Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works
Volume 6 - Music for a Reformed Church

Chapelle du Roi
directed by Alistair Dixon

Programme

This sixth volume of Chapelle du Roi’s recording of the Complete Works is devoted to music which Thomas Tallis (d.1585) composed for use during the reformed services promulgated in The booke of the common prayer, which came into effect on Whitsunday (9 June) 1549 following the passage of An Act for the Uniformity of service by both Houses of Parliament earlier that year. This statutory introduction of services in the vernacular brought to an end the fifteen-year period of liturgical and musical experimentation which followed Henry VIII’s formal break with Rome in 1534.

Tallis’s music, together with the associated intonations and collects (for Easter Day at Matins and for the Fourth Sunday in Advent at Evensong), is here presented in the normal liturgical sequence for the day—Matins, Holy Communion, and Evensong. It concludes with Tallis’s nine psalm-tune harmonisations which he contributed to Archbishop Matthew Parker’s Psalter, published in about 1567.

Little of the music on this recording can be reliably dated. Very few printed or manuscript music sources have survived from the period of Tallis’s lifetime, while the two music sources which are known to have been copied during the brief reign of Edward VI (1547-1553)—the ‘Lumley’ partbooks (British Library, London, Royal Appendix Mss. 74-76) and the ‘Wanley’ partbooks (Bodleian Library, Oxford, Mss. Mus. Sch. e. 420-422)—contain only a handful of pieces by the composer. The difficulty of dating these works is exacerbated by the fact that musical style is a precarious criterion on which to distinguish between music composed during Edward’s reign and that written during the sustained period of liturgical stability which followed Queen Elizabeth’s accession in 1558.

Much of the music recorded here may well have been composed for performance at the Chapel Royal, to which Tallis was appointed a Gentleman at some time probably in the late 1530s or early 1540s. He retained this prestigious post until his death, having dutifully served four monarchs in the varying capacities of singer, organist and composer. His considerable wealth at the time of his death almost certainly reflects the favour and esteem in which he was held at Court.

During the years immediately following the introduction of the 1549 Prayer Book the standard choral texture was that of a four-part choir (MATB) without soloists, a disposition which was both practically convenient and wholly in keeping with the new desire for economy of texture and directness of expression. By the mid-Elizabethan period, however, the standard choral texture for English sacred music included a fifth voice type, that of the ‘treble’ (i.e. a boy’s voice with a range lying approximately a fourth above that of the standard boy or ‘mean’). Although Tallis is known to have written only one anthem ostensibly making use of the treble voice (the anthem O give thanks, of which only the organ accompaniment survives), he occasionally made excursions into a five-part texture with divided countertenors (MAATB)—a texture which was to become established as the norm by the end of the sixteenth century, and which was to remain so until the cessation of services at the Civil War.

A significant corpus of the Anglican church music composed in the Edwardian and early Elizabethan periods may have been conceived for performance by men’s voices, probably CCTB. Indeed, much of the repertory contained in the Wanley and Lumley collections and in John Day’s Certaine notes (1560/5) is of such restricted compass that performance by men’s voices would have been a viable option. Although some of Tallis’s anthems (e.g. A new commandment give I unto you, Hear the voice and prayer and If ye love me) may well have been intended for men’s voices, none of the compositions included on this recording appears to have been intended for—or is here performed by—men’s voices.

The surviving music for the early Anglican rite consists primarily of canticles and anthems for use at Matins and Evensong (Morning and Evening Prayer), together with music for selected sections of Holy Communion. The canticles normally sung at Matins comprised Venite, Te Deum and Benedictus; while those for Evensong were Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (the 1552 Prayer Book introduced alternative canticles at both Matins and Evensong, though relatively few composers chose to set them to music). In November 1547 the Mass Ordinary had been sung in English at Westminster Abbey to mark the opening of Parliament and Convocation, and by early 1548 English translations of sections of the Mass Ordinary were already available in print. The sections usually set to music were Kyrie (i.e. responses to the commandments) and Credo.

