Audio for this episode will be available Friday.

To lovers of modern classical music, the name Thomas Tallis is probably most recognizable from the title of the early 20th century orchestral work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams didn’t just borrow a psalm setting by the English Renaissance composer--he also used a popular instrumental genre of the 16th and 17th centuries: the fantasia. This hour, we’ll explore this foot-loose and fancy-free musical form and its use during Tallis’ lifetime, including music by Thomas Tomkins, William Byrd, and more. Plus, our featured release is the viol consort Fretwork’s 2022 recording of fantasias by Thomas Lupo.

PLAYLIST

Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works - Volume 6: Music for a Reformed Church
Chapelle du Roi; Alistair Dixon, director
Signum Classics 2003 / SIGCD022
Thomas Tallis
Tr.22 Remember not, O Lord God (expanded version) (4:34)

Segment A:

Grant the King a long life: English anthems & instrumental music
Fretwork
Obsidian 2012 / OBSID-CD708
Thomas Weelkes
Tr.18 Weelkes: Fantasia for 2 Basses (1:30)

Consort music for viols and voices; Keyboard music
Rose Consort of Viols
Naxos 1995 / 8.550602 Naxos
Thomas Tomkins
Tr.8 Tomkins: Hexachord Fantasia: Ut re mi (6:40)

The complete fantazias / Purcell
Fretwork
Harmonia Mundi USA 2009 / HMU 907502
Henry Purcell
Tr.7 Fantazia VII (3:36)
Tr.5 Fantazia V (4:10)

:59 Midpoint Break Music Bed:

Fantasias, pavans & galliards: music by Bull, Byrd & Gibbons
Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord and virginal
Decca 1993 / 00028948311415
Thomas Morley
Tr.5 Morley: Fantasia (excerpt of 5:35)

Segment B:

Keyboard works: complete
Rachelle Taylor
ATMA Classique 2005 / 00722056619424 ATMA Classique
Thomas Tallis
Tr.15 Tallis: Fantasy (2:27)
Tr.11 Tallis: Poyncte for the Virginals (0:51)
Tr.13 Tallis: Gloria tibi Trinitas (1:17)

Four temperaments
Phantasm
Avie 2005 / AV2054 (alt. Linn Records 2014 BKD 487)
Thomas Tallis
Tr.11 In nomine I a 4 (2:13)
Tr.04 In nomine II a 4 (1:50)
Robert Parsons
Tr.05 In nomine III a 5 (1:47)

William Byrd: consort songs by William Byrd and his contemporaries
Il Concerto delle Viole
Olive Music 2005 / 5425008379821
William Byrd
Tr.15 In Nomine a 4 (2:47)

Four gentlemen of the Chapel Royal
Rose Consort of Viols
Deux-Elles 2008 / DXL 1129
Thomas Tallis
Tr.1 Salvator mundi (2:36)
Tr.2 O sacrum convivium (3:11)

Featured Release:

Thomas Lupo Fantasias for Viols
Fretwork
Signum Classics 2022 / SIGCD716
Thomas Lupo
Tr.2 Lupo: Fantasia a 3 No. 24 (2:01)
Tr.18 Lupo: Fantasia a 6 No. 10 (3:41)
Tr.4 Lupo: Fantasia a 6 No. 8 (4:03)