The Renaissance Motet with Thomas Tallis

Welcome back everyone!

Since we already covered the history behind Londonderry Air, let's talk about motets and Spem in Alium!

The motet is a genre that has been around for ages, and it was especially popular during the Renaissance. There are many distinctive qualities associated with the motet, but all you really need to know is that it's a non-secular, polyphonic, vocal composition. (4)

Now our main focus, Spem in Alium. It was originally written in 1556, by English composer Thomas Tallis. There are many speculations on why Tallis wrote it, and for a while people believed he wrote it for Queen Elizabeth. But as people have analyzed the words used in the piece, they believe it was written for Queen Mary Tudor. The words of Spem in Alium are derived from the Biblical book of Judith, and Queen Mary Tudor was considered the Judith of her time, because of her beheading of the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley. (5)

Despite its interesting backstory, the reason the piece is so well-known is because of its complex use of vocal lines. At its creation, it had the most vocal lines of any previous piece (with the predecessor having thirty vocal lines). People argue that there are symbolic reasons to have forty parts (which also ties in to the Mary Tudor theory), but the score is considered important because of the way Tallis managed the different vocal lines. The finesse he used while writing makes his piece something we still focus on to this day.

Okay, now we should have enough knowledge about the genres and pieces to start discussing some important musical links between them. Stick around, and in the next few days we'll begin to really analyze Londonderry Air and Spem in Alium!


See you again soon!
Brianna

Spem in Alium performed by The Tallis Scholars
Figure 2

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Irish Folk Music and Mysterious Origins

Hello guys, welcome back!

Today let's talk about Irish Folk Music, and more specifically Londonderry Air. Just so you have a general idea of basic Irish Folk Music characteristics, many of the pieces tend to be in 3/4, but that isn't always the case. It commonly used the harp or fiddle, and most of the music that survived the British subjugation of the Irish aristocracy was dance music for the common man. (1)

Londonderry Air (also known as An Irish Tune from County Derry, the remastered Danny Boy, or many others) was first recognized as part of a series collected by George Petrie. Jane Ross helped him gather many of the pieces Petrie got from the Irish County area. (2) Later on, Londonderry Air and the other Irish tunes were compiled into The Ancient Music of Ireland, released in 1855. (3) Many people have claimed that they knew the composer of the piece, but there is no concrete evidence to back any of their claims sufficiently.

Though the composer of the piece is unknown, it hasn't had a problem becoming popular. The melody of Londonderry Air has been reworked and molded into a multitude of other pieces. The aforementioned Danny Boy uses the same melody, but with lyrics written by Frederick Edward Weatherly in 1913. It was also used as the backing for many hymns, including one called I Cannot Tell by William Young Fullerton. And you can't forget the band classic, An Irish Tune from County Derry, which was a setting written by Percy Grainger, using the same token melody. There are many other pieces based off of Londonderry Air, but I'm sure you understand the scope of its influence.

Alright, that should fill you in on some of the basic history about the piece, next time we'll be talking about Spem in Alium!


Talk to you again soon!
Brianna

Londonderry Air 
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Welcome

Hey guys!

Welcome to Music Analysis 101! This is your number one place for discovering new pieces and the links between them. Every week we're going to compare two different musical styles, and analyze a few different areas that link them together. By focusing on one song to represent each genre, you might find some new favorites from genres you never expected to like! Hopefully you'll come along for the ride and learn some new things!

For our first week, we're starting with two distinct cultures: Irish Folk Music and English Renaissance Motets. From Irish Folk Music, we'll be focusing on the tune, Londonderry Air. Our piece from the English Renaissance period is the renowned Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.

Stick around, and in the next day or so we'll learn some background on both genres and pieces!


Until we chat again,
Brianna

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