Tallis’s rather austere ‘First’ or ‘Short’ Service, familiarly known today as the ‘Dorian’ Service, provides all seven standard canticles for Matins (Venite/Te Deum/Benedictus), Holy Communion (Kyrie/Credo) and Evensong (Magnificat/Nunc Dimittis). It is one of several services of the period to include settings also of Sanctus and Gloria. The Offertory Sentence associated in some sources with this service—Not every one that sayeth unto me—is possibly spurious, since it is absent from the most authoritative sources. It survives only in a set of manuscripts used in the chapel of Chirk Castle, near Wrexham, in about 1630. The Dorian Service is predominantly homophonic with little verbal repetition, resulting in a concise form in which the text is delivered with clarity and economy. Tallis’s unpretentious and mainly chordal anthem Verily, I say to you is included here within the service of Holy Communion not for any liturgical rationale but because of the clear eucharistic nature of its text.

Tallis was one of the earliest composers to provide choral settings of the Preces (‘O Lord, open thou our lips’ etc.) and the ‘Responses after the Creed’ (‘The Lord be with you’ etc.) for use at Matins and Evensong. Such settings are usually found in contemporary sources in conjunction with settings of the Proper psalms for major church festivals, and it may safely be assumed that the use of polyphony for these parts of the service was mainly restricted to such festivals. The three psalm settings recorded here are those for Evensong on the 24th day of the month, and comprise the second, third and fourth sections of Psalm 119 (Tallis’s setting of the first section of this psalm survives in too incomplete a state to permit reconstruction). This psalm setting was clearly intended for use on Christmas Eve, since Tallis also composed similar settings for Evensong for Christmas Day and for the 26th day of the month (presumably intended specifically for 26th December, St Stephen’s Day). Unfortunately, these two sets, also, are incomplete. The three sections of Psalm 119 which are recorded here are strictly functional, comprising chant-like harmonisations of the traditional Sarum tones which are placed in the tenor voice.

The Matins and Holy Communion sections of Tallis’s First Service and the Festal psalm settings recorded here all incorporate antiphony, i.e. the exploitation of spatial effect through the performance of selected passages by opposite sides of the choir, Decani and Cantoris. This practice was condemned by some contemporary commentators. In 1572 a London cleric, John Field, observed that singers ‘... tosse the psalmes in most places like tennice balles’, and about a decade later (1583) the Separatist Robert Browne similarly observed that ‘Their tossing to & fro of psalms and sentences is like tenisse plaie’). Even so, antiphony had the undoubted merit of providing some relief from unremitting homophony and from the functional repetitiousness of much Elizabethan festal psalmody. However, none of the surviving sources of Tallis’s First Service or Festal psalms was copied during the composer’s lifetime, and the antiphony may well be a result of seventeenth-century scribal interference. Sometimes the antiphony is confined to selected sources only, reinforcing suspicions that local musicians occasionally ‘improved’ earlier compositions in this way.

The text of Christ rising again from the dead is that of the ‘Easter Anthems’, which were set out in the 1549 and 1552 Prayer Books to be sung or said at Matins on Easter Day. In the 1549 Prayer Book the anthems are directed to be used immediately prior to Matins, as soon as the congregation has assembled in church. In the 1552 Prayer Book, however, they are decreed to be used during Matins itself, as a substitute for Venite. There is some doubt over the authenticity of this setting. It survives in three sources, all of which date from some forty years or more after Tallis’s death. One of the three sources is anonymous, and the second more plausibly attributes it to William Byrd. Only a post-Restoration organ-book now at Berkeley, California, ascribes it to Tallis.

Neither the 1549 nor the 1552 Prayer Books makes explicit reference to the singing of anthems, although their performance undoubtedly figured prominently in early Anglican services, since anthems are to be found in both the Lumley and Wanley collections. It was not until 1559, in the Royal Injunctions, that Elizabeth provided that, at Morning or Evening Prayer, ‘... for the comforting of such that delight in music ... there may be sung an hymn, or such-like song, to the praise of Almighty God, in the best sort of melody and music that may be conveniently devised, having respect that the sentence [sense] of the hymn may be understanded and perceived’. The 1662 Prayer Book is the first in which the location of the anthem immediately following the third collect at Matins and Evensong was formalised in the famous rubric that ‘In Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem’.

Tallis was one of a small group of identifiable composers (including Robert White, John Sheppard and Christopher Tye) who composed some of the earliest English anthems. Most of these composers had served their apprenticeship during the currency of the Latin rite, and all would have approached with some trepidation the task of providing music in the vernacular which would conform to the spirit of the Lincoln Cathedral Injunctions (1548), which required ‘... a plain and distinct note for every syllable one’. It is hardly surprising, then, that the quality of the English church music by some of these composers falls somewhat short of that which they wrote for the pre-Reformation liturgy.

