Missa Puer Natus á7 and Motets from Cantiones Sacrae 1575 Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585).

This concert’s title is taken from the inscription on the tomb they share in Westminster Abbey, sisters Mary and Elizabeth, England’s first crowned Queens. One Catholic, and one Protestant, both enjoyed the musical contributions of one of England’s greatest composers, Thomas Tallis. The concert will feature his Missa Puer Natus, composed for the combined forces of the English Chapel and the  Capilla Flamenca, for Christmas in 1554 during Mary’s brief marriage to Philip of Spain. Under Elizabeth’s patronage, Tallis and his pupil William Byrd obtained a monopoly on printed music and, in 1575, published the Cantiones Sacrae. Surprisingly the collection includes definitive editions of Latin works by both Tallis and Byrd, supported by the Protestant Good Queen Bess.