Fantasy on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Composer: VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, Ralph
  • Vaughan Williams composed his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis in 1910, and he revised the work in 1919.1
  • Vaughan Williams was deeply involved in the selection of tunes for the 1906 English Hymnal. In the course of his research, he wrote a few original tunes for the hymnal (like Sine nomine, “For All the Saints”), adapted folk tunes for it, and found many historical tunes to include as well,  including this Phrygian tune by Thomas Tallis which later became the theme of this Fantasia.2
  • This work is scored for double string orchestra, which gives it great acoustic richness.3

Sources

  1. Hugh Ottaway and Alain Frogley, “Vaughan Williams, Ralph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 20, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000042507.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid.

Cut IDs

11542 15867 22199 40527 41037 42343