Although Tallis has been credited with as many as 40 anthems, this figure represents a highly misleading picture of his genuine output, since a significant proportion of these are contrafacta of Latin compositions. When contrafacta, loosely sacred (or spiritual) compositions for domestic performance, and incomplete and misattributed works are discounted, a nucleus of only about a dozen works remains. The inclusion of the texts of several of these in James Clifford’s The Divine Services and Anthems (1663/4) suggests that they retained their popularity at the Restoration.

Tallis’s authorship of Out from the deep is open to some doubt. It survives only in seventeenth-century sources, some of which attribute it to William Parsons (fl. 1545-63). The words are from an otherwise unknown metrical version of Psalm 130. In common with O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit and Purge me, O Lord it is cast in the popular ABB mould (i.e. two sections, the second of which is repeated) favoured by many Edwardian and early Elizabethan anthem composers. The splendidly fluid O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit is a setting of a text from Lidley’s Prayers (1566), and is characterised by a more relaxed attitude to textual repetition than many of Tallis’s other anthems. It, too, is structured in ABB form, although as in several works of the period (including Tallis’s O Lord, in thee is all my trust) the repeat of the B section is not found in all sources. Purge me, O Lord, also in ABB format, is a setting of an unidentified penitential metrical text. It exists also as a partsong with the secular words ‘Fond youth is a bubble’, and is one of relatively few examples from this period of a composition surviving with secular and sacred texts both in English. It is evident from the word-setting that the sacred version heard here is the earlier of the two, although Paul Doe has suggested that the secular version may date from the Henrician period. Remember not, O Lord God is a setting of a text from The King’s Primer (1545) based on verses from Psalm 79. This must be one of Tallis’s earliest anthems, since it survives in two versions, the earlier and shorter of which (in the Lumley partbooks) dates from about 1547. The version recorded here is the later of the two surviving versions, and probably dates from about 1560. It is notable for its more elaborate cadences, and for its greater use of repetition of material. O Lord, in thee is all my trust was printed in John Day’s Certaine notes set forthe in foure and three partes ... (1560/5), the only collection of English church music to be published during Tallis’s lifetime. Although Day’s print carries the date 1560, it would seem that publication was actually deferred until 1565, when it appeared as Mornyng and Evenyng prayer and Communion, set forth in foure partes. Day’s anthology provided undemanding music to accommodate the basic Prayer Book requirements for the three principal services of the Anglican rite.

In about 1567 the Elizabethan music printer John Day issued The whole psalter translated into English metre, containing psalms in metrical translations by Matthew Parker, the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-75). The nine items which Tallis contributed are unlikely to have been intended for liturgical use, since such settings were generally regarded as more suited to domestic devotional use. In style Tallis’s settings are reminiscent of the harmonisations which his contemporary Christopher Tye provided in his Actes of the Apostles (1553), although Tallis’s settings, unlike those of Tye, avoid almost all suggestion of imitation, melisma or cadential elaboration. Tallis’s settings are of Psalms 1, 68, 2, 95, 42, 5, 52 and 67, to which is added a setting of Come, Holy Ghost (‘Tallis’s Ordinal’), which may have been sung at services of ordination. Tallis’s settings are preceded by Parker’s description of the characteristics of Tallis’s eight tunes:

    The first is meek, devout to see,
    The second, sad, in majesty,
    The third doth rage, and roughly brayeth,
    The fourth doth fawn, and flattery playeth,
    The fifth delighteth, and laugheth the more,
    The sixth bewaileth, it weepeth full sore,
    The seventh treadeth stout, in forward race,
    The eight goeth mild, in modest pace.

For reasons of space Tallis’s setting of the English version of the Litany is included in a subsequent volume in this series. Although not strictly liturgical it is nevertheless worth including in a discussion of Tallis’s music for the Anglican service. Written by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1532-1553, the Litany was intended for use in procession on church festivals. It received authorisation in 1544, thus becoming one of the earliest parts of the Anglican rite to receive official approval. Tallis’s setting incorporates the 1544 tones in the highest voice part. In addition to the five-part version recorded here, an adaptation for four voices, with Tallis’s two original countertenor parts conflated for a single voice, was already in established use at Peterhouse Chapel, Cambridge, and Durham Cathedral by the 1630s.

