The Thomas Tallis Society Choir, conducted by Eamonn Dougan, perform a choral sequence of 16th, 17th, 20th and 21st century laments, tributes and memorials composed for specific occasions by British composers.
The programme includes Gibbons's O clap your hands, first performed at a ceremony in Oxford when Gibbons received his degree Doctor of Music, and Tallis's Suscipe Quaeso Domine, a monumental piece written for the ceremony when Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, absolved England from heresy in 1554. Not just one of Tallis’s finest compositions, Suscipe Quaeso ranks as one of the great masterpieces of 16th century England. In 1612, Prince Henry Frederick, son of James I and heir to the thrones of England and Scotland, died from a suspected bout of typhoid fever after swimming in the heavily polluted River Thames. His untimely death inspired a massive outpouring of artistic tributes in both verse and music and our programme includes one such piece Ramsey’s How are the mighty fall’n.
Moving to the 20th century the programme includes Howells's Take him Earth for cherishing, commissioned for the memorial service for JF Kennedy in Washington Cathedral, Richard Rodney Bennett’s memorial to Linda McCartney and Peter Maxwell Davies's Lullaby for Lucy written to celebrate the birth of Lucy Rendall, the first child born in Rackwick, Hoy for 32 years.
Tickets are selling quickly - book now to avoid disappointment! Tickets are priced at £10 and £15 and are available online and at the door (subject to availability).
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