Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 23 November 1585) was an English composer who occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. He is considered one of England's greatest composers, and he is honoured for his original voice in English musicianship. No contemporaneous portrait of Tallis survives; the one painted by Gerard Vandergucht dates from 150 years after Tallis died, and there is no reason to suppose that it is a likeness. In a rare existing copy of his blackletter signature, he spelled his name "Tallys". Little is known about Tallis' early life. He was born in the early 16th century toward the end of Henry VII's reign. The name "Tallis" is derived from the French word taillis, which means a "thicket." There are suggestions that he was a child of the chapel (boy chorister) of the Chapel Royal, the same singing establishment which he joined as an adult. Tallis' first known musical appointment was in 1532 as organist of Dover Priory (now Dover College), a Benedictine priory in Kent. His career took him to London, then to Waltham Abbey in the autumn of 1538, a large Augustinian monastery in Essex which was dissolved in 1540. He was paid off and acquired a book about music that contained a treatis by Leonel Power which prohibits consecutive unisons, fifths, and octaves. Tallis served at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent Tallis's next post was at Canterbury Cathedral. He was sent to Court as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1543, where he composed and performed for Henry VIII, Edward VI (1547–53), Mary I (1553–58), and Elizabeth I, until he died in 1585. Tallis avoided the religious controversies that raged around him throughout his service to successive monarchs, though he remained an "unreformed Roman Catholic", in the words of Peter Ackroyd. Tallis was capable of switching the style of his compositions to suit the different monarchs' vastly different demands. He stood out among other important composers of the time, including Christopher Tye and Robert White. Walker observes that "he had more versatility of style" than Tye and White, and "his general handling of his material was more consistently easy and certain." Tallis was also a teacher of William Byrd and of Elway Bevin, an organist of Bristol Cathedral and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Tallis married around 1552, and his wife Joan outlived him by four years. They apparently had no children. Late in his life, he lived in Greenwich, possibly close to the royal palace; tradition holds that he lived on Stockwell Street. Work with William Byrd Tallis's pupil William Byrd (1543–1623) Queen Mary granted Tallis a lease on a manor in Kent which provided a comfortable annual income. In 1575, Queen Elizabeth granted him and William Byrd a 21-year monopoly for polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish music, which was one of the first arrangements of that type in the country. Tallis's monopoly covered "set songe or songes in parts", and he composed in English, Latin, French, Italian, and other languages, as long as they served for music in the church or chamber. Tallis had exclusive rights to print any music in any language, and he and Byrd were the only ones allowed to use the paper that was used in printing music. They used their monopoly to produce Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur in 1575, but the collection did not sell well and they appealed to Queen Elizabeth for her support. People were naturally wary of their new publications, and it did not help that they were both avowed Roman Catholics. They were also forbidden to sell any imported music. Lord points out that they were not given "the rights to music type fonts, printing patents were not under their command, and they didn't actually own a printing press." Tallis retained respect during a time of religious and political upheaval, and he avoided the violence which claimed Catholics and Protestants alike.