55-550: Signum Records , also known as Signum Classics , is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis . The artists for the Tallis recording were the Chapelle du Roi, an ensemble of ten singers founded in 1994 by Alistair Dixon, also co-founder of the record label. The other fifty percent of
110-668: A chapter house joined to the church's transept 's north wall, and about an eighth was a refectory . It had an impressive scriptorium and library which vanished from the records at the Dissolution - parts of it re-appeared on the open market later and are now in colleges of the University of Cambridge , including the Dover Bible (one of only six surviving giant Romanesque Bibles) in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi . In 1538 it
165-470: A comfortable annual income. He was present at her funeral on 13 December 1558 and at the coronation of Elizabeth I the following month. Tallis was an eminent figure in Elizabeth's household chapel, but as he aged he became gradually less prominent. In 1575, Elizabeth granted Tallis and Byrd a 21-year monopoly for polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish "set songe or songes in parts", one of
220-508: A pretext, he persuaded Henry I to give him a charter allowing him to transfer their assets to a new Priory of St Martin in Dover, whilst leaving their Market Square church to be used as the principal parish church of the town for the use of the townsfolk. The parish church remained dedicated to St Martin - the new priory was called "St. Martin's of the New Work", or "Newark", to distinguish it from
275-588: A private school at Westmount, in Folkestone Road, leased part of the Priory buildings for a private school. He passed on his interest, however, to a group of leading citizens in Dover who had formed the Dover College Company to promote the foundation of a public school on what remained of the Priory site with the dual intention of providing a public school education for local boys and of using and thus preserving
330-457: Is considered one of England's greatest composers, and is honoured for his original voice in English musicianship. 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
385-442: Is sung to one pitch, as his instructions make clear for the setting of the 1544 English Litany . As a result, the writing of Tallis and his contemporaries became less florid. Tallis' Mass for Four Voices is marked with a syllabic and chordal style emphasising chords, and a diminished use of melisma . He provides a rhythmic variety and differentiation of moods depending on the meaning of his texts. Tallis' early works also suggest
440-752: The King's Commissioner sent to assess it by Thomas Cromwell (just prior to its dissolution) described it to him in a letter as "the fairest church in all that quarter of Kent." It was probably three times as long as St. Mary's Church in Dover, with a general plan perhaps comparable to Repton Priory , or to the Cistercian Stanley Abbey in Wiltshire . Its tower would have stood almost at the present junction of Effingham and Saxon Streets. Of its estimated area of about 25,000 square feet (2,300 m ), about 110 feet (34 m) square of this were its cloisters , with
495-588: The 1575 publication, Tallis is thought to have ceased active composition, as no works from these final years survive. Late in his life, Tallis lived in Greenwich , possibly close to the royal Palace of Placentia ; tradition holds that he lived on Stockwell Street. He was recorded as a member of Elizabeth I's household in June 1585, and wrote his will in August that year. He died in his house in Greenwich on 20 or 23 November;
550-604: The 2007 Showtime television series The Tudors . Dover Priory The Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark , commonly called Dover Priory , was a priory at Dover in southeast England. It was variously independent in rule, then occupied by canons regular of the Augustinian rule, then finally monks of the Benedictine rule as a cell of Christchurch Monastery, Canterbury . The priory
605-516: The Castle church, which had been their original Saxon home, was in some sense a Royal Chapel, the canons had always been a Royal peculiar , outside any episcopal control and only recognising the authority of the King , and later the Pope . The then Archbishop of Canterbury , William de Corbeil , wanted to bring an end to this and extend his influence to Dover. Therefore, in 1130, using the canons' behaviour as
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#1732876368246660-500: The Chapel Royal probably began in 1543. His name appears on a 1544 lay subsidy roll and is listed in a later document. It is possible that he was connected with the court when at St Mary-at-Hill, since in 1577 Tallis claimed to have "served yo[u]r Ma[jes]tie and yo[u]r Royall ancestors these fortie yeres". He may have been responsible for teaching the boys of the choir keyboard and composition. Around 1552, Tallis married, probably for
715-538: The Chapel Royal. No record of Tallis exists before 1531, when he is named in the accounts of the Kent Benedictine house Dover Priory . He was employed there as the organist , responsible for directing chants from the organ A "Thomas Tales" is named as the " joculator organorum " at the priory and received an annual payment of £2. The priory was dissolved in 1535, but there is no surviving record of Tallis's departure. Tallis's whereabouts are not known for
770-458: The Cinque Ports in August 1839, a grand fete was held in the Priory meadow. Much of the buildings were demolished during the first half of the 19th century, including the two barns, one in the north-west corner of the grounds some time after 1850, and one in the south-west corner in 1868. In 1840 the Priory site's owner (a farmer called John Coleman) the south-eastern parts of the enclosed site
