Tallis in Lockdown: Spem in Alium

The arrival of COVID-19 early in 2020 swiftly put paid to Stile Antico’s normal activities. Our final concert before the pandemic was in Lancaster on 5th March, and soon after that it became clear that the major tours to Japan and the US we had planned for April and May could not go ahead. On 23rd March, the UK followed many of its European neighbours into lockdown.

We emerged from the initial shock determined to find a way to make music together. But what should we sing? We are often asked at concerts whether we’ve ever performed Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in alium; invariably we gently point out that it’s a tall order for a group of twelve singers. And so we resolved to turn the situation to our advantage, and to use technology to create something remotely that we could never have done ‘in real life’, releasing it to mark the milestone of the 40th day of UK lockdown.

Tallis’ monumental motet is scored for eight choirs of five voices, each comprised of soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass. Its form may have been suggested by the octagonal shape of the hall at Henry VIII’s Renaissance masterpiece, Nonsuch Palace, of which nothing now remains beyond pictures. The effect is always impressive, but often in performance it can be difficult to understand how the music is put together, and to work out exactly who is singing what. We wanted to produce a video which would not only do justice to the beauty of Tallis’ music, but also illuminate the structure of this extraordinary piece. Each choir is presented by a vertical column; singers appear only when they have music to sing, and so the remarkable texture of this music is brought vividly to life.