"Fallis versus Tallis" has a certain ring to it, don’t you think? Maybe it’s not quite the right ring in this case — too suggestive of opponents exchanging blows in some kind of violent, physical confrontation, instead of the more apt image of a climber faced with a mountain of impossible scale. And yet, I’m sure David Fallis (just like his biblical namesake) is praying he’ll hit the legendary 40-part musical Goliath (a.k.a. Thomas Tallis’s Spem in alium) square on the head, right between the eyes.
“The piece is a challenge, especially rhythmically,” says Fallis of the Tallis. “When we do it on Oct. 19 and 20, we'll be doing it one-on-a-part so every singer has to be very confident of their line.... We're hoping to use the balconies at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre — we'll see if we can hear each other well enough to keep it together!”
Fallis will take on Tallis’s 40-part masterpiece to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Toronto Consort, an early music ensemble he has directed since 1990. The Tallis Choir of Toronto will also lend their voices to this special event taking place in Toronto this weekend.
Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585), known as the father of English cathedral music, holding a music manuscript and quill, circa 1539. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Composed around 1570 by Tallis, one of England’s pre-eminent Tudor composers, Spem in alium is definitely a polyphonic tour de force. So much more than the sum of its 40 individual parts (which are grouped into four double-choirs of 10 parts each), it is a richly woven musical tapestry that has held a mysterious fascination for generations.
The motivation behind Tallis's composition is not certain, although it is widely believed to have been composed for the Duke of Norfolk in response to the duke's challenge to English composers to write a better piece than the 40-part motet Ecce beatam lucem by Italian Alessandro Striggio, which had caused a stir in the London musical community.
According to a contemporary account by Thomas Wateridge, the duke was so impressed with Tallis's one-upmanship that, following the performance, he took one of his own gold chains and "putt yt about Tallice his necke & gave yt him."
For a long time this music’s renown (perhaps proportional to its limited accessibility) was preserved under the protective care of an eccentric crowd of nerdy music students, enthusiastic specialists, and other lovers of curious things. But more recently, Spem seems to be taking up more space in our culture’s collective consciousness.
A certain piece of sadomasochistic fiction comes to mind, for example.
The singing starts again … building and building, and he rains down blows on me … and I groan and writhe … Lost in him, lost in the astral, seraphic voices … I am completely at the mercy of his expert touch …
"What was that music?" I mumble almost inarticulately.
"It's called Spem in Alium, a 40-part motet by Thomas Tallis."
"It was … overwhelming."
[Fifty Shades of Grey, by EL James]
Or perhaps you've heard Spem while watching The Tudors on CBC Television?
Fallis was the historical music producer for The Tudors, and recalls that “it was actually Michael Hirst, the writer, who proposed using Spem in this scene.”
Spem has also been experienced by countless thousands around the world through the work of Canadian sound artist Janet Cardiff — 40-part motet (2001):
Fallis was involved in bringing Cardiff’s work to Toronto a couple of weeks ago. He says “over 2,000 people came through … we had lineups for most of the night … and lots of people stayed and listened through a couple of times.”
If you don't have 40 singers or a conductor handy, you can always use multi-tracking as the King's Singers have done here:
But one of the most impressive groups, in terms of numbers, is the 700 "valiant punters" who showed up in 2006 to sing Spem with conductor David Lawrence in Manchester:
Fallis directs the Toronto Consort and the Tallis Choir in Spem in alium, Oct. 19 and 20, 2012, along with other masterpieces from the English Renaissance (including music that the Consort recorded for the TV series The Tudors), at Trinity St. Paul's United Church in Toronto.
Related:
Spem in alium [full score .pdf]
Fifty Shades of Grey inspires craze for classical makeout music