Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works
Volume 2 - Music at the Reformation

Chapelle du Roi
directed by Alistair Dixon

Programme Notes

Most—conceivably all—of the music by Thomas Tallis included on this recording dates from the 1540s. It illustrates many of the ways in which Tallis and his fellow-composers responded to the enormous changes in religious ideology and practice that took place during this decade.

Nothing about Tallis’s early career suggests that he was destined to reach the top of his profession. Nevertheless, scarcely more than ten years separate his first known musical appointment, which was extremely humble, from his last, which could not have been more prestigious. In 1532 he was organist of the small Benedictine priory at Dover—a small-time post if ever there was one. Five years later he had moved to London, where he was employed either as a singer or as organist by the parish church of St Mary-at-Hill, which was noted for its music. In 1538 he abandoned London for the apparent security of a permanent appointment as a member of the Lady Chapel choir of the Augustinian abbey of Holy Cross at Waltham in Essex. However, the dissolution of the abbey in March 1540 left him once again without employment. 

In the spring of 1540 the prospects for an unemployed church musician cannot have seemed promising, but Tallis was now to make what was possibly the most consequential move of his career. A fortnight after Waltham Abbey was dissolved, Canterbury Cathedral ceased to be a Benedictine monastery; it was reorganised with a secular dean and chapter and provided with an enlarged choir (ten boys and twelve men) worthy of the cathedral’s status as the fons et origo of a national church. Tallis joined the new choir during the summer of 1540 and remained one of its senior members for two or three years. These years must have been lively, not only because of the challenge of quickly assembling an impressive and extensive repertory, but also on account of the fierce disputes that arose between the conservative cathedral dignitaries and their reform-minded archbishop, Thomas Cranmer. 

It could have been through Cranmer, Henry VIII’s most trusted counsellor during his declining years, that Tallis gained a place in the royal household chapel; the exact date of his appointment is not known, but his name occurs about half-way down the list of gentlemen (or singers) of the chapel in the lay subsidy roll of 1543/4. He remained a gentleman of the chapel for the rest of his life, rising in seniority until he became its acknowledged doyen. He may have acted as chapel organist throughout this time, although he is not referred to in this capacity until the 1570s. Apart from playing the organ, Tallis’s main duty during his early years in the royal household chapel was probably the composition of music. This would have been an important responsibility, because the chapel was undoubtedly required to demonstrate how government policy on worship was meant to be interpreted in practice.

Tallis and his colleagues in the royal household chapel were faced with a difficult task. The religious turmoil of the 1540s and 50s meant that composers of church music no longer worked in the atmosphere of stability and certainty that had prevailed up to about 1530. In less than two decades the religion of the country was altered four times: from ‘Roman Catholicism without the Pope’ under Henry VIII to an increasingly extreme Protestantism under Edward VI (1547-53), then to a restored and conservative Roman Catholicism under Mary (1553-8), and finally to a fairly moderate Protestantism under Elizabeth (1558-1603). Composers were required not only to respond to the changes in language and liturgy that these vacillations brought about—from Mass and the Divine Office in Latin under Henry and Mary, to Communion, Mattins and Evensong in English under Edward and Elizabeth—but also to give expression to radically different ideas about the function of music in worship. The traditionalists expected music to take a prominent role by setting both liturgical and non-liturgical texts; the expert performance of elaborate music was itself an act of praise which honoured God and could help to persuade the saints to intercede on behalf of souls in purgatory. The reformers regarded music as a distraction which obscured the purpose of worship, rendered unintelligible the words which it set, and was often associated with texts whose origins, sentiments and intentions were decidedly unscriptural.

It is not always easy to give precise dates to compositions written during this period. One cannot simply allocate settings of English texts to the reigns of the Protestant Edward and Elizabeth, and settings of Latin texts to those of the Catholic Henry and Mary. English translations of texts from the Latin liturgy were already being made in Henry’s last years, and some of these, such as Cranmer’s translation of the Litany (1544), were set to music. Conversely, the accession of a Protestant monarch did not mean that Latin texts were wholly eschewed. Latin was, after all, the international language of learning and diplomacy, and both Edward and Elizabeth were proficient in it. While it might not have been considered appropriate for contexts of worship, Latin was perfectly suitable for occasional musical compositions performed before an audience which could understand the language. Early in Elizabeth’s reign there was even room for a Latin version of the English prayer-book. Published in 1560, Walter Haddon’s translation was intended for use in the universities and public schools; it seems, however, to have had little success, although it may have been used at court.

