Spem in Alium

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • DracoM
    Host
    • Mar 2007
    • 12993

    Spem in Alium

    Can anyone explain why 'Spem' has achieved such ubiquity eg on record etc, when in that age a whole raft of 40+ voice pieces were written and these days far more rarely heard? eg Okeghem Deo Gratias etc.
  • rauschwerk
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 1482

    #2
    Originally posted by DracoM View Post
    Can anyone explain why 'Spem' has achieved such ubiquity eg on record etc, when in that age a whole raft of 40+ voice pieces were written and these days far more rarely heard? eg Okeghem Deo Gratias etc.
    Always been a mystery to me!

    Comment

    • edashtav
      Full Member
      • Jul 2012
      • 3672

      #3
      Best of British?

      Comment

      • cat
        Full Member
        • May 2019
        • 403

        #4
        Sometimes pieces just have the good fortune of being widely sung first (in modern times), and so others don't get much of a look in, e.g. Tomkins' Fourth, Weelkes' Ninth etc.

        Comment

        • cloughie
          Full Member
          • Dec 2011
          • 22205

          #5
          I always think of it as ‘hope in onion’ .

          Comment

          • BasilHarwood
            Full Member
            • Mar 2012
            • 117

            #6
            Originally posted by DracoM View Post
            Can anyone explain why 'Spem' has achieved such ubiquity eg on record etc, when in that age a whole raft of 40+ voice pieces were written and these days far more rarely heard? eg Okeghem Deo Gratias etc.
            A lot of the large scale works - Striggio’s Ecce beatam lucem (mass and motet), the Ockeghem Deo Gratias (incidentally attributed to Ockeghem) are not particularly great pieces to sing or listen to. The Tallis may be a little better to perform but they are all just a few monumental shifting chords...

            You should listen to the new Macmillan 40-part Vidi Aquam, that’s pretty fresh. Or Alec Roth’s Earth Rise, equally exciting.

            Comment

            • DracoM
              Host
              • Mar 2007
              • 12993

              #7
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Ockeghem"Sometimes the compositional link to the sounds of heaven emerges as the fruit of careful interpretation, as i...


              Ahem.................is 'not a great piece to listen to'....???? Really?
              IYO, I suggest. In a big space, this would be stunning!

              Or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzBhYMvnMKQ

              Comment

              • BasilHarwood
                Full Member
                • Mar 2012
                • 117

                #8
                Originally posted by DracoM View Post
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bYGmISF3ME

                Ahem.................is 'not a great piece to listen to'....???? Really?
                IYO, I suggest. In a big space, this would be stunning!

                Or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzBhYMvnMKQ
                I know the piece. I’m just not a fan!

                Comment

                • Bryn
                  Banned
                  • Mar 2007
                  • 24688

                  #9
                  Originally posted by BasilHarwood View Post
                  I know the piece. I’m just not a fan!
                  But you appear to be of Vidi Aquam. Ah well, there's no telling regarding musical taste. Re Striggio's Ecce beatam lucem, was it not in response to that work that Tallis set about showing how a 40 part motet might be done rather better?

                  Comment

                  • BasilHarwood
                    Full Member
                    • Mar 2012
                    • 117

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                    But you appear to be of Vidi Aquam. Ah well, there's no telling regarding musical taste. Re Striggio's Ecce beatam lucem, was it not in response to that work that Tallis set about showing how a 40 part motet might be done rather better?
                    No there ain’t. And yep I like Vidi Aquam. I also like:

                    Most things by Byrd
                    Stanford in C (evening)
                    Rose Responses (SATB not ATB)
                    That nice Howells chant in flats
                    Elgar Symphony No 1
                    Leighton (Cricifixus pro nobis is a banger)
                    Jamiroquai
                    Steely Dan
                    Stormzy
                    The Game

                    Comment

                    • oddoneout
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2015
                      • 9308

                      #11
                      Originally posted by cloughie View Post
                      I always think of it as ‘hope in onion’ .
                      Spam in garlic.

                      Comment

                      • Old Grumpy
                        Full Member
                        • Jan 2011
                        • 3652

                        #12
                        Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
                        Spam in garlic.
                        The queen's favourite for a picnic!

                        Comment

                        • Bryn
                          Banned
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 24688

                          #13
                          Originally posted by BasilHarwood View Post
                          No there ain’t. And yep I like Vidi Aquam. I also like:

                          Most things by Byrd
                          Stanford in C (evening)
                          Rose Responses (SATB not ATB)
                          That nice Howells chant in flats
                          Elgar Symphony No 1
                          Leighton (Cricifixus pro nobis is a banger)
                          Jamiroquai
                          Steely Dan
                          Stormzy
                          The Game
                          Well, we can agree concerning Byrd, and Elgar's 1st (his finest work, to my mind).

                          Comment

                          • BasilHarwood
                            Full Member
                            • Mar 2012
                            • 117

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                            Well, we can agree concerning Byrd, and Elgar's 1st (his finest work, to my mind).
                            LOVE that symphony.

                            Comment

                            • Chris Watson
                              Full Member
                              • Jun 2011
                              • 151

                              #15
                              Here's a new version of Spem that was put together in Australia. I've always loved the piece, btw, as a listener, singer and conductor, my first experience of it being in Merton Oxford as very young chap, listening to my Dad and 39 others record it for David Wulstan. We commissioned quite a few new 40 part motets when I was in the Tallis Scholars, with varying degrees of success. My favourite of the new ones is Gabriel Jackson's, I think, (not a TTS commission) and David Bednall wrote a damn good one too.

                              SPEM IN ALIUM by Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) - Performed by 40 Singers from around Australia.Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, choral singing in close qu...

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X