrie / Credo) and canticles for Evensong (Magnificat from 'Luke 1' / Nunc Dimittis from 'Luke 2'). Evensong corresponds to Vespers and Compline in the Catholic rite. Though texts are originally in Latin they were, of course, translated into proper English for Henry's Anglican Church and entered into the 'Book of Common Prayer' in 1559. The music for this service was brief and trimmed of excessive elaborations. They are written in syllabic simplicity (one note per syllable) more conforming to Protestant ideal than the melismatic technique in which syllables stretch through multiple notes. Combining the Magnificat with Nunc Dimittis as 'Magnificat et Nunc Dimittus' is traced back to 1522/24 in a couple of Magdalen College choirbooks in Oxford. Parts of Tallis' Dorian Service began to find their way into manuscripts in circa 1570 per the GB-SHR copied in Ludlow for use at the Church of St. Lawrence. They were transcribed into the Baldwin Partbooks of c 1575 with the tenor part missing. That doesn't explain, however, why CPDL lists 'Magnificat et Nunc Dimittus' for four (SATB) instead of five voices (SATBB). IMSLP also lends the Short Dorian Service only four voices. Be as may, this pair of canticles saw print in John Barnard's 'Selected Church Musick' of 1641 making use of the Lcm MSS 1045-51 of around 1635 [Bamford]. Edward Lowe scored them into 'A Short Direction for the Performance of Cathedrall Service' in 1661. They are also included in William Boyce's 'Cathedral Music' of 1760 (in four voices rather than five cited at CPDL above. Is the fifth voice an optional basso continuo for organ that is left out [St. James / Wikipedia]? This discrepancy at CPDL is twisting my wires. Since I don't want to mangle yours, too, ignore the foregoing and simply accept that the paired 'Magnificat et Nunc Dimittus' for Dorian Service were both intended for five voices and ascribed five voices by CPDL at 'Evening Service in Latin' referencing the Baldwin Partbooks (with tenor missing). They are, anyway, among the earliest definitively Protestant compositions in England, that is, decidedly not Catholic whether in Latin or English.

'Magnificat' a 5 for Dorian Service in Latin   Evensong by Thomas Tallis

Comp prob sometime 1540s   MSS: GB-SHR c 1570   Pub posthumous

Chapelle du Roi directed by Alistair Dixon

'Nunc dimittis' a 5 for Dorian Service in Latin   Evensong by Thomas Tallis

Comp prob sometime 1540s   MSS: GB-SHR c 1570   Pub posthumous

Chapelle du Roi directed by Alistair Dixon

Tallis' shortest Mass is 'Mass for Four Voices' which may have been written toward the end of the reign of Henry VIII in 1547, or perhaps not much later under Edward. However, this is another work by Tallis with widely estimated dates. In notes to 'Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works' by Chapelle du Roi [refs below] Nick Sandon estimates a date not impossibly as early as 1535. It could also be as late as sometime under Elizabeth, for though it is written in syllabic simplicity it also contains melismatic passages. Where styling and technique may exceed Elizabeth's Protestant discipline, this is not the only work possibly written during her reign which calls into question just how rigid she was in matters of pure music untainted by Catholic practices or polyphonic extremities. She probably quite well knew that Tallis was more Roman Catholic than Protestant, perhaps a matter approaching "OK" but don't tell. She was, anyway, easily more lenient in matters Catholic versus Protestant than her predecessor, Catholic Mary I, also called Bloody Mary. Mary had had some 280 Protestants burned at the stake during her five years at the throne, after which Elizabeth had only several Catholics or radical Protestants executed during her reign. Whenever Tallis wrote this Mass, it was transcribed into the Gyffard Partbooks MS 17802-5 circa 1572-78. The whole Gyffard Partbooks were compiled from circa 1540 to 1580 with most additions made under Mary.

'Mass for Four Voices'   Thomas Tallis

Comp poss as early as c 1540-1547 or as late as Elizabeth I   MSS: Gyffard Partbooks c 1575

Chapelle du Roi directed by Alistair Dixon

The text for the anthem motet for Easter season, 'If Ye Love Me', was taken from 'John 14:15-17' of the Tyndale Bible and entered into the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. Tallis may have set 'If Ye Love Me' prior to that. Another setting by an unknown had been composed sometime earlier during Henry. Some sources place 'If Ye Love Me' sometime during Edward VI (1547-53) during which Protestant simplicity was yet the ideal prior to his successor, Catholic Mary I. It wasn't published until 1565 during Elizabeth.

