Tallis, Thomas

(? 1510-1585)

 English organist and composer, called the father of English cathedral music.

He was organist of Waltham Abbey before the dissolution of that monastery in 1540. About 1542 he was appointed Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and he served during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. He was joint organist with his pupil William Byrd.

In 1575 Tallis and Byrd obtained a monopoly from Elizabeth of printing music, and they published a joint work dedicated to the Queen, the Cantiones Sacrae, which contained 16 motets by Tallis and 18 by Byrd. Among his most famous works is the motet Spem in Alium, written for 8 five-part choirs, which shows amazing contrapuntal dexterity in presenting first 20 voices, then the other 20 singing different material, before combining all 40 parts together.

Another major work is two settings from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which show the rich harmony and expressive dissonance characteristic of English church music of this period, as well as providing early examples of modulation, showing the emerging use of harmonic progression as a way of structuring large-scale works.

Tallis also composed organ music, and some of his keyboard music survives in the collection known as The Mulliner Book (? 1560).