Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (; also Tallys or Talles; 23 November 1585) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one of England's greatest composers, and is honoured for his original voice in English musicianship.

Life

Youth

As no records about the birth, family or childhood of Thomas Tallis exist, almost nothing is known about his early life or origins. Historians have calculated that he was born in the early part of the 16th century, towards the end of the reign of Henry VII of England, and estimates for the year of his birth range from 1500 to 1520. His only known relative was a cousin called John Sayer. As the surnames ''Sayer'' and ''Tallis'' both have strong connections with Kent, Thomas Tallis is usually thought to have been born somewhere in the county.

{{cite web, url=http://www.hymnary.org/tune/tallis_canon , title=Tallis's Canon, website=Hymnary.org, access-date=

{{cite web , title=BBC Two - The Tudors, Series 1, Episode 1 , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008187l , website=BBC , access-date=27 January 2019 , date=5 October 2007

Sources

{{refbegin, 2, indent=yes
* {{cite book , last=Ackroyd , first=Peter , author-link=Peter Ackroyd , year=2004 , title=Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination , publisher= Chatto & Windus , location=London , isbn=978-1-85619-721-2 , url=https://archive.org/details/albionoriginsofe0000ackr , url-access=registration
* {{cite journal , last=Cole , first=Suzanne , year=2008a , title=Who is the Father? Changing Perceptions of Tallis and Byrd in Late Nineteenth-Century England , journal= Music and Letters , volume=89 , issue=2 , pages=212–226 , issn=0027-4224 , doi=10.1093/ml/gcm082 , jstor=30162967 , s2cid=162209818 , url=https://academic.oup.com/ml/article-abstract/89/2/212/1098872 , url-access=subscription, doi-access=
* {{cite book , last=Cole , first=Suzanne , year=2008b , title=Thomas Tallis and His Music in Victorian England , publisher= Boydell Press , location=Woodbridge , isbn=978-1-84383-380-2 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=BDsyALVbeJYC
* {{Cite Grove , last1=Doe , first1=Paul , last2=Allinson , first2=David , title=Tallis allys, Talles Thomas , id=27423 , date=2009
* {{cite book , last1=Downes, first1=Kerry , title=Hawksmoor , series=World of Art , year=1987 , publisher= Thames and Hudson , location=London , oclc=472150026
* {{Cite thesis , last=Domingos , first=Nathalia , title=Tradução comentada da primeira parte do tratado A plaine and easie introduction to practicall musicke (1597) de Thomas Morley , publisher=Universidade de Sao Paulo, Agencia USP de Gestao da Informacao Academica (AGUIA) , url=https://doi.org/10.11606/d.27.2012.tde-02122012-185028, date=2012, doi=10.11606/d.27.2012.tde-02122012-185028
* {{cite book , last=Farrell , first=Joseph , year=2001 , title=Latin Language and Latin Culture: From Ancient to Modern Times , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-521-77663-9 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFG1ms7GVCYC
* {{Cite journal , last=Flood , first=W. H. Grattan , date=1924-10-01 , title=New Light on Late Tudor Composers: III. William Mundy , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/911748 , journal=The Musical Times , volume=65 , issue=980 , pages=894–895 , doi=10.2307/911748, jstor=911748 , url-access=subscription
* {{cite magazine , last1=Gatens, title=Tallis: Works, all , magazine=American Record Guide , location=Cincinnati, Ohio , year= 2005 , volume=86 , issue=3 May{{ndashJune , issn=0003-0716
*{{cite book , last=Harley , first=John , year=2015 , title=Thomas Tallis , publisher=Routledge , location=Farnham, UK , isbn=978-1-317-01036-4 , url=https://archive.org/details/thomastallis0000harl/page/n5/mode/2up , url-access=registration
* {{cite book , last=Harley , first=John , url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/531718962 , title=The world of William Byrd: musicians, merchants and magnates , date=2010 , publisher=Ashgate , isbn=978-1-4094-0088-2 , location=Burlington, VT , oclc=531718962
* {{cite journal, last=Harley, first = John, title = Tallis: Patron?, journal = Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, volume = 29, pages = 1–20, year = 1996, doi = 10.1080/14723808.1996.10540941, doi-broken-date = 1 June 2025, url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/royal-musical-association-research-chronicle/article/abs/tallis-patron/4F010578E3F2F76CC203360341067BE1, access-date = 10 April 2025
* {{cite book , last=Holman , first=Peter , author-link=Peter Holman , year=1999 , title=Dowland: Lachrimae (1604) , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-521-58829-4 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=VjBayGMxrjkC
* {{cite journal , last=Knighton , first=Tess , year=2005 , title=Editorial , journal=Early Music , volume=33 , issue=4 , pages=555–556 , doi=10.1093/em/cah148 , url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/8/article/191772
* {{cite book , last1=Lord , first1=Suzanne , year=2003 , title=Music from the Age of Shakespeare: A Cultural History , publisher=Greenwood , location=Westport, Connecticut , isbn=978-0-313-31713-2 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=JLCJLjHoQ2gC
* {{cite book , last=Manderson , first=Desmond , year=2000, title=Songs without Music: Aesthetic Dimensions of Law and Justice , publisher=University of California Press , isbn=978-0-520-92221-1 , url={{googlebooks, plainurl=y, id=xYzr79Fi5JEC
* {{cite book , last=McCarthy , first=Kerry, year=2020, title=Tallis, publisher=Oxford Academic, doi=10.1093/oso/9780190635213.005.0003 , url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190635213.005.0003
* {{cite book , last=McCarthy , first=Kerry , year=2019, title=Early Music, Volume 47, Issue 1, February 2019, publisher=Oxford Academic , doi=10.1093/em/cay080 , url=https://doi.org/10.1093/em/cay080
* {{cite book , last=Milsom , first=John , editor=John Morehen , year=2003 , title=English Choral Practice, 1400-1650 , chapter=Sacred Songs in the Chamber , chapter-url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=miBmE1A8zowC , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-521-54408-5
* {{cite journal , last=Milsom , first=John , year=1988 , title=Tallis's First and Second Thoughts , journal=Journal of the Royal Association , volume=113 , issue=2 , pages=203{{ndash222 , jstor=766359
* {{cite ODNB , first=John , last=Milsom , title=Tallis, Thomas (c.1505–1585) , url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26954 , id=26954 , date=2008
* {{cite journal , last=Phillips , first=Peter , year=2005 , title=Sign of Contradiction: Tallis at 500 , journal= The Musical Times , volume=146 , issue=1891 , pages=7{{ndash15 , doi=10.2307/30044086 , jstor=30044086 , issn=0027-4666
* {{cite book , last=Shrock , first=Dennis , year=2009 , title=Choral Repertoire , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-971662-3 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=xgzYae1n__EC
* {{cite book , last=Schubert , first=Peter , year=2008 , title=Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=9780195331943 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JUYAQAAIAAJ
* {{Cite journal , last=Skinner , first=David , date=2016 , title='Deliuer me from my deceytful ennemies': a Tallis contrafactum in time of war , url=https://academic.oup.com/em/article-abstract/44/2/233/2196912, journal=Oxford Academic , volume=44 , issue=2 , pages= 233–250}, doi=10.1093/em/caw044, url-access=subscription
* {{cite book , last=Steinberg , first=Michael , author-link=Michael Steinberg (music critic) , year=2008 , title=Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-534066-2 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=vZk6DwAAQBAJ
* {{cite book , last=Rimbault , first= Edward F. , author-link=Edward Francis Rimbault , year=1872 , title=The Old Cheque-book: Or Book of Remembrance, of the Chapel Royal, from 1561-1744 , publisher= Camden Society , url=https://archive.org/details/theoldchequebook00camduoft
*{{cite book , last=Thomas, first=Jane Resh , year=1998 , title=Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I , publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , isbn=978-0-395-69120-5 , url={{google books, plainurl=y, id=nSskqOSBkVEC
* {{cite book , last=Walker , first=Ernest , author-link=Ernest Walker (composer) , year=1907 , title=A History of Music in England , publisher=Clarendon Press , location=Oxford , url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmusicin00walkuoft , oclc=869715
* {{cite book , last=Willis , first=Jonathan , year=2016 , title=Church Music and Protestantism in Post-Reformation England: Discourses, Sites and Identities , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-317-16624-5 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrBZ9npRAHEC
{{refend