'If Ye Love Me'    Anthem motet intended a 4 by Thomas Tallis

Comp unknown poss by 1549   Text from 'John 14:15-17' (King James)

Pub 1565 during Elizabeth I

The Tallis Scholars

Tallis' 'Lamentations of Jeremiah' I and II for Tenebrae emerged circa 1565 under Elizabeth. Settings for the "Lamentations' enjoyed popularity among composers in the latter sixties. I is a setting for 'Lamentations 1:1-2' while II is for 'Lamentations 1:3-5'. In notes to 'Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works' Chapelle du Roi [ref below] John Morehen suggests that though these masterworks may have been used in official Anglican services they may have been written more for private devotions by Catholics. The 'Lamentations' began to appear in manuscripts circa 1575.

'Lamentations of Jeremiah' I & II    Settings for Holy Week by Thomas Tallis

MSS: GB-Ob MS. Tenbury 1464I partbook of c 1575

Chapelle du Roi directed by Alistair Dixon

'Why Fum'th in Fight the Gentiles Spite' from 'Psalm 2' is also seen as 'Why Fum'th in Sight the Gentiles Spite' perhaps due to difficulty distinguishing "f" from "s" in manuscript. Which is correct I myself can't say, but this hymn was included with eight others by Tallis in 'The Whole Psalter Translated' of 1567 also known as 'Archbishop Parker's Psalter' referring to Thomas Parker, first Archbishop of the Anglican Church and printed by John Daye in London. 'Why Fum'th' is the basis for 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis' composed in 1910 by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

'Why Fum'th in Fight the Gentiles Spite'    Hymn from 'Psalm 2' by Thomas Tallis

Pub 1567 in the 'Whole Psalter Translated' during Elizabeth I

The Sixteen directed by Harry Christophers

'Spem in alium nunquam habui' ('In no other is my hope') is a motet from the Book of 'Judith' for 40 voices divided between eight choirs addressing the God of Israel. It is proffered that this highly complex work commissioned by the 4th Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Howard (1538-72), was written for Catholic Mary I upon a visit to England by Alessandro Striggio to perform his forty-voice 'Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno' in June of 1557 [Davis citing Legge]. Other sources prefer circa 1570 as 'Spem in alium' is a masterwork and may have been performed for Elizabeth I on her fortieth birthday in 1573. The latter date is preferred by sources which have Striggio visiting England circa 1567-69 with his forty-voice Missa written sometime in the sixties. Either way, Striggio seems to have inspired the commission by Howard. Perhaps Queen Elizabeth didn't prefer simple compositions utterly and thought Tallis should write a work in kind. 'Spem in alium' eventually saw inclusion in GB-Lbl Egerton 3512 transcribed circa 1710 and housed at the British Library. It didn't see print until 1888 in  A. H. Mann's 'Motet fir 40 Voices' published by Weekes & Company.

'Spem in alium nunquam habui'   Motet a 40 split between 8 choirs of 5 by Thomas Tallis

Composed for either Mary I or Elizabeth I prior to the death of Thomas Howard in 1572

Included in the GB-Lbl Egerton 3512 MS c 1710   Published 1888 by Weekes & Company

The Taverner Choir

It was in 1575 that Queen Elizabeth granted Tallis and Byrd exclusive rights to print and publish music, though not without restrictions: they were forbidden to import or print any foreign music (largely to protect English musicians from competition), and such as font types were the patent of Tudor royalty only. Royal grants of exclusive printing privileges had also been granted by Henry VIII. Such the monopolies kept Henry's Protestant domains tidy and heading the right direction. The greater privatization of printing along with other factors would eventually arrive to the Copyright Act of 1710 or, the Statute of Anne. Be as may, neither Tallis nor Byrd were themselves printers nor owned a printing press. Tallis' 'Miserere Nostri' a 7 was composed under Queen Elizabeth sometime before 1575 when it was published in 'Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur', a book also featuring Byrd. 'Misere Nostri' is a double cannon between two high voices and four lower with one free voice. This is another complicated, though acceptably brief, work yet sanctioned by Elizabeth.

'Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri'   Double canon motet a 7 (1 free voice) by Thomas Tallis

'Have mercy on us Lord, have mercy on us' 

Comp sometime before publishing in 1575 by Tallis & Byrd

Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips

Tallis died in Greenwich on 23 November 1585, the same year the Egyptian obelisk was erected at St. Peter's. His wife, Joan, whom he had married under Edward circa 1552 outlived him by another four years.

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