Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (1505 - 1585) was a British sacred choral composer during a fraught century of religious upheaval brought about by the Reformation and Henry VIII's abolishment of he Roman Catholic Rite. Such was Tallis's musical facility that not only did he prosper during these difficult times but he also managed to transcend the religious schism which ruined the careers (and lives) of many of his contemporaries.

Tallis was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VII, Mary and Elizabeth I and his musial style reflects the changing fortunes of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in England during this period. Such was Tallis's success that he established a monopoly, with his younger contemporary William Byrd, of the printing of polyphonic music during the reign of Elizabeth I. Tallis has had an incalcuable effect on English composers over the subsequent centuries.

Key Works: Gaude gloriosa, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Spem in alium, Why fum'th in fight (used in Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis)

Key Artists: Choir of New College Oxford, King's College Cambridge Choir, Oxford Camerata, Tallis Scholars, Taverner Consort