44
HEARE THE
VOYCE AND
PRAYER
SPEM IN ALIUM (c. 1570), THOMAS TALLIS
T
he composition of the great
40-voice motet Spem in
alium by Thomas Tallis
marked a pinnacle of early English
Renaissance choral music and
was an inspired response to a
continental challenge. In 1567, the
composer Alessandro Striggio had
arrived in England on a diplomaticA chapel choir sings from sheet
music displayed on a lectern in the
frontispiece of Practica musicae by
the Italian music theorist Franchini
di Gaffurio, published in 1512.IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Large-scale choral musicBEFORE
c. 1500 French composer
Antoine Brumel writes a
Mass in 12 parts, Missa Et
ecce terrae motus, known
as the “Earthquake Mass.”1568 A lessa ndro Striggio’s
motet Ecce beatam lucem for
40 voices with instruments
is performed in Munich.AFTER
1682 Heinrich Biber composes
his Missa Salisburgensis in 53
parts arranged in six choirs of
singers, strings, recorders,
cornetts, and sackbuts, with
two ensembles of trumpets
and timpani, and at least
two organs—probably the
largest work in the Colossal
Baroque style, the name
given to large-scale, poly-
choral works.mission from the Medici court in
Florence, bringing with him the
parts for his recent compositions
for 40 or more independent voices.
These were musical manifestations
of influence and power, and some
wondered what the result might
be if an English composer were
to attempt such a composition.
They turned to Tallis, who had
been the foremost court composer
under four monarchs—Henry VIII,
Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.
Tallis’s Roman Catholic patron,
Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of
Norfolk, commissioned the work.A long choral tradition
The English had long excelled
at choral music. In the 15th century,
John Dunstable established the
contenance angloise (“English
manner”), a distinctive, richly
harmonic polyphonic style.
Flemish music theorist Johannes
Tinctoris described Dunstable
as “the fountain and source” of
musical innovation.
A generation before Tallis,
Robert Fayrfax was the leading
English composer and a favorite
of Henry VIII. He was the organist
and Master of the Choristers at
St. Albans Abbey from 1498 to 1502US_044-045_Thomas_Tallis.indd 44 26/03/18 1:00 PM