Early works and Gaude Gloriosa The earliest surviving works by Tallis are
Alleluia: Ora pro nobis,
Euge Caeli Porta,
Magnificat for four voices, and three devotional
antiphons to the
Virgin Mary:
Salve intemerata, a precocious work of Tallis, with the oldest manuscript dating to the 1520s (London, British Library, Ms. Harley 1709);
Ave Dei Patris filia; and
Ave rosa sine spinis. Votive antiphons were sung in the evening after the
last service of the day. Tallis' early output is composed entirely in the
English Votive Style that was cultivated in England from the 1470s to the 1540s. Tallis used antiphons composed by
John Taverner and
Robert Fayrfax as models for composing his own antiphons. Taverner in particular is
quoted in
Salve intemerata, and
Dum transisset sabbatum. Characteristics of the votive style, such as high, sustained treble lines and lengthy solo verses, were just beginning to be supplanted by the more succinct phrasing of continental traditions by the 1530s, making
Missa Salve Intemerata (Tallis' first of three complete masses, and his only
parody mass to be completed) more modern in technique than the antiphon from which it is derived.
Gaude gloriosa Dei mater was previously thought to have been one of many revivalist votive antiphons composed in honour of
Queen Mary I, in a similar vein to William Mundy's
Vox Patris caelestis. This is due to
Gaude gloriosa being more advanced than the rest of Tallis' early output, indicating the work of an older, more mature composer. However,
Gaude gloriosa's dating was revised after renovations at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1978 revealed earlier fragments of
Gaude gloriosa that use an English text translated by
Queen Katherine Parr. This means the antiphon was likely composed in the 1540s, or even earlier, with its original Latin text referencing the "Gaude" Window in the west transept of Canterbury Cathedral. The cathedral was Tallis' previous workplace before his appointment to the Chapel Royal. It was only after becoming a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal that Tallis received his commission for
Gaude gloriosa's English
contrafactum,
Se Lord and behold, which was intended for use in
Henry VIII's French campaign and the capture of
Boulogne in 1544. At Canterbury Cathedral, Thomas Tallis was caught between
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's push for reform, and resistance from the more conservative members of the cathedral's chapter.
Music under Edward VI and Mary I The reformed Anglican liturgy was inaugurated during the short reign of
Edward VI (1547–53), and Tallis began to write anthems set to English words, as well as
services for the
Book of Common Prayer. Tallis' English setting for the
Benedictus stylistically dates from this period, although it remained in use as Byrd quoted Tallis' "which hath bene since the world began" melody in his own
Great Service. Tallis' famous
If ye love me certainly dates from the reign of Edward VI, as the
Wanley Partbook of 1549-1552 is the earliest source for the anthem.
Queen Mary set about undoing some of the religious reforms of the preceding decades, following her accession in 1553. Mary restored the
Sarum Rite, and the compositional style of the Chapel Royal reverted to the votive style prevalent early in the century, albeit in a form even more steeped in continental practices than that emerging in the 1530s. The marriage between Mary and
Prince Philip of Spain allowed for a new artistic exchange between England and Spain.
Philip's chapel choir accompanied him to England in 1554. Therefore, Tallis was exposed to visiting continental composers, as evident in
Suscipe quaeso Domine, which i
s a non-liturgical 7-voice motet composed to celebrate the end of the
English schism.
Suscipe quaeso is written in a low-pitched Flemish style to suit the singing tradition of Philip's choir.
Loquebantur variis linguis and
Miserere nostri have the same 7-voice-scoring, meaning that they were also composed with Philip's singers in mind. with its use of multiple
augmentative prolations. Missa Puer natus est nobis, likely composed in December 1554 for the both chapel choirs, is more conservative in that it is composed around a festive
cantus firmus "
Puer natus est nobis" that alludes to the birth of a boy for England. Queen Mary believed she was pregnant from 1554-1555, and that the Catholic succession was to be secured, hence the large, celebratory scale of
Missa Puer natus. The mass has characteristics of the English votive style, such as
cross-relations, yet the mass also has characteristics of the
Flemish tradition. Following Elizabeth's accession, the
Act of Uniformity abolished the Roman Liturgy and firmly established the
Book of Common Prayer. Composers resumed writing English anthems, although the practice continued of setting Latin texts among composers employed by Elizabeth's Chapel Royal. Tallis' better-known works from the Elizabethan years that employ this method include his settings of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet for the
Holy Week, the motet
O nata lux, and
Spem in alium. Spem in alium is written for eight five-voice choirs, and is thought to have been commissioned by the Earl of Arundel upon hearing a secret performance of
Alessandro Striggio's
Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno or his 40-part motet,
Ecce beatam lucem.
Spem in alium takes its text from the apocryphal
Book of Judith that concerns the slaying of
Holofernes in order to save
Israel. Milsom proposes the notion that the Arundel or the Duke of Norfolk, both of whom had Catholic leanings, with the latter implicated in the
Ridolfi plot, might have commissioned the motet for a text that has covert political meaning, as an allegory for an eventual
assassination of Elizabeth. Despite the allegorical association, and
Spem in alium appearing in the
Nonsuch palace catalogue for its presumed performance with Arundel and Norfolk in attendance, there is no evidence that Tallis was involved in the plot himself.
Spem in alium has unique numerology: there are 40 voices for
40 days of Christ in the Desert, and the motet's length of 69
'longs' adds up to T-A-L-L-I-S in Latin letters.
Late Elizabethan Works Toward the end of his life, Tallis continued to innovate. Two large-scale keyboard works,
Felix namque I and
Felix namque II, can be found in the
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (FVB 109 & FVB 110) and are composed in a virtuosic manner unparalleled by any other European keyboard tradition of the period. Tallis' secular output increased towards the end of his compositional career, as he produced two
In Nomines, a
Fantasy, a
Solfing Song (
Ut-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol), one keyboard
Lesson in Two Parts (also attrib.
John Bull) and English songs such as
When shall my sorrowful sighing slack? The latter was popular enough to appear in English and Scottish sources.
O sacrum convivium and
Salvator mundi may also have been written as secular fantasias for
viols before being given liturgical texts for the
1575 Cantiones sacrae. In the Baldwin Partbooks, two psalm settings survive from Tallis:
Domine quis habitabit and
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes.
Domine quis habitabit is the longer of the two, and is written in the Flemish style.
Laudate Dominum, while shorter, is written in a more sprung, lively Elizabethan style.
Laudate Dominum made an impression on the young William Byrd, who used the motet as a model for his own
Laudate pueri. Tallis was willing to draw upon his experience in adopting Flemish influences, while also retaining English character in his music through the use of
English cadences. to reflect the sorrowful nature of the Lenten text.
Derelinquat impius is simply bizarre in that it defies any initial tonal centre. Continuous peregrinations and eccentric seventh intervals at every "misericors est" convey the waywardness of the wicked in the text. ==Legacy==