Thomas Tallis

Tallis was one of the greatest English composers of sacred music of all time. His style encompassed both the simple Reformation service music and the great continental polyphonic schools whose influence he was largely responsible for introducing into English music. Tallis was one of the first composers to provide settings of the new English liturgy under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He has left settings of the Preces and Responses, the Litany, and a complete Service "in the Dorian mode," which consists of the morning and evening canticles and the Communion Service. There are also three sets of psalms and a large number of motets and anthems in both Latin and English.