Thomas Tallis (1505 – 1585)

“So great a musician are you.....that if the Fates carried you
off.....music would be mute.” So wrote a contemporary of Thomas
Tallis, showing us just how highly this composer was regarded in
his own time. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod traces
the career of Tallis, unquestionably one of England's greatest
ever composers. We follow him from the early faint mentions of
the composer in Dover Priory, to his 40-plus years serving four
successive monarchs as part of the Chapel Royal, and through the
upheaval of one of the most tumultuous periods in all of English
history.


O Sacrum Convivium Lamentations of Jeremiah I & II Euge celi
porta Alleluia. Per te Dei genitrix Ave, rosa sine spinis When
shall my sorrowful sighing slack Sequence: Celeste Organum -
Agnus Dei Magnificat for 4 voices Salve Intemerata Mass for four
Voices Magnificat for 5 voices 5 part Litany Sancte Deus Hodie
nobis caelorum Videte Miraculum for Vespers on Purification of
Virgin Mary Remember not, O Lord God Te Deum for Meanes If Ye
Love Me A New Commandment Gaude Gloriosa In nominee II Mass: Puer
natus est nobis – Agnus Dei Archbishop Parker’s Psalter: O Come
in One to Praise the Lord; E’en like the Hunted Hind; Expend, O
Lord, my Plaint; Why Brag’st in Malice High ; God Grant with
Grace Psalm 2, the third of 9 tunes for Archbishop Parker’s
psalter “Why Fum’th In Fight” Suscipe quaeso domine My Soul
Cleaveth to the Dust O Nata Lux (arr. Christian Forshaw) Spem in
alium Cantiones Sacrae - Salvator Mundi I; Derelinquit impius;
Semone blando angelus; In ieiunio Miserere nostri


Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Sam Phillips


For full track listings, including artist and recording details,
and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after
broadcast) head to the series page for Thomas Tallis (1505 –
1585) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001h57j


And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve
featured on Composer of the Week here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z