825-553: The Priory's remaining ancient buildings. Dover College opened modestly in 1871. It acquired the large hall, or guest-house, in 1879 and converted it into a chapel for the school by enlarging the east end into an apse. In time, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners made over the whole property to the College Trustees. The Strangers' Refectory was restored and an important but damaged fresco was found there. The gatehouse
880-465: The Saxon church of St Mary de Castro there. Taking their existing rights and privileges with them, these canons were transferred to a new small church dedicated to St Martin in the land now occupied by Market Square towards the end of the 7th century, by King Wihtred in fulfilment of a vow to that saint. Their living was dependent on land and tithe grants, and the grant of half of some of the dues levied at
935-581: The Virgin Mary, Salve intemerata virgo and Ave rosa sine spinis , which were sung in the evening after the last service of the day; they were cultivated in England at least until the early 1540s. Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 and the rise of Thomas Cranmer noticeably influenced the style of music being written. Cranmer recommended a syllabic style of music where each syllable
990-466: The Year. This article about a United Kingdom record label is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis ( c. 1505 – 23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles ) 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
1045-468: The abbot, whose London home was near to St Mary-at-Hill. At Waltham, Tallis became a senior member. When the abbey, too, was dissolved in March 1540, Tallis left without receiving a pension (since he had only recently been employed there), and was instead given a one-off payment of 40 shillings . He took away a volume of musical treatises copied by John Wylde, once a preceptor at Waltham. Among its contents
1100-568: The buildings in about 1140 and in 1143 confirmed the transfer of the assets of St Martin le Grand and established that thereafter the new priory would follow the Benedictine Rule and remain in possession of the Cathedral church at Canterbury as a mere "cell", at the disposition of the Archbishop . Much controversy thus ensued over the following two centuries between the monks of the cathedral and
1155-449: The canons of Dover Priory. King Stephen was said to have died on a journey whilst staying at the Priory in 1154. Repaired and extended in 1231 after much damage in a fire of 1201, it was pillaged by the French in a raid in August 1295, during which a monk called Thomas de la Hale was murdered. Extensive repairs were made in the 1480s. The abbey's church seems to have been a very large one -
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#17328763682461210-462: The chapel after 1570, although he would have been employed as an organist throughout his career. He avoided the religious controversies that raged around him throughout his service to successive monarchs, though he remained, in the words of the historian Peter Ackroyd , an "unreformed Roman Catholic". Tallis was capable of switching the style of his compositions to suit each monarch's different demands. He stood out among other important composers of
1265-620: The church, was recorded by the English clergyman John Strype in his 1720 edition of John Stow 's Survey of London Entered here doth ly a worthy wyght, Who for long tyme in musick bore the bell: His name to shew, was THOMAS TALLYS hyght, In honest virtuous lyff he dyd excell. He serv'd long tyme in chappel with grete prayse Fower sovereygnes reygnes (a thing not often seen); I meane Kyng Henry and Prynce Edward's dayes, Quene Mary, and Elizabeth oure Quene. He mary'd was, though children he had none, And lyv'd in love full thre and thirty yeres Wyth loyal spowse, whose name yclypt
1320-613: The company was held by Floating Earth sound engineers. Since the Tallis project the label has grown to host many well-known UK ensembles, including The Kings Singers , the Philharmonia Orchestra , the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge , Huddersfield Choral Society , Charivari Agreable, Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short, Voces8 , Cantabile and the choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal , who record at St James's Palace , London. In 2017 they were named Gramophone Magazine 's Label of
1375-421: The different dates are from a register and the Chapel Royal. He was buried in the chancel of St Alfege Church, Greenwich . A brass memorial plate placed there after the death of his wife (but before the death of Elizabeth (ONDB)) is now lost. His remains may have been discarded by labourers during the 1710s, when the church was rebuilt. His epitaph on a brass plaque , lost in the subsequent rebuilding of
1430-536: The first arrangements of its kind in England. Tallis composed in English , Latin , French , Italian , and other languages. He had exclusive rights to print any music in any language, and he and Byrd had sole use of the paper used in printing music. Amongst the collection of works they produced using their monopoly was the 1575 Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur , but it did not sell well and they were forced to appeal to Elizabeth for support. People were wary of
1485-521: The first time, to Joan the widow of a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Like many other members of the royal household choir, Tallis and his wife lived in Greenwich , although it is not known if he ever owned his house there. He probably rented a house, by tradition in Stockwell Street. There seem to have been no children of the marriage. Queen Mary I granted Tallis a lease on a manor in Kent which provided
1540-408: The gate-house, the refectory and a large hall still standing. Fishermen speaking in court in 1565, said that they had in the past taken their tithes of fish to the Priory "whiles it stood". These buildings were adapted to agricultural use (apart from the 'large hall', which might have been used to house guests). The town records (the new poor law demanded that vagrants be rounded up periodically by
