Description
During the renaissance, musical composition flourished, but it was a time of great change, fuelled by religious division. While all composers in Tudor England were flexible to the period’s shifting religious requirements, none was quite as skilful at reinvention as Thomas Tallis, whose music remains absolutely consistent in its quality, even while his style changes dramatically.
In manus tuas Domine is one of Tallis’s most simple and straightforward Latin-texted works. The opening passages are characterised by wide leaps, pining gestures that give the work a feeling of sparseness despite the five-voiced polyphonic texture. Later in the work, the voices pair off, calling to one another and imitating each other’s lines at close proximity, in an almost conversational, yet intimate fashion.
The prayer is often spoken or sung in the liturgical service of compline, and we perform it alongside other works inspired by the final service of the day in our Fading programme.
© Owain Park 2025
Text:
In manus tuas Domine,
commendo spiritum meum,
redemisti me Domine,
Deus veritatis.
Into thy hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit.
For thou hast redeemed me,
O Lord, thou God of truth.
Psalm 31:6
