ABSTRACT
The church music written in King Edward's reign had included some complete' settings of Prayer Book services, consisting of the Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. Royal injunctions issued by Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 repeated and somewhat clarified what those issued in the reign of Edward VI had to say about music. The music of Thomas Tallis's preces and responses is self-effacing in its simplicity. It is possible that Tallis assembled psalms suitable for the Christmas season over an extended period, since single parts survive from a number of other settings. In a note dated 6 August 1557, Matthew Parker wrote that he had completed an English metrical translation of the Psalms at some indefinite time in the past. Tallis's settings are of different metrical types, so contrived that, between them, they fit many of Matthew Parker's translations, not just those whose words are printed with the music. Most of them have also been used in later hymnals.
