Thomas Tallis and his Music in Victorian England

Abstract In the fertile and varied landscape of English choral music, most would agree that Thomas Tallis stands on the loftiest peak. A good performance of, say, the Lamentations or of Spem in Alium will resonate in the mind and heart long after the last sounds have died away, and even the hardened cynic may be inspired by thoughts of timelessness and eternity. A performance in a resonant, darkly-panelled, soaring cathedral with a small number of pure-voiced singers is even better (even though the listener may be aware that this is a nineteenth-century construct). Yet as transcendent as such a presentation may be, in our modern age the sacred basis of the music is seemingly irrelevant, and the works of this ‘Father of English Church Music’ are mostly heard in a concert hall, in recording, or even on YouTube (where a quick glance will reveal hundreds of performantes of various anthems by all manner of ensemble). Is it enough to approach Tallis's works as ‘just very good music’ (p. 1), or can it be that by...