Luogo e data di registrazione		Schloßkirche Schleiden (Eifel), (Germania) - aprile 1972
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Andreas Holschneider / Günther Breest / Klaus Hiemann
	Prima Edizione LP		Archiv - 2533 113 - (1 lp) - durata 43' 54" - (p) 1972 - Analogico
	Edizione "Collectio" CD		Archiv - 437 077-2 - (1 cd) - durata 43' 54" - (c) 1986 - ADD
	Note		-

TALLIS · BYRD: SACRED COMPOSITIONS Thomas Tallis was born about 1505, probably in Kent, and died at Greenwich, in the same county, in 1585. His long life thus spans the reigns of five monarchs - from Henry VII to Elizabeth I - and the troubled course of the English Reformation. Tallis’s earliest employment was at various monastic establishments: he was organist at the royal abbey of Waltham, just north of London, when it was dissolved in 1540, but after a brief interlude at Canterbury Cathedral he was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, a post which he held until his death more than 40 years later. Already under Henry VIII steps had been taken to replace the Latin liturgy with a vernacular one, and in keeping with the demand for greater intelligibility of the words, a drastic simplification in musical style was called for. In place of the whirling counterpoint of Fayrfax and Taverner, a simple note-against-note homophony was required. The following reign of Edward VI (1547-53) saw the introduction of a uniform English rite, but under Mary (1553-58), the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and cousin of the Emperor Charles V an immediate return to the Roman communion and the Latin rite was made. As a member of the Chapel, Tallis contributed to this development by composing, with John Shepherd, a series of hymns and responsories, as well as a Mass (the seven-part Puer natus est nobis) possibly intended for the ceremonies celebrating England’s formal absolution from heresy. When Elizabeth, Mary’s half-sister, came to the throne in 1558 the country was once more steered in the direction of Reformation, but although the vernacular liturgy and its simplified music were now enforced throughout England, the queen characteristically reserved the right to adorn the services of her own Chapel with such magnificence as she saw fit. She also protected, by her favour, such gifted musicians as Tallis and his pupil Byrd, even though the latter, in particular, made no secret of his allegiance to the old faith and rite. In 1575 she granted them a monopoly of the right to print music, which they used to bring out, in the same year, a collection of their own Latin motets, dedicated to her. It is against this troubled background that one must listen to Tallis’s Lamentations, recognizing that they were probably designed, not for the liturgical celebration of Tenebrae, but for private edification. (Slight variants from the standard text bear this out.) That the words would have had a special appositeness for Catholics, with great monastic buildings standing despoiled and desolate throughout the country, can hardly be denied. Traces of the old melismatic style can be heard in Tallis’s treatment of the Hebrew letters that preface each verse, but the text itself is set with the attention to clear declamation that distinguishes his late work. More remarkable is the far-reaching harmonic scheme of the first section. This proceeds from a Phrygian E minor by way of a cunningly controlled series of “modulations” to the remote key of B flat at “Plorans ploravit in nocte”, and then back again to E. The second section, beginning “De lamentatione Jeremiae prophetae”, remains closely anchored to G minor throughout. Here, however, Tallis uses the characteristic harmonic friction of the simultaneous false relation between flat and sharpened leading-notes to underline the anguish of the verses beginning “Omnes portae eius destructae”. Both sections end with the refrain (differently set each time): “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum” - “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God”. ----- William Byrd was a full generation younger than his friend and colleague Tallis. He was probably born in 1543, and at the age of 19 or 20 was appointed organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. In 1572 he moved to London as a Gentleman of Elizabeth’s Chapel Royal, but chose to live outside the city itself - first at Harlington in Middlesex, and then, after about 1592, at Stondon Massey in Essex. It is possible that as a devout and lifelong Catholic he preferred the greater privacy of the country, yet in spite of his close connection with many other Catholics, some of whom were certainly implicated in treasonable activities, his own loyalty to the queen and her government was never questioned, and he remained a member of the Chapel Royal until his death in 1623. Byrd’s musical stature, acknowledged by all his contemporaries, can hardly be overrated. He Wrote extensively for every medium then available except, it seems, the lute, and in every genre except the newly introduced Italianate madrigal. But it is his Latin church music that reveals his genius most completely. The Cantiones sacrae, published in 1589 and 1591, have an intensity unrivalled in England and a breadth of scale unknown on the Continent. The Gradualia (1605-07), settings of the Proper designed for liturgical use throughout the year, are more concise but no less masterly. The three Masses - one for four, one for three, and one for five voices - were published clandestinely, without title-pages, but typographical evidence has revealed that they were first printed, in that order, between 1592 and 1595. Since it was illegal at this time either to celebrate or to publish the Latin Mass, Byrd’s settings must be seen as a conscious manifesto of his beliefs, as well as a practical contribution to private (indeed, secret) religious observance. It may be this that lends them their quite exceptional intensity of expression. Jeremy Noble