John Morehen, February 2003

Texts and Translations

[1] Christ rising again from the dead

Christ rising again from the dead now dieth not. Death from henceforth hath no power upon him.

For in that he died, he died but once to put away sin; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

And so likewise, count yourselves dead unto sin, but living unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ is risen again, the first fruit of them that sleep.
For seeing that by man came death, by man also cometh the resurrection of the dead.

For as by Adam all men do die, so by Christ all men shall be restored to life. Alleluia.

[2 & 12] Preces

V. O Lord, open thou our lips.
R. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
V. O God make speed to save us.
R. O Lord make haste to help us.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Praise ye the Lord!

[3] Venite

O come let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God; and a great king above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down; and kneel before the Lord our maker.
For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, it is a people that do err in their hearts; for they have not known my ways;
unto whom I swore in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.
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.

[4] 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 full of 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;
thine 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 at 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.

[5] Benedictus

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, in the house of his servant David.
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have 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 forefathers,
and to remember his holy covenant;
to perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, that he would give us;
that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies 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 highest: 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 dayspring from on high hath visited us;
to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide their 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.

[6] Responses and Collects for Easter Matins

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
V. Let us pray.
R. Lord have mercy upon us.
Christ have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
V. O Lord show thy mercy upon us.
R. And grant us thy salvation.
V. O Lord, save the King.
R. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
V. Endue thy ministers with righteousness.
R. And make thy chosen people joyful.
V. O Lord, save thy people.
R. And bless thine inheritance.
V. Give peace in our time, O Lord.
R. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
V. O God, make clean our hearts within us.
R. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Almighty God, which through thine only begotten son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: we humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace, preventing us, thou dost put in our minds good desires; so by thy continual help, we may bring the same to good effect, through Jesus Christ our Lord:
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and for ever. Amen.

O God, which art the author of peace, and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: defend us, thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies, that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries: through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and ever living God, which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight:
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[7] Commandments

1. God spake these words, and said; I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none other gods but me.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

2. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

4. Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou and thy son and thy daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

6. Thou shalt do no murder.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

8. Thou shalt not steal.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
R. Lord, have mercy upon us.

[8] Credo

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
at the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.

And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins: and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

[9] Offertory sentence

Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

[10] Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory: glory be to thee, O Lord most high.

[11] Gloria

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men. 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.

[13] Wherewithal shall a young man

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Even by ruling himself after thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee; O let me not go wrong out of thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid within my heart, that I should not sin against thee.
Blessed art thou, O Lord; O teach me thy statutes.
With my lips have I been telling of all the judgements of thy mouth.
I have had as great delight in the way of thy testimonies, as in all manner of riches.
I will talk of thy commandments, and have respect unto thy ways.
My delight shall be in thy statutes, and I will not forget thy word.
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.

[14] O do well unto thy servant

O do well unto thy servant; that I may live, and keep thy word.
Open thou mine eyes; that I may see the wondrous things of thy law.
I am a stranger upon earth; O hide not thy commandments from me.
My soul breaketh out for the very fervent desire that it hath alway unto thy judgements.
Thou hast rebuked the proud; and cursed are they that do err from thy commandments.
O turn from me shame and rebuke; for I have kept thy testimonies.
Princes also did sit and speak against me; but thy servant is occupied in thy statutes.
For thy testimonies are my delight, and my counsellors.
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] My soul cleaveth to the dust

My soul cleaveth to the dust; O quicken thou me according to thy word.
I have ‘knowledged my ways, and thou heardest me:
O teach me thy statutes.
Make me to understand the way of thy commandments; and so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
My soul melteth away for very heaviness; comfort thou me according unto thy word.
Take from me the way of lying, and cause thou me to make much of thy law.
I have chosen the way of truth;
and thy judgements have I laid before me.
I have stuck unto thy testimonies; O Lord, confound me not.
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty.
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.

[16] Magnificat

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.

