Composed: 1910
Premiered: 1910, England
Duration: 15 minutes

Vaughan Williams was the most thoroughly English of the composers of the English musical renaissance in the early years of the 20th century. His extremely personal musical idiom is based on his love for the English landscape, English poetry, and of course English folk-song, of which he was an assiduous collector and student. Although some of his most significant music goes back to the turn of the century, he continued composing with unabated energy into old age.

Also known as the Tallis Fantasia, the theme in this one-movement work comes from a piece by 16-century English composer Thomas Tallis, who is widely considered one of England’s greatest composers. Vaughan Williams himself conducted the premiere of this work at the Gloucester Cathedral in the early fall of 1910.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner