THIRD MODE MELODY

Composer: Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (b. Leicestershire [?], England, c. 1505; d. Greenwich, Kent, England 1585) was one of the few Tudor musicians who served during the reigns of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I and managed to remain in the good favor of both Catholic and Protestant monarchs. He was court organist and composer from 1543 until his death, composing music for Roman Catholic masses and Anglican liturgies (depending on the monarch). With William Byrd, Tallis also enjoyed a long-term monopoly on music printing. Prior to his court connections Tallis had served at Waltham Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. He composed mostly church music, including Latin motets, English anthems, settings of the liturgy, magnificats, and two sets of lamentations… Go to person page >

Tune Information

Title: THIRD MODE MELODY
Composer: Thomas Tallis (1561)
Place Of Origin: England
Meter: 8.6.8.6 D
Incipit: 13333 44555 55655
Key: a minor or modal
Copyright: Public Domain

Texts

I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

To Mock Your Reign, O Dearest Lord

To mock your reign, O dearest Lord,
they made a crown of thorns;
set you with taunts along that road
from which no one returns.
They did not know, as we do now,
that glorious is your crown;
that thorns would flower upon your brow,
your sorrows heal our own.

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Notes

THIRD MODE MELODY is the third of nine tunes Thomas Tallis composed for Matthew Parker's The Whole Psalter (c. 1561). This magnificent tune is worth the trouble it may take to learn. Diephouse set the text with this tune in mind, since it kept coming to him as he was working on the text. Many may know the tune from Ralph Vaughan Williams's orchestral work "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis." The "third mode" is the Phrygian mode, and THIRD MODE MELODY is one of the few tunes in that mode

Included in the Psalter Hymnal (see also 51 and 100). This tune requires solid, yet rhythmically pliable organ support. The melody was originally in the tenor, and choirs may switch parts between tenors and sopranos. Another suitable tune for Psalm 62 is BETHLEHEM (497).

Thomas Tallis (b. Leicestershire [?], England, c. 1505; d. Greenwich, Kent, England 1585) was one of the few Tudor musicians who served during the reigns of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I and managed to remain in the good favor of both Catholic and Protestant monarchs. He was court organist and composer from 1543 until his death, composing music for Roman Catholic masses and Anglican liturgies (depending on the monarch). With William Byrd, Tallis also enjoyed a long-term monopoly on music printing. Prior to his court connections Tallis had served at Waltham Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.

He composed mostly church music, including Latin motets, English anthems, settings of the liturgy, magnificats, and two sets of lamentations. His most extensive contrapuntal work was the choral composition, "Spem in alium," a work in forty parts for eight five-voice choirs. He also provided nine modal psalm tunes for Matthew Parker's Psalter (c. 1561).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Timeline

Arrangements

Harmonizations, Introductions, Descants, Intonations

  • Introductions and Alternate Accompaniments for Organ Volume 2: Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Hymns 304 - 360
    Composer/Editors Norma Aamodt-Nelson; Mark Weiler; Benjamin M. Culli
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2008) pp. 332
  • Introductions and Alternate Accompaniments for Piano Volume 2: Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Hymns 304 - 360
    Composer/Editors Norma Aamodt-Nelson; Mark Weiler; Gregory Hamilton
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2007) pp. 332
  • 83 Musical Gifts Part 3: Variations on Hymn Tunes -- Saint Christopher to Wondrous Love
    Composer/Editors Adrienne Tindall; Sandra Gay
    Published By: Darcey Press (2004) pp. 429
  • Hymn Descants and Free Harmonizations
    Composer/Editor Ronald Arnatt
    Published By: Augsburg Publishing House (1990) pp. 81
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 39: General: Sou - Tru
    Composer/Editors Richard Hillert; Gerhard Krapf
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1986) pp. 44

Organ Solo

  • The Complete Organist Volume 2: Accessible Service Music for the Church Year
    Composer/Editors Carson P. Cooman; John G. Barr
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (2017) pp. 55
  • Loving Spirit: Hymn Settings for Organ
    Composer/Editor David Maxwell
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2011) pp. 26
  • I Sing the Almighty Power of God Vol I: Organ Voluntaries on the Hymn Tunes of Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Composer/Editors Robert Lind; Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Published By: Paraclete Press (2008) pp. 17
  • Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices: Settings for Organ
    Composer/Editor Paul W. Hofreiter
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2008) pp. 14
  • Six General Hymn Improvisations Set 3
    Composer/Editor Michael A. Burkhardt
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (2005) pp. 10
  • 83 Musical Gifts Part 3: Variations on Hymn Tunes -- Saint Christopher to Wondrous Love
    Composer/Editors Adrienne Tindall; Sandra Gay
    Published By: Darcey Press (2004) pp. 429-432, 434, 436
  • Preludes on Favorite Hymns for Organ
    Composer/Editor Stanley Vann
    Published By: Kevin Mayhew Ltd. (2000) pp. 22
  • The Organist's Companion Volume 10 Number 6 October 1988 General, All Saints, Reformation, Thanksgiving: A Bi-monthly Journal of Quality Organ Music for the Practical Church Musician
    Composer/Editors Wayne Leupold; G. Winston Cassler
    Published By: McAfee Music Corporation (1988) pp. 12
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 39: General: Sou - Tru
    Composer/Editors Richard Hillert; Gerhard Krapf
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1986) pp. 42
  • Organ Plus
    Composer/Editors Robert M. Cundick; John Longhurst
    Published By: Sonos Music Resources Incorporated (1985) pp. 12
  • Thirty-Five Interludes on Hymn Tunes
    Composer/Editor Joseph W. Clokey
    Published By: J. Fischer & Brothers (1958) pp. 48

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