Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505 - 1585) was Organist of the Royal Chapels to King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. He was esteem'd a most excellent Composer of Church Music, at least equal to any Contemporary, either of his own Country or of Foreign Nations; and was the first who compos'd the Musical Part of our Divine Service in the English Language. He, in conjunction with William Bird, a Musician of great Eminence, who had been his Scholar, obtain'd of Queen Elizabeth, in the Year of our Lord 1575, Letters Patent, by which they claim'd the exclusive Right of printing all Ruled Paper, as well as of all Music Books, for the Term of 21 Years. He died November 23d, 1585, and was buried at Greenwich in Kent. (Greenwich is, in fact, in Greater London.)

The earliest surviving works by Tallis are Ave Dei patris filia, Magnificat for four voices, and two devotional antiphons to the Virgin Mary, Salve intemerata virgo and Ave rosa sine spinis, which were sung in the evening after the last service of the day; they were cultivated in England at least until the early 1540s. Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 and the rise of Thomas Cranmer noticeably influenced the style of music being written. Cranmer recommended a syllabic style of music where each syllable is sung to one pitch, as his instructions make clear for the setting of the 1544 English Litany. As a result, the writing of Tallis and his contemporaries became less florid. Tallis' Mass for Four Voices is marked with a syllabic and chordal style emphasising chords, and a diminished use of melisma. He provides a rhythmic variety and differentiation of moods depending on the meaning of his texts. Tallis' early works also suggest the influence of John Taverner and Robert Fayrfax. Taverner in particular is quoted in Salve intemerata virgo, and his later work, Dum transisset sabbatum.

Toward the end of his life, Tallis resisted the musical development seen in his younger contemporaries such as Byrd, who embraced compositional complexity and adopted texts of disparate biblical extracts. Tallis was content to draw his texts from the Liturgy and wrote for the worship services in the Chapel Royal. He composed during the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his music often displays characteristics of the turmoil.

Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gabriel-faur%C3%A9-mn0 000654108/biography)

Although originally composed for Chorus (STTBarB), I created this Interpretation of "In jejunio et fletu orabant sacerdotes" (In fasting and weeping the priests prayed) for Wind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, English Horn, French Horn & Bassoon).