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~ WHO'S WHO ~
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Thomas Tallis (Circa 1510) Thomas
Tallis was an English organist and composer whose career spanned the
reigns of four monarchs and a long period of religious change.
He was organist of Dover Priory in 1532 but moved to London
(Saint Mary-at-Hill) and then to Waltham Abbey, where the excellent
choir and acoustics probably inspired him to compose his early Latin
motets - Ave Dei Patris, Gaude gloriosa, and Salve intemerata - in
the expansive and melismatic style then in favor.
On the dissolution of the abbey, Tallis went to Canterbury
for two years as a lay clerk at the cathedral but soon took up an
appointment at the Chapel Royal, where he remained until his death.
Tallis;
was born about 1510. It is likely that his birth was four or five
years earlier. For in 1577 where Tallis; and Byrd petitioned Queen
Elizabeth for a grand of a lease, Tallis; described himself as
"verie aged", and expression that he was at least 70 at
the time; and it is not unreasonable to assume from this that he
would have been about eighty at the time of his death in 1585. Born
in the opening years of the 16th century he bridges the gap between
Fayrfax and the late Elizabetheans, a period of tremendous musical
change. The name of Tallis, or Tallys, or Talles is uncommon. Robert
Talles or Tallys, died in 1571 and was buried at Islington parish
church. He had relatives living in Leicester and Clement
Tallis, who matriculated at Christ Church Oxford, in 1581 as
"of co. Leic," seems to be the son of his brother
Clement. The name is found at Burton Overy in 1669, when
Henry Tallis ;left a legacy to the poor of that parish. No
connection between these families and the composure's can be proved
on the known facts, yet they suggest that Thomas Tallis; may have
been a native of Leicestershire. On
leaving Waltham Abbey, Tallis went to Canterbury as a ley clerk. He
was appointed as one of the gentlemen of the Royal Court about the
year 1542. He must have been known by King Henry VIII as the Kind
was a frequent visitor to Canterbury. At
the funeral of Henry VIII and the coronation of Edward VI Tallis'
name stands 16th out of 20 of those who recived liveries on those
occasions. In 1557 Tallis and Bowyer jointly were granted by Queen
Mary a lease for 21 years of the manor of Minister in the isle of
Thanet. He also received a gratuity of 40 pounds during the first
year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. The
closing years of Tallis's life seemed to have been spent at
Greenwich, were he owned a house. He was married in 1552, the date
being calculated by his epitaphm. He had no children according to
this source. The surname of his wife was not known. but her
Christian hame was Joan. She survived him. Tallis died at Greenwich
on Nov. 25 1585 and was buried in the parish church of St. Alphege,
just outside the chancel rails. The church has been torn down and
Tallis's tombstone has disappeared. It was reproduced on a memorial
tablet placed in the rebuilt church in 1935 to commemorate the 350th
anniversary of his death. The
will of Tallis (P.C.C. 52 Brudenell) was dated 20 Aug. 1585 and
proved on 29 Nov. of the same year. Joan, his widow, was sole
exuctrix; William Byrd
and Richard Cranwell, also of the Chapel Royal and the inimate
friends of Tallis, were his "overseers". Byrd was one of
the witnesses. The will provides no clue to his family history
except that he had a cousin in Thanet named John Sayer. He left his
share of the printing-licence to his godson Thomas Byrd, the
composer's son. Mrs.
Tallis died in 1589 and was buried in her husband's grave. Her will
(P.C.C. 54 Leicester) is chiefly interesting as containing a
very full list of furniture and other personal property. Tallis
had been called "the Father of English Cathedral music".
He was among the first composers who wrote music to English words
for use with the English rites of the church. It must have been very
soon after the publication of "The Booke of Common Praier
noted", in which Marbeck had provided a standard version of the
plainsong for the English Preces, Responses and Litany, that Tallis,
as Hawkins describes it, "added three parts" to the
plainsong, making a version in four-part harmony, and Hawkins was
probably referring here to Tallis's four-part setting. For
more information on Thomas Tallis visit the Classical
Composers Database
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