Thomas Tallis lived in England in a time of religious uncertainty, but he rolled with the tide. The entire period was uncertain because successive governments were completely certain about the changes they should make. Tallis wrote music for the Catholic worship, for the first Protestant church, for the English Prayer Book, for the Catholics once again, and for the somewhat more moderate Anglicanism of Queen Elizabeth. Thus it comes as no surprise to find liturgical Latin motets, complete with a chant-based cantus firmus, in the output of this Anglican composer. Videte miraculum is one such piece, and it is part of the liturgy for the Virgin Mary, no less. The chant Videte miraculum serves as a processional during the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin. This lesser Marian feast celebrates the coming of Mary to the house of her sister Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45). At that time, John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth's womb, Elizabeth prophesied to Mary that Mary's child will be the Great One, and Mary responded by singing her Magnificat.

Tallis treats his liturgical text—and its music—with utter respect in a six-voiced motet. The chant melody is the piece's foundation, and it is sung in its entirety by one of the lower voices. Tallis does not, however, show how difficult it is to compose music around a predetermined, and rather rambling, melody. Rather, he produces a seamless web of polyphony on all sides of the chant. He even exploits some moments within the chant in the other voices, such as a subtle harmonic shift when an accidental appears in the chant, or the jubilant chords he places around the static chant melody at stans onerata ("[Mary] standing honored"). In complete liturgical propriety, the choir chants a responsory Psalm verse after the motet, it then repeats part of the motet, sings the "Gloria Patri," and then closes by once again singing the end of the motet.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.