Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

I was asked by a friend the other day what my favourite piece of music by Vaughan Williams was. To be honest, I could not give an immediate reply. There are too many. After some thought I decided that it was probably his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. This does not preclude me from changing my mind tomorrow, next month or in five years’ time. 

My introduction to this work was the old Decca Eclipse LP (ECS 601) issued in 1971 – and purchased the following year. The album also included RVW’s Fantasia on Greensleeves and the The Wasps:An Aristophanic Suite. This latter piece was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. The other two works were played by Members of the New Symphony Orchestra of London, under the baton of Antony Collins. The Tallis Fantasia had been originally released on Decca LXT 2699 as far back as 1952. This early LP included Elgar’s Serenade for Strings as well as his Introduction and Allegro for Strings, and RVW’s Greensleeves. It was well received by contemporary critics.

The Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was composed at a time when some English music was shedding much of its Germanic-Romantic roots and was beginning to see a revival of folk song, and most especially Tudor music. As part of this was a rethinking of the old “Phantasy” forms so popular with Elizabethan composers and recently revived by Walter Willson Cobbett.

The work was completed during 1909 and was premiered on 6 September 1910 during that year’s Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester. It has been remarked by the composer’s biographer James Day that this is "unquestionably the first work by Vaughan Williams that is recognizably and unmistakably his and no one else's.” Simona Pakenham wrote that “it was to be a long time before Vaughan Williams wrote anything more of such measured deliberation and deep thoughtfulness, or on the technical side, of equal confidence and finish.”

Eric Blom reminded the listener that “although this Fantasy may vividly conjurer up…the England of Henry VII, or of Elizabeth, it must be listened to as a modern work, and but for the theme it borrows, an entirely original composition. Its form, however, approximates to one that was current in Tallis’s own time - the fantasy or fancy for a consort of viols. It flourished greatly in the first half of the seventeenth century and was revived by Purcell near its end.” (Programme Note for a BBC Orchestral Concert).

The composer explained that the string orchestra is divided into three sections: 1. The full body of strings, 2. A small orchestra of nine players, and 3. A Solo Quartet – played by the leaders of each string section. These groups of instrumentalists are combined in several ways: sometimes playing together at times antiphonally and on occasion accompanying each other. This produces an immense range of sounds and textures. Gilbert Burnett (Liner Notes ECS 601) explains that “the sound can be massive, yet spacious, powerful yet ruminative. The string quartet adds an intimate quality. The texture is often rich but is never thick and the harmonies are far from being unconventional.”

The theme of the Fantasia was based on the third of nine psalm tunes written by Thomas Tallis (1505?-85) and published in 1567 by Matthew Parker, then Archbishop of Canterbury. It was set to Psalm 2, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? RVW had already included this tune in The English Hymnal, which he had edited between 1904 and 1906.

The listener should be aware that this work is not based on the standard modern tonalities of major and minor keys, but on the ancient modes, in this case the Phrygian (E to E′ on the white keys - the second and sixth notes flattened). After some soft chords for full string orchestra, Tallis’s theme is heard in its entirety, against tremolos on the violins. RVW then develops this material using the sectional procedures of the original Tudor “fancies.” This includes the use of solo instruments and considerable “transformation and enlargement” of the theme. The work reaches a considerable climax, before the melody is heard on solo violin with a contrapuntal figure on a solo viola.

The final word must go to Gilbert Burnett: “There is great strength in the theme itself, and as the Fantasia unfolds moments of almost sombre gravity melt away as sunlight seems to flood in, as through the arches of a great cathedral…There is a strange feeling that the music is as old as the earth itself, yet as new as if it had just been written. It is a glorious blend of spiritual strength and physical exaltation.”

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis remains one of RVW’s most popular pieces, with many recordings made since the first in 1936 by the Boyd Neel Orchestra. It is regularly places in the Top Ten of Classic fm’s Hall of Fame.

Michael Kennedy, in his catalogue of RVW's music, explains the work was revised in 1913, and again in 1919. The main feature of this revision was to cut the closing section of the piece: “originally, the Tallis theme was repeated twice, instead of once as now.” 

The New Symphony Orchestra of London/Anthony Collins 1952 recording of this work can be heard on YouTube.