AtDTDA 32: Fantasia on a Fantasia of Thomas Tallis Pt. 2

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

art two of this exploration/expansion of "Fantasia on a 
Theme by Thomas Tallis" consists of background concerning 
composer Thomas Tallis.

>From 1987 through the nineties,  I helped produce the 
"Music From The Hearts of Space" "Adagio" series of 
classical music programs. 

http://www.hos.com/ Music from the Hearts of 
Space is a nationally syndicated radio show, an early 
adopter of online access and satellite distribution. 
Steve Hill is nothing if not a techno-maven. In any 
case, Ellen Holmes selected pieces, or sections of 
larger pieces, and assembled these works into an 
hour's worth of "Spacemusic" [as Steve puts it]. 
Program 189 : "MAGNUM MYSTERIUM 2" was 
derived from a project that Ellen worked on [with a bit 
of help from me] to make albums of the "Adagio" 
series of programs on the Celestial Harmony record 
label. On this show, the real goal was to get people to 
hear Spem in Alium, the singular masterpiece of the 
career of Thomas Tallis:

      Spem in alium numquam habui praeter in te
      Deus Israel
      qui irasceris
      et propitius eris
      et omnia peccata hominum in tribulatione dimittis
      Domine Deus
      Creator coeli et terrae
      respice humilitatem nostram

English translation:
      I have never put my hope in any other but in you,
      O God of Israel
      who can show both anger
      and graciousness,
      and who absolves all the sins of suffering man
      Lord God,
      Creator of Heaven and Earth
      be mindful of our humiliation

English contrafactum
Sung at the 1610 investiture of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales:

      Sing and glorify heaven’s high Majesty,
      Author of this blessed harmony;

      Sound divine praises
      With melodious graces;
      This is the day, holy day, happy day, 

      For ever give it greeting,
      Love and joy, heart and voice meeting:
      Live Henry princely and mighty,
      Harry live in thy creation happy.

      Thomas Tallis, "Spem In Allium"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spem_in_alium

                 A 1611 letter written by the law student 
                 Thomas Wateridge contains the following anecdote:

                 In Queene Elizabeths time there was a songe 
                 sent into England of 30 parts (whence the 
                 Italians obteyned the name to be called the 
                 Apices of the world) which beeinge songe 
                 mad[e] a heavenly Harmony. The Duke of — 
                 bearing a great love to Musicke asked whether 
                 none of our English men could sett as good a 
                 songe, & Tallice beinge very skillfull was felt to 
                 try whether he would undertake the Matter, 
                 which he did and mad[e] one of 40 p[ar]ts which 
                 was songe in the longe gallery at Arundell house 
                 which so farre surpassed the other th[a]t the 
                 Duke hearinge of the songe tooke his chayne 
                 of gold from of his necke & putt yt about 
                 Tallice his necke & gave yt him.
                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spem_in_alium

      Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) - A short biography

      Despite his stature as one of the great composers of English 
      sacred music, little is known about the personality of English 
      composer Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505 - 1585). The last two 
      lines of his epitaph - "As he did live, so also did he die, in 
      mild and quiet sort (O happy man!); To God full oft for 
      mercy did he cry, wherefore he lives, let death do what it 
      can." - allude to a quiet, pious man, but little else.

      Tallis' music, however, suggests much more. The 
      composer lived in an England whose political and religious 
      landscape was much more volatile than that of its 21st century 
      counterpart. As monarchs changed - and Thomas Tallis saw 
      four of them - so did the national faith. The pendulum swung 
      from Catholic to Protestant to Catholic, and back to Protestant 
      again. Both religions claimed numerous martyrs in defence 
      of the "One True Faith;" kings and queens demanded 
      different loyalties. And they also demanded liturgical music 
      to fit the prevailing order of the day. Thus at least two 
      conclusions can be drawn, reliably, about Tallis' personality 
      from his work: first and most obvious, his creativity, and second, 
      his adaptability. His output, for the most part, did not display the 
      floridity of composers like Cornysh; nor did he compose much 
      in the way of madrigals or other secular music; his music 
      demonstrated more restraint than the exuberance of his pupil 
      Byrd. Much of Tallis' work possesses a moody, reflective 
      quality (for example, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Suscipe 
      quaeso, Miserere), but occasionally he could demonstrate 
      supreme technical skill. The best, and most well-known, 
      example may be the 40-part Spem in alium, with its amazing 
      tapestry of voices, but one can also point to pieces such as 
      the giant six-voice antiphon Gaude gloriosa (probably written to 
      honour Queen Mary Tudor) and some of Tallis' intricate keyboard 
      pieces, most notably the two Felix namque settings, displaying 
      a spirit of experimentation wildly at odds with the more reserved 
      nature of much of his music. . . .

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/tallis.html

More to come in part three. . .