The Tudor Revival
Saturday 21st March 2026, 7:30 PM St John the Evangelist Church, Park Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4DG.
Programme
William Byrd – Ave verum corpus
Thomas Tallis – O salutaris hostia
Herbert Howells – Master Tallis’s Testament
Herbert Howells – Mass in the Dorian Mode
~ Interval ~
Orlando Gibbons – O clap your hands together
Thomas Morley – Agnus Dei
Thomas Tallis – Organ Solo
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Mass in G minor
Performers
Collegium Singers
George Bevan – Musical Director
Programme Note
Featuring works by Vaughan williams and Herbert Howells influenced by music of the English Renaissance.
The organist, composer and teacher Sir Robert Runciman Terry (1864 – 1938) was instrumental in reviving interest in the music of Tudor composers. He transcribed many pieces from that troubled C16 era when destructive and violent religious disagreements were rife, particularly during the reigns of Bloody Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth 1.
Terry’s transcriptions were frequently performed in Westminster Cathedral and heard by many of Terry’s near contemporaries, including Vaughan-Williams (1872 – 1958) and Howells (1892-1983).
Both were fascinated by the intricate construction of these centuries old compositions and this concert pays tribute through their music to the legacy of both R R Terry and those much earlier composers who have left such a treasury of glorious choral music.