1595-446: The influence of John Taverner and Robert Fayrfax . Taverner in particular is quoted in Salve intemerata virgo , and his later work, Dum transisset sabbatum . The reformed Anglican liturgy was inaugurated during the short reign of Edward VI (1547–53), and Tallis was one of the first church musicians to write anthems set to English words, although Latin continued to be used alongside
1650-462: The introit for the third Mass for Christmas Day may have been sung at Christmas 1554 when Mary believed that she was pregnant with a male heir. These pieces were intended to exalt the image of the Queen, as well as to praise the Virgin Mary. Some of Tallis's works were compiled by Thomas Mulliner in a manuscript copybook called The Mulliner Book before Queen Elizabeth's reign, and may have been used by
1705-520: The life of the town first came to Dover with the express purpose of exploiting the lands and tithes of this and other suppressed religious houses of the area. Illustrations from the 18th and early 19th centuries of the Priory Farm show its decaying Norman buildings and its two ponds as a picturesque ruin and a pleasant spot on the edge of the town. Upon the Duke of Wellington 's installation as Lord Warden of
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1760-697: The many families that sang sacred polyphony at home. Tallis's better-known works from the Elizabethan years include his settings of the Lamentations (of Jeremiah the Prophet) for the Holy Week services and the unique motet Spem in alium written for eight five-voice choirs, for which he is most remembered. He also produced compositions for other monarchs, and several of his anthems written in Edward's reign are judged to be on
1815-430: The mayor and his officers for questioning and then usually ejected from the town) show that one of these buildings, known as the "Priory Barn", was frequently used as a refuge for vagrants , particularly at times of poor harvests, plague and low employment such as the 1590s and 1620s. This may have been because of a folk memory of a time when the Priory, like other religious houses, was a place of refuge and hospitality for
1870-452: The medieval buildings for use by its pupils. The 12th-century Strangers' Refectory on Effingham Street retains its function and is also used for concerts; the gateway to the priory is now the college archives and the priory guesthouse has been consecrated as the school chapel. In the early 7th century, a community of 22 secular canons was instituted in the Saxon burgh at Dover Castle by King Eadbald of Kent (616-640), possibly related to
1925-402: The new publications, the sale of which was not helped by both men being Roman Catholics . As Catholics, Byrd and Tallis were forbidden to sell imported music, and were refused any rights to music fonts , or printing patents not under their command. They lacked their own printing press. A second petition in 1577 resulted in the grant of a joint lease of crown lands to the two composers. After
1980-550: The one painted by Gerard Vandergucht dates from 150 years after the composer's death, and there is no reason to suppose that it is a fair likeness. In a rare existing copy of his blackletter signature, he spelled his name "Tallys". In 1971, the Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke opened, a mixed comprehensive school named after the composer. A fictionalised version of Thomas Tallis was portrayed by Joe Van Moyland in
2035-519: The parish church - and under the new Priory's control (its few remains can now be seen on the western side of Market Square, near Dover Museum .) A site having been secured (probably from land that belonged to the former canons of St. Martin's le Grand), building began there in 1131, and within five years it was partially occupied by 12 canons regular as a Priory dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Martin. Archbishop Theobald completed
2090-564: The poor. Its lands were granted first to a cleric called Richard Thornden or Thornton, but passed on shortly afterwards to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer when Thornton received an important benefice . In December 1538, Cranmer leased them out to Henry Bingham of Wingham , gentleman, on a 999-year lease, who then (as the Archbishop had always done when the monastery was still active) in turn leased them out to others. Probably some active, entrepreneurial men who were later to become very influential in
2145-516: The port, held in common. The original small church at Market Square was granted to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux upon the Norman Conquest . He rebuilt it on a grander scale, probably on or near the same site, and so was henceforth known as St. Martin's Le Grand (the Great). It was built above the much earlier foundations of Roman baths , with its churchyard covering most of the present Market Square. Since
2200-626: The queen herself when she was younger. Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister in 1558, and the Act of Uniformity abolished the Roman Liturgy and firmly established the Book of Common Prayer . Composers resumed writing English anthems, although the practice continued of setting Latin texts among composers employed by Elizabeth's Chapel Royal. The religious authorities at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, being Protestant, tended to discourage polyphony in church unless
2255-434: The reredorter, and Saxon Street and the houses and gardens of the north side of St. Martin's Hill along what was once the nave of the church. From c.1840 to 1868, the local timber merchant Steriker Finnis leased or owned the western portion of the site. In 1868 the ponds were drained and this portion of the grounds became Priory Gate Road and part of the yard of Dover Priory railway station . In 1869 Robert Chignell, who had
