Classical Composer: | Tallis, Thomas |
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Lyricist: | Bible - Old Testament |
Work: | Spem in alium |
Year Composed: | 1571 |
Instrumentation: | SATBarB, A capella / org |
Publishers: |
Manuscript Oxford University Press |
Duration: | 00:11:00 |
Period: | Renaissance (1400-1600) |
Work Category: | Choral - Sacred |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
Spem in alium is a forty-voice motet composition by Thomas Tallis. At Nonsuch Palace, the octagonal hall would presumably have necessitated a performance of Spem in alium 'in the round', the octagon accommodating eight choirs of five voices each. It is unlikely that early audiences were either aware that all forty voices enter together for the first time at the fortieth semi-breve, or that the piece lasts 69 longs (in the Latin alphabet, where I and J are the same letter, T=19, A=1, L=11, L=11, I=9, S=18, so TALLIS = 69). But those fortunate listeners surely shared the most impressive aural experience of their lives, and the number symbolism is a mark of the fact that when Tallis attempted something that must have seemed impossible to the average musician of his day, he still had technique in reserve.
Writer: Jeremy Summerly
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