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5 unusual facts about Thomas Tallis


Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School

The school has an 8-part choir, typically performing choral works ranging from the early works of Thomas Tallis through Joseph Haydn's Insanae et Vanae Curae to the recent works of composers such as John Tavener.

Donald Loach

These included masses by Josquin des Prez and Cipriano De Rore, Thomas Tallis's "Lamentation of Jeremiah," and many secular pieces.

Joe Van Moyland

Bernays has appeared in a number of television shows, most notably in The Tudors, where he played the famous composer Thomas Tallis.

Tosin Oke

After just under 2 years, he returned to London to attend Christ's College, a private School in Blackheath, followed by A-levels at Thomas Tallis sixth form.

Watkins Shaw

His interests and publications focused on what is now termed early music, in Shaw's case roughly from Thomas Tallis to Samuel Sebastian Wesley, with major interests being John Blow, Henry Purcell and Georg Frideric Handel.


All Saints' Church, Ryde

Music sung ranges from Tallis and Byrd to more modern composers - communion settings by Kenneth Leighton and Grayston Ives and anthems by Malcolm Archer, Colin Mawby, Alan Ridout and Paul Edwards.

Anglican chant

The earliest known examples are single chants, dating from the late 16th century, written by Thomas Tallis and his contemporaries, so it seems likely that Anglican chant was devised by them to provide musical settings for the English-language version of the psalter translated by Coverdale, as published in the then new Book of Common Prayer.

Else Torp

She is a member of Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices, with whom she sings ancient and baroque works of composers such as Abelard, Lassus, Tallis, and Schütz as well as contemporary creations such as by Cage, Stockhausen, and Pärt.

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Tallis's original tune is in the Phrygian mode and was one of nine he contributed to the Psalter of 1567 for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker.

Matthew Parker

He was not an inspiring leader and no dogma or prayer-book is associated with his name, however, the English composer Thomas Tallis contributed Nine Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter which bears his name.

Miroslav Venhoda

These discs, mostly for the Supraphon label, included a great many world premiere recordings of composers such as Dufay, Ockeghem, Obrecht, and Jacobus Gallus, as well as of more frequently performed masters such as Palestrina, Lassus, Monteverdi, Dowland, Tallis, and Orlando Gibbons.

Nonsuch Palace

It was within one of these towers that the premiere of Thomas Tallis' masterwork, Spem in alium, was perhaps performed.

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington

While firmly based on Gregorian chant, the choir sings a wide repertoire range from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd to George Frideric Handel, Herbert Howells, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, Ildebrando Pizzetti, James MacMillan and many other composers including occasional commissioned contemporary works.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

It was the 4th Duke of Norfolk who commissioned Thomas Tallis, probably in 1567, to compose his renowned motet in forty voice-parts, Spem in alium.


see also

Arthur Henry Mann

In 1888, he published his own edition of Thomas Tallis's Spem in alium.