For the glory of the world (Gloria Mundi)

Posted by our Tudor music correspondent Richard Rawlinson

England’s finest early composer Thomas Tallis died in 1585, having served as court musician for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and Elizabeth I. Royal patronage then was the equivalent of being signed up to a major record label pre iTunes.

He also held posts at a Benedictine priory at Dover, the Augustinian abbey of Holy Cross at Waltham and Canterbury Cathedral, witnessing dissolution and the painful transition to Protestantism. Himself an unreformed Catholic, he somehow managed to avoid the religious controversies that raged around him. Despite his closeness to the Tudors, he kept his head, perhaps because he was a charming fellow as well as the fount of glorious polyphonic music.

He was buried at St Alfege Church in Greenwich but his remains appear to have been discarded by labourers when the church was rebuilt. It’s said a brass plaque by his tomb was engraved with this lovely poem:

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 sovereigns 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 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.

My Father’s House

Awdri and Allan Doyle are funeral directors in Galashiels. Their new business has been open for just a year. You can read what we think of them here

When Awdri’s Dad died in October, Awdri wanted Amazing Grace at the funeral — the tune rather than the words. She says, “Some hymn tunes are lovely but does anybody actually understand what they are singing or do they just go through the motions?”

So she’s written her own words and she has offered them to you. Do use them if you’d like — and if you do, let her know, perhaps. 

My Father’s House

 

My Father’s house has many rooms,

Enough for you and me.

Believe in God, He loves us so,

He comes to take us home.

 

We know not how, or where and when,

The path He has prepared.

Trust in our God, He loves us so,

He comes to take us home.

He is the way, the truth, the life,

To our Father He will lead.

There is no way, except through Him,

He comes to take us home.

 

As we proceed to journey home,

To him give thanks and praise.

He welcomes us with open arms

“My child, you’re safely home”.

 

Now home at last where we belong,

Within our Father’s house.

To Father, Son and Holy Ghost

You came to take me home.

  

Tune: Amazing Grace (New Britain)

In praise of the well-judged anecdote

We are indebted to Anne Barber for making this paraphrase of what the Daily Telegraph’s obituaries’ editor, Harry de Quetteville, said on Sunday’s Broadcasting House on dear old Radio 4. 

We all love a good story, but a good anecdote is even better, briefly, amusingly confirming or upsetting the reputations of those we thought we knew. Such stories can make the people next door seem famous and reveal the famous to be reassuringly like the people next door. 

How can a great yarn about a man help us imagine his character? We all love a good story but a good anecdote is even better! They are the threads of gold in life’s rich tapestry. Such tales can make the people next door seem like the rich and famous and the rich and famous seem reassuringly like the people next door. What the good anecdote can never be is dull. It is wit that we most enjoy;  the best no doubt are revealing, risqué even.

The 17th century writer John Aubrey summed up his contemporaries in a book entitled ‘Brief Lives’. He knew that the anecdote was the key to communicating a subject’s personality.

The well judged anecdote is uniquely telling. For facts and figures help us to understand achievements but only stories allow us to understand people.”

Catch it on Listen Again. Start 20 mins in. Thanks, Anne!

The Good Funeral Guide
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