Thomas Tallis - 'Spem in alium'

[Ocelot II]

1. Amazing piece, possibly written after Tallis became aware of Alessandro Striggio's "Ecce Beatam Lucem."

A contemporary wrote: "In Queen Elizabeths time there was a songe sent into England in 30 parts which being Song made a heavenly Harmony. The Duke of — bearing a great love to Musick asked whether none of our English men could set as good a song, and Tallis being very skillful was felt to try whether he would undertake the matter, which he did & made one of 40 partes which was sung in the lone gallery at Arundell house, which so far surpassed the other that the Duke, hearing the song, took his chaine of Gold from his neck & put it about Tallis his necke & gave it him." Or it has been speculated that Striggio copied Tallis. In any event, both are rather extreme examples of the Venetian School's polychoral style, but Tallis' Spem in Alium was such a tough act to follow that few other English composers adopted it.