Thomas Tallis

One of the great things in life for me is discovering music. I have spent the last year or so working in a church where music plays a seminal role in the life of the community. Classic liturgical music is what they trade in mostly, not my cup of tea most of the time to be honest, but there have been some sublime musical moments and I have been introduced to a couple of seminal musicians who have really opened my eyes, Thomas Tallis being one of them. Tallis was a court musician for Henry VIII and Elizabeth I I believe, and has written some truly beautiful sacred music--a piece they did today, based on a portion of the Gospel of John, was simply incredible, such a lovely melody and tender feel to the piece.  Tallis was one of the first to set anthems to English words, and developed a style that made much of the meanings he derived from the relationships between words and music. A couplet from his epitaph perhaps best sums up the man,
   As he did live, so also did he die, In mild and quiet Sort (O! happy Man).