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2310-494: The same level as his Elizabethan works, such as " If Ye Love Me ". Records are incomplete on his works from previous periods; 11 of his 18 Latin-texted pieces from Elizabeth's reign were published, "which ensured their survival in a way not available to the earlier material". Toward the end of his life, Tallis resisted the musical development seen in his younger contemporaries such as Byrd, who embraced compositional complexity and adopted texts of disparate biblical extracts. Tallis
2365-556: The several months after this until mention is made of his being employed at St Mary-at-Hill in London's Billingsgate ward. Records show he was paid four half-yearly payments from 1536 to 1538, with the last payment being specified for services—as either a singer or an organist—for the year up to 25 March 1538. Towards the end of 1538 Tallis moved to a large Augustinian monastery, Waltham Abbey in Essex , after he had come into contact with
2420-409: The time, including Christopher Tye and Robert White . The author and composer Ernest Walker wrote 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 taught the composer William Byrd , as later associated with Lincoln Cathedral ; as also Elway Bevin, an organist of Bristol Cathedral and Gentleman of
2475-485: The tunes, a setting of Psalm 67 , became known as "Tallis's Canon". A version of it published by Thomas Ravenscroft was used as the tune for Thomas Ken 's hymn "All praise to thee, my God, this night", and it has become his best-known composition. The Injunctions, however, also allowed a more elaborate piece of music to be sung in church at certain times of the day, and many of Tallis's more complex Elizabethan anthems may have been sung in this context, or alternatively by
2530-560: The vernacular. Queen Mary set about undoing some of the religious reforms of the preceding decades, following her accession in 1553. She restored the Sarum Rite , and compositional style reverted to the elaborate writing prevalent early in the century. Two of Tallis's major works were Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater and the Christmas Mass Puer natus est nobis , and both are believed to be from this period. Puer natus est nobis based on
2585-421: The words were clearly audible or, as the 1559 Injunctions stated, "playnelye understanded, as if it were read without singing". Tallis wrote nine psalm chant tunes for four voices for Archbishop Matthew Parker 's Psalter published in 1567. One of the nine tunes was the "Third Mode Melody" which inspired the composition of Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1910. Another of
2640-472: 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. There are suggestions that Tallis sang as a child of the chapel in the Chapel Royal , the same singing establishment which he joined as an adult. He
2695-517: Was JONE, Who here entomb'd him company now beares. As he dyd lyve, so also did he dy, In myld and quyet sort (O happy man!) To God ful oft for mercy did he cry, Wherefore he lyves, let deth do what he can. William Byrd wrote the musical elegy Ye Sacred Muses on Tallis's death. His widow Joan, whose will is dated 12 June 1587, survived him by nearly four years. The earliest surviving works by Tallis are Ave Dei patris filia , Magnificat for four voices , and two devotional antiphons to
2750-411: Was a treatise by Leonel Power that prohibited consecutive unisons , fifths , and octaves ; the last page is inscribed with his name. By the summer of 1540 Tallis had moved to the formerly monastic but recently secularised Canterbury Cathedral , where his name heads the list of singers in the newly expanded choir of 10 boys and 12 men. He remained there for two years. Tallis's employment in
2805-486: Was content to draw his texts from the Liturgy and wrote for the worship services in the Chapel Royal. He composed during the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his music often displays characteristics of the turmoil. Tallis is remembered as primarily a composer of sacred vocal music, in part because of his lack of extant instrumental or secular vocal music. No contemporaneous portrait of Tallis survives;
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#17328763682462860-440: Was let on a building lease to Parker Ayres. This damaged the remaining buildings but fortunately, between 1845 and 1847, the local cleric Dr. F.C.Plumptre had already noted everything he possibly could about the foundations of the original buildings. His reconstruction suggests that the builders probably created Effingham Street along the site of the dormitory, chapter house and transepts, Effingham Crescent along what might have been
2915-440: Was located just east of what is now Dover Priory railway station , in fact the railway was built on the western part of the site. Housing has been built on the eastern part of the site where the church once stood, between Priory Road and the later Effingham Street in the area of Norman Street and Saxon Street. Dover College , a private boarding school, occupies the land between the station and Effingham Street and has rescued some of
2970-482: Was probably a chorister at the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New Work , in Dover, where he was employed at an early age, but it is impossible to know whether he was educated there. He may have sung at Canterbury Cathedral . Tallis served at court as a composer and performer for Henry VIII , Edward VI , Mary I , and Elizabeth I . He was first designated as an organist at
3025-578: Was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries . The inventory made of the Priory's goods just beforehand suggest that the monks were living in straitened circumstances by that time (although that may be a fictional pretext for dissolution), but that some provision was still made for the entertainment of visitors to the town. After its suppression, leading townsmen plundered the buildings for stone, lead and other building materials, leaving just two barns,
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