Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter

In 1567 the English composer Thomas Tallis contributed nine tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter, vernacular psalm settings intended for publication in a metrical psalter then being compiled for the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker:

  1. Man Blest No Doubt (Psalm 1)
  2. Let God Arise In Majesty (Psalm 68)
  3. Why Fum'th In Fight (Psalm 2)
  4. O Come In One To Praise The Lord (Psalm 95)
  5. E'en Like The Hunted Hind (Psalm 42)
  6. Expend, O Lord, My Plaint (Psalm 5)
  7. Why Brag'st In Malice High (Psalm 52)
  8. God Grant With Grace (Psalm 67, tune known as Tallis' Canon)
  9. Ordinal (Veni Creator)

These tunes were not separately named and appear to have become obscure for some centuries following the death of Tallis but the set includes some of his most famous melodies: the third, "Why Fum'th In Fight", in the third or phrygian mode, was used by Ralph Vaughan Williams as the basis of his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and became known as the "third mode melody"; the eighth is known as Tallis' Canon and the last is Tallis' Ordinal, which is still included in numerous hymnals.

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