[17] Nunc dimittis

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

[18] Responses and collects for Christmas Eve evensong

Responses as track 6

O Lord, raise up (we pray thee) thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us;
that whereas through our sins and wickedness we be sore let and hindered, thy bountiful grace and mercy, through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord, may speedily deliver us; to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; give unto thy servants that peace, which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness: through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord, and by thy great mercy, defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

[19] O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit

O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, and lighten our understanding, that we may dwell in the fear of thy name all the days of our life, that we may know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

[20] Purge me, O Lord

Purge me, O Lord, from all my sin,
and save thou me by faith from ill,
that I may rest and dwell with thee
upon thy holy blessed hill.
And that done, grant that with true heart
I may without hypocrisy
affirm the truth, detract no man,
but do all things with equity.

[21] Verily, verily I say unto you

Verily, verily, I say unto you: except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood ye have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

[22] Remember not, O Lord God

Remember not, O Lord God, our old iniquities,
but let thy mercy speed’ly prevent us, for we be very miserable.
Help us, God our Saviour, and, for the glory of our 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. Amen.

{23] O Lord, in thee is all my trust

O Lord, in thee is all my trust.
Give ear unto my woeful cries.
Refuse me not, that am unjust,
but bowing down thy heav’nly eyes,
behold how I do still lament
my sins wherein I thee offend.
O Lord, for them shall I be shent,
sith thee to please I do intend?

No, no, not so! Thy will is bent
to deal with sinners in thine ire:
but when in heart they shall repent
thou grant’st with speed their just desire.
To thee therefore still shall I cry,
to wash away my sinful crime.
Thy blood, O Lord, is not yet dry,
but that it may help me in time.

Haste now, O Lord, haste now, I say,
to pour on me the gifts of grace
that when this life must flit away
in heav’n with thee I may have place
where thou dost reign eternally
with God which once did down thee send,
where angels sing continually.
To thee be praise, world without end. Amen.

[24] Out from the deep

Out from the deep I call to thee, O Lord hear my invocation.
Thine ears bow down, incline to me, and hear my lamentation.
For if thou wilt our sins behold, that we have done, from time to tide,
O Lord, who then dare be so bold as in thy sight for to abide.

Tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter:

[25] Man blest no doubt

Man blest no doubt who walk’th not out in wicked men’s affairs,
and stand’th no day in sinner’s way nor sitt’th in scorner’s chairs;
but hath his will in God’s law still, this law to love aright,
and will him use, on it to muse, to keep it day and night.

[26] Let God arise in majesty

Let God arise in majesty and scatter’d be his foes.
Yea, flee they all his sight in face, to him which hateful goes.
As smoke is driv’n and com’th to naught, repulse their tyranny.
At face of fire, as wax doth melt, God’s face the bad must fly.

[27] Why fum’th in fight

Why fum’th in fight the gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?
Why tak’th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?
The kings arise, the lords devise, in counsels met thereto,
against the Lord with false accord, against his Christ they go.

[28] O come in one to praise the Lord

O come in one to praise the Lord and him recount our stay and health.
All hearty joys let us record to this strong rock, our Lord of health.
His face with praise let us prevent; his facts in sight let us denounce.
Join we, I say, in glad ascent. Our psalms and hymns let us pronounce.

[29] E’en like the hunted hind

E’en like the hunted hind the waterbrooks desire, e’en thus my soul, that fainting is, to thee would fain aspire.
My soul did thirst to God, to God of life and grace. It said e’en thus: when shall I come to see God’s lively face.

[30] Expend, O Lord, my plaint

Expend, O Lord, my plaint of word in grief that I
do make.
My musing mind recount most kind; give ear for
thine own sake.
O hark my groan, my crying moan; my king, my
God thou art.
Let me not stray from thee away, to thee I pray in heart.

[31] Why brag’st in malice high

Why brag’st in malice high, O thou in mischief stout?
God’s goodness yet is nigh all day to me no doubt. Thy tongue to muse all evil it doth itself inure.
As razor sharp to spill, all guile it doth procure.

[32] God grant with grace

God grant with grace, he us embrace,
in gentle part bless he our heart.
With loving face shine he in place,
his mercies all on us to fall.
That we thy way may know all day,
while we do sail this world so frail.
Thy health’s reward is nigh declared,
as plain as eye all gentiles spy.

[33] Ordinal

Come Holy Ghost, eternal God,
which dost from God proceed;
the Father first and eke the Son,
one God as we do read.