MUSICAL POLITICS: Motets of Influence

#1 MUSICAL POLITICS: Motets of Influence

Sacred music generally served a liturgical purpose, and often also a political one. Whether it was Tallis and Byrd dedicating large collections of motets to the Queen in return for a monopoly on music printing rights, or the music from Tallis’s Gaude gloriosa used as a battle rallying cry when the King was at war with France, each piece on the program comes with an interesting story and gives us a peek into the composers’ allegiances and a sense of the intertwined religious and political turbulence of the time. 

PROGRAM

BYRD Ne irascaris
JACKSON To Morning
TALLIS Gaude gloriosa

Intermission

ALLEGRI Miserere
PÄRT The Woman with the Alabaster Box
BYRD Tribue Domine