The Latin works on this disc pose dating problems of various kinds. The problems are greatest in the case of the five-part Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, the unique source of which is Elizabethan. In the Latin rite these canticles were sung at Vespers and Compline; in the English rite both were sung during Evensong. Paul Doe has suggested that these settings by Tallis—which were obviously intended as a pair because they have identical beginnings and share other musical material—must have been made in connection with Haddon’s Latin translation of the prayer-book, since ‘a Magnificat-Nunc dimittis “pair” for the old rite would have been inconceivable’ (Doe, Tallis, p. 38, fn. 2). However, an inventory of polyphonic music belonging to King’s College, Cambridge, in 1529 includes references to ‘Walter Lambes Exultavit. Nunc dimittis off the same. ... Exultavit. Also Quia viderunt. ... Exultavit ffarfax. Quia viderunt off the same’, while an inventory of 1522/4 from Magdalen College, Oxford, mentions two choirbooks containing ‘Magnificat et Nunc Dimittis ac Antiphonarum’ in five, six and seven parts. If, as these quotations imply, pre-Reformation composers had already formed the habit of pairing the two evening canticles, the date of Tallis’s pair deserves reappraisal. The musical evidence is equivocal. Tallis keeps to the pre-Reformation practice of setting only the even-numbered verses in polyphony, but he ignores the traditional English conventions of scoring some verses entirely for reduced combinations of voices and incorporating a special kind of cantus firmus called a faburden. As far as their musical style is concerned, these two works contain no features that cannot be found in other music by Tallis securely datable to the 1540s. The strongest evidence for a later date is probably the very heavy reliance upon imitative writing, but there is ample precedent for this in some works certainly in existence by 1540, such as Taverner’s antiphon Fac nobis secundum hoc nomen suave and Tye’s Missa Sine nomine.

The two four-part Latin works on this disc, Sancte Deus and the Mass for four voices, are contained in the Gyffard partbooks, a collection of music for the Latin rite compiled over several decades beginning in about 1540. Sancte Deus is a Jesus-antiphon, the text of which had previously been set by John Taverner and William Whytbroke; the Gyffard partbooks also contain a setting by Philip van Wilder, a Flemish lutenist and composer who served as a chamber musician at the royal court from the early 1520s until his death in 1553. Tallis’s composition has been said to reflect ‘both the doctrine and musical style of about 1540’ (The New Grove, ‘Tallis’). On the other hand, Taverner’s composition of this text is likely to date from about 1525, Whytbroke’s cannot be much later, and official pronouncements on religion around 1540 do not seem significantly to have promoted the cause of the Jesus-antiphon. The rather wayward style of Tallis’s Sancte Deus could imply a slightly earlier date, perhaps nearer 1535 than 1540. The Sancte Deus text seems to have been amalgamated, with a few minor changes, from the invocation ‘Sancte Deus, sanctus fortis, sanctus et immortalis, miserere nobis’ from the Improperia for Good Friday, and from the third verse, ‘Nunc Christe te petimus ... redemptos’ of Libera me Domine, the ninth responsory at Matins of the dead.

Tallis’s Mass for four voices exemplifies a kind of concise Mass setting that seems to have gained some popularity in the last ten or twelve years of Henry’s reign. Surviving examples of this type are quite diverse—some are for five voices and others are for four, some are relatively ornate while others are very plain, and some are freely composed whereas others are derived from existing compositions—but they share the lack of a plainchant cantus firmus that would connect them with a particular feast. As usual in English Masses, Tallis sets the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus. The word-setting in the first two movements is almost entirely syllabic, and since the texture is frequently homophonic the words can be heard with great clarity. It is interesting that in the Sanctus and Agnus, which of course have much shorter texts than the Gloria and Credo, Tallis achieves sufficient dimensions more through text repetition than through melismatic writing. Given that he is working with only four voices and writing in a very restrained style, Tallis creates a remarkably strong sense of variety. The polished craftsmanship reminds one of his Missa Salve intemerata, with which this Mass may be roughly contemporary. On this recording the Mass is preceded by the plainchant Conditor Kyrie which in the Latin rite was sung on major feast days.

The remaining six works on this disc have English texts. Four of them—Remember not O Lord God, Hear the voice and prayer, If ye love me and Benedictus—are to be found in one or other of two important sources of early Anglican music known as the Wanley and Lumley partbooks. It is believed that both sets date from about 1546-8, and that their contents reflect the progress of Cranmer and his colleagues towards the first Book of Common Prayer (1549). The tenor book of Wanley and the bass book of Lumley are missing, which means that voices have to be recomposed where works cannot be completed from other sources; given the generally simple style of the music, recomposition is usually straightforward.

Remember not, Hear the voice and prayer and If ye love me are very early examples of the Anglican anthem (the word ‘anthem’ had been coined two or three centuries earlier as an English version of the Latin ‘antiphona’). All three anthems survived the Marian reaction and came back into use in Elizabeth’s reign, being published in John Day’s collection Certain Notes in 1560 (Day’s version of Remember not is somewhat longer and more elaborate than the original version sung here and is to be found on a later disc in this series). On the evidence of these works, the anthem very early acquired formal and stylistic mannerisms, notably a preference for four-part writing and syllabic declamation, a tendency to alternate homophonic episodes with passages of simple imitation, and the habit of sectional repetition, particularly of the final section. The alternation of homophony and imitative counterpoint has precedents in some Latin works by English composers, such as Taverner’s Meane Mass and Tallis’s own Mass for four voices, but the fondness for repeated sections is harder to account for, unless it came from the contemporary French chanson. Interestingly, only one of Tallis’s four surviving part-songs, Fond youth is a bubble, employs sectional repetition. 

These three anthems make different interpretations of the basic concept. Remember not is entirely chordal and includes several very short repeated sections; its text, which consists of some verses of psalm LXXIX, was evidently taken from the King’s Primer of 1545. Hear the voice and prayer is considerably more ambitious, being predominantly imitative (with one very tellingly placed piece of near-homophony at ‘even toward this place’), and having a lengthy repeated final section. The text is taken from Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the first temple (I Kings VIII, 28-30), and one wonders whether the setting was intended for a particular occasion. In Certain Notes Day describes this anthem as being for children, but the written ranges imply performance by broken voices as in the other anthems. If ye love me alternates chordal and imitative sections, again with a repeated second half; the words, from John XIV, 15-17 in the translation of Coverdale’s Great Bible (1539), form the beginning of the Gospel for Whitsunday in the Book of Common Prayer.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel is the English version of Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, the canticle at Lauds in the Latin rite, which became the second canticle at Mattins in the English rite. Tallis’s text is identical with that of the prayer book, except for one tiny variant. One feels that Tallis did his best to create contrast in his setting of this lengthy text, within the constraints imposed by the sobriety of the style. The imitative points are effectively varied and sometimes (as at ‘And hath lifted up an horn’) depict their words; the homophonic episodes provide welcome relief from the prevailing counterpoint; there is a magical change of chord to illustrate ‘To give light to them that sit in darkness’; and, after unremittingly syllabic word-setting, the music is allowed to flower into brief melisma for the concluding ‘Amen’.

The earliest source of A new commandment, another four-part English anthem, dates from about 1570. It is seldom safe to argue from negative evidence, and we should not assume that this work’s absence from Wanley, Lumley and Certain Notes proves that it post-dates them. It is, nevertheless, slightly less severe in style than the other anthems on this recording, allowing itself a modest amount of melisma in order to paper over the cracks between sections. 

The five-part Te Deum, a setting of the first canticle at Anglican Mattins, is thought to date from the late 1540s, although it survives only in a 17th century source. Tallis’s achievement in this work is remarkable. Consisting of a very long succession of brief and repetitive clauses, the text of the Te Deum is difficult to set to music without falling into short-windedness and incoherence. One might have thought that the plainness of the style current in England during the later 1540s would make such lapses inevitable. Yet here, with deceptively simple means, Tallis succeeds in creating a work on a grand scale with a strong sense of momentum and coherence, and in reconciling the rival demands of contrast and continuity. He is extremely imaginative in his handling of imitation, constantly changing the shape of the points and the order and distance of their entry, not just to create local contrast but also to work cumulatively upon each other. Writing in five parts rather than four—an early example of the ten part decani-cantoris texture characteristic of the Anglican ‘great-service’—helps to create a feeling of monumentality, and allows the exploitation of a much greater variety of textures. Perhaps most admirable, although easy to overlook, are the sure grasp of timing and deft control of pace. This may not be the most immediately impressive music that Tallis ever wrote, but its resourcefulness and craftsmanship are exceptional.

Nick Sandon, 15 June 1997

Texts & Translations

[1] Magnificat

Magnificat: anima mea Dominum.
Et exsultavit spiritus meus: in Deo salutari meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanctum nomen ejus.
Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies: timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede: et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum: recordatus misericordiae suae.
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros: Abraham et semini ejus in saecula.
Gloria Patri et Filio: et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper: et in secula seculorum. Amen.

My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his hand-maiden. For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him: throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: 
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

[2] Nunc dimittis

Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine: secundum verbum tuum in pace.
Quia viderunt oculi mei, salutare tuum.
Quod parasti: ante faciem omnium populorum.
Lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio: et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper: et in secula seculorum. Amen.

Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

[3] Sancte Deus

Sancte Deus, sancte fortis, sancte et immortalis, miserere nobis. 

Nunc, Christe, te petimus, miserere quaesumus. Qui venisti redimere perditos, noli damnare redemptos; quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum. Amen.

Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy on us. 

Now O Christ, we beseech you, we beg you to have mercy. Since you came to redeem the lost, do not damn those you have redeemed; for by your cross you have redeemed the world. Amen.

[4] Conditor Kyrie 

Conditor Kyrie omnium ymas creaturarum eleyson.
Tu nostra delens crimina nobis incessanter eleyson.
Ne sinas perire facturam tuam sed clemens ei eleyson.
Christe Patris unice natus de virgine nobis eleyson.
Mundum perditum qui tuo sanguine salvasti de morte eleyson.
Ad te nunc clamantum preces exaudias pius eleyson.
Spiritus alme tua nos reple gratia eleyson.
A Patre et nato qui manas iugiter nobis eleyson.
Trinitas sancta trina unitas simul adoranda,
Nostrorum scelerum vincla resolve redimens a morte. 
Omnes proclamemus nunc voce dulciflua Deus eleyson.

O Lord, creator of all your creatures, have mercy.
You who constantly wipe away our sins, have mercy upon us.
Do not allow your creation to perish but be merciful towards us, have mercy.
Christ, only Son of the Father, born of a virgin, have mercy upon us.
You who saved the lost world from death with your blood, have mercy.
Holy one, hear the prayers of those who now cry to you, have mercy.
Pure spirit, fill us with your grace, have mercy.
You, who proceed perpetually from the Father and the Son, have mercy upon us.
O Holy Trinity, three in one, who is to be worshipped at the same time, 
release us from the fetters of our sins, delivering us from death. 
Let us all cry out now with a sweetly flowing voice, ‘God have mercy’.

[5] Gloria

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bone voluntatis. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, rex celestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine fili unigenite, Jesu Christi. Domine Deus, agnus Dei, filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. 

Quoniam tu solus sanctus. Tu solus Dominus. Tu solus altissimus, Jesu christe. Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria dei Patris. Amen.

Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace towards men of goodwill. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty.

O Lord, the only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; O Lord God, lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.

For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord, thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

[6] Credo 

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem celi et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. 

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum: et ex Patre natum ante omnia secula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de celis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato: passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas. Et ascendit in celum: sedet ad dexteram Patris. 

Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi seculi. Amen.

I believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds. God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. 

And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

[7] Sanctus

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus sabaoth. Pleni sunt celi et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis.

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.

[8] Benedictus 

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

[9] Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis. 
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis. 
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. 
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

[10] Remember not, O Lord God

Remember not, O Lord God, our old iniquities, but let thy mercy speedily prevent us, for we be very miserable. 

Help us, God our Saviour, and, for the glory of thy name, deliver us. Be merciful and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake. 

Let not the wicked people say, ‘Where is their God?’

We be thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, we shall give thanks unto thee for ever. From age to age we shall set forth thy laud and praise.

To thee be honour and glory, world without end. So be it.

[11] Hear the voice and prayer 

Hear the voice and prayer of thy servants that they make before thee this day: 

that thine eyes may open toward this house, night and day, even toward this place, of which thou hast said: My name shall be there.

And when thou hear'st, have mercy on them.

[12] If ye love me

If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may ’bide with you forever: e'en the spir’t of truth.

[13] A new commandment 

A new commandment give I unto you, saith the Lord, that ye love together, as I have loved you, that even so ye love one another. 

By this shall every man know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

[14] Benedictus

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited, and redeemed his people:
And hath lifted up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which hath been since the world began; 
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us. 
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; to
perform the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hands of ourenemies might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the most high: for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet
into the way of peace. 
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

[15] Te deum

We praise thee O God: We ’knowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein. 
To thee cherubin and seraphin continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth. 
Heaven and earth are replenished with the majesty of thy glory. 
The glorious company of the apostles, praise thee. 
The goodly fellowship of the prophets, praise thee.
The noble army of martyrs, praise thee.
The holy church throughout all the world doth ’knowledge thee; 
The Father of an infinite majesty. 
Thy honourable, true, and only Son. 
The Holy Ghost, also being the comforter. 
Thou art the king of glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. 
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. 
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven
to all believers. 
Thou sittest on the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. 
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. 
Make them to be numbered with thy saints, in glory everlasting. 
O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee. 
And we worship thy name ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. 
O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.