Further reading

{{refbegin
* {{cite EB1911, wstitle=Tallis, Thomas, volume=26, ref=none
* {{cite journal , last=Collins , first=H. B. , year=1929 , title=Thomas Tallis , journal= Music & Letters , volume=10 , issue=2 , pages=152–166 , doi=10.1093/ml/X.2.152 , jstor=726038 , url=https://academic.oup.com/ml/article-abstract/X/2/152/1242704 , issn=0027-4224 , ref=none , url-access=subscription
* {{cite DNB, wstitle=Tallis, Thomas , volume=55, first=Henry , last=Davey, ref=none
* {{cite thesis , last=Milsom , first=John , date=1983 , title=English Polyphonic Style in Transition: a study of the sacred music of Thomas Tallis , publisher=University of Oxford , oclc=29743412 , url=https://www.diamm.ac.uk/resources/doctoral-dissertations/english-polyphonic-style-transition-study-sacred-music-thomas-tallis/ , ref=none
* {{cite journal , last=Pike , first=Lionel , year=1984 , title=Tallis: Vaughan Williams: Howells: Reflections on Mode Three , journal=Tempo , issue=149 , pages=2–13 , doi=10.1017/S0040298200058496 , jstor=945078 , s2cid=143715625 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/945078 , ref=none , url-access=subscription
{{refend

External links

{{Commons category
* Recordings of church music by Tallis i
Latin
an

from {{ill, Umeå Akademiska Kör , sv
* {{MutopiaComposer, TallisT
* {{DIAMM, pid=194, pname=Thomas Tallis ( registration required to view the digitised images)
* {{ChoralWiki
* {{IMSLP, id=Tallis, Thomas

Image of Tallis's signature
in a book from one of his early places of employment, Waltham Abbey.

Works by Tallis
listed at the EECM Primary Source Database

{{Thomas Tallis, state=open
{{Renaissance music, state=collapsed
{{Portal bar, Classical music, England, Biography, Music
{{Authority control

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallis, Thomas

1500s births
1585 deaths
16th-century English composers
16th-century English musicians
English classical composers of church music
English male classical composers
English Roman Catholics
Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal
English Renaissance composers