Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

"Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis", also known as the "Tallis Fantasia", is a piece of orchestral music by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. It was composed in 1910 for the Three Choirs Festival, and was one of the first major successes for Vaughan Williams. He revised the work twice, in 1913 and 1919. Performances of the work generally run for some 16 minutes.cite book|last=Mellers|first=Wifrid|title=Vaughan Williams and the Vision of Albion|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins|date=1989|pages=49-50|chapter=The Double Man|isbn=0712621172]

The work takes its name from the original composer of the melody, Thomas Tallis (c.1540-1623). Vaughan Williams took much inspiration from music of the English Renaissance and many of his works are associated with or inspired by the music of this period. Vaughan Williams was already familiar with Tallis's "Third Tune" and had included it the English Hymnal, which he edited in 1906, as the melody for the hymn "When Rising from the Bed of Death" by Joseph Addison. The tune is in Double Common Meter (D.C.M.).cite book|title=The English Hymnal|editor=Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1906|pages=63|chapter=Hymn 92 - When Rising from the Bed of Death|accessdate=2008-09-21 Horatius Bonar's hymn "I heard the Voice of Jesus Say", and many other D.C.M. hymns, may also be sung to this tune.]

Composition

Listen
filename=RVW Tallis fantasia - Haitink LPO.ogg
title=Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
description=A sample of the Tallis Fantasia, performed by the LPO under Bernard Haitink
format=OggThe work is scored for an expanded string orchestra divided into three parts: orchestra I, a full-sized string orchestra; orchestra II, a single desk from each section (ideally placed apart from Orchestra I); and a string quartet. Vaughan Williams makes this configuration resemble an organ in sound, with the quartet representing the swell division, orchestra II the choir division, and orchestra I the great division; it is difficult to listen to this piece without imagining the acoustics inside a church.

In structure this piece resembles the Elizabethan-age "fantasy." The theme is heard in its entirety three times during the course of the work, but the music grows from the theme's constituent motives or fragments, with variations upon them. A secondary melody, based on the original, is first heard on the solo viola about a third of the way into the Fantasia, and this theme forms the climax of the work about five minutes before the end.

The original 1567 theme

Listen
filename=Tallis - Why Fum'th In Fight.ogg
title=Why Fum'th In Fight?
description=Tallis's original "Third Tune" of 1567 which inspired Vaughan Williams, sung by Stile Antico
format=Ogg
Tallis's original tune is in the Phrygian mode and was one of nine he contributed to the Psalter of 1567 for the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. When Vaughan Williams edited the "English Hymnal" of 1906, he also included this melody (number 92). Tallis's original words to the hymn were:

Cquote|Why fum'th in fight the Gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?
Why tak'th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?
The Kings arise, the Lords devise, in counsels met thereto,
against the Lord with false accord, against His Christ they go.|20px|20px|bible|Psalm 2:1-2|KJV|Archbishop Parker's Psalter (1567) [http://www.agentsmith.com/rvw/guides/tallis.html AgentSmith.com] ]

In popular culture

This work, with its pleasing melodies, has been featured in several movies. It was played in the 1988 film "Remando al viento" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093840/ Remando al viento (1988) ] ] starring Hugh Grant as Lord Byron, was prominently featured in the 2003 film "" with Russell Crowe, and was seamlessly woven into the post-crucifixion music of John Debney's score to the 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ". "New Yorker" critic Alex Ross has noted in his blog that the love theme from the movie "Troy" (composed by James Horner) bears resemblance to "Fantasia". [http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/05/symphony_of_bra.html The Rest is Noise] ] Horner also drew inspiration from the "fantasia" in his score for Field of Dreams.

External links

* " [http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/w/w343.html When, rising from the bed of death] " to Tallis's tune (Oremus Hymnal)
* " [http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/i/i066b.html I heard the voice of Jesus say] ] " to Tallis's tune (Oremus Hymnal)

References