129: If Ye Love Me

 Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter in Year A, so the Gospel includes John 14:15, the lyrical source of the motet under discussion, one of Thomas Tallis’s masterpieces. Tallis was active as a Catholic composer in Elizabethan England, the teacher and friend of the other very important Catholic composer of the period, William Byrd. (I came to know of Byrd much earlier than Tallis but now recognize how masterful they both were.)

One of Tallis’s most enduring works is “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” drawing precisely from Jesus’s words to his apostles at the beginning of today’s Gospel. Characteristic of this style of English writing (really, of sacred writing from this period from any place), is the deep complexity of the counterpoint, so as you listen to it, pay attention to how well the lines fit together and work together with and around one another.

Something else is worth mentioning, which I first realized thanks to Nick Higgs The Singer—you don’t have enough musical time for “the spirit of truth,” so the most common solution (which I think works really well) is to instead sing “the sp’rit of truth” to be able to condense “spi-rit” into aq single syllable.

The final chord is a source of debate. I haven’t yet had the time to find the manuscript to resolve this once and for all, but I hope to do so soon: Is the final chord major or indeterminate? That is, does the final chord contain, anywhere, an A, or is it only Fs and Cs, (assuming you’re in F, as almost all recordings are)? The more I think about this, the more I hope that one day, I’ll find an indeterminate chord. Here’s my theory: it probably was written as indeterminate because Tallis saw the way the promise was phrased, yet to be fulfilled in advance of Pentecost. That’s precisely the point—in advance of the sending of the Holy Spirit, not during or after Pentecost. I think, then, that Tallis, knowing this, wrote the chord indeterminate, that is, missing the third, to evoke the sense of waiting and to induce the mind to go to the unfulfilled promise, which will only be fulfilled and allow the chord to find its third, at Pentecost, that is, in two weeks. 


Here are a few recordings I love: 

1. The King’s singers (indeterminate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1WwNSfCom8&list=RDY1WwNSfCom8&start_radio=1

2. Tenebrae Choir (major): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI5Y9l2NHIo&list=RDHI5Y9l2NHIo&start_radio=1

3. Voces8 (indeterminate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvHuNTkk0ig&list=RDyvHuNTkk0ig&start_radio=1

4. Gesualdo Six (indeterminate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHe2FDlHHa8&list=RDyHe2FDlHHa8&start_radio=1

5. Cambridge Singers (I hear major, even though the score says indeterminate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC6UDqRpQQg&list=RDUC6UDqRpQQg&start_radio=1

6. Westminster Abbey (major): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4cxdNgfzcc&list=RDa4cxdNgfzcc&start_radio=1

7. The 16 (major): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qx41wFiRWU&list=RD5Qx41wFiRWU